Raising Amelia
by Twofer
Summary: Five Minutes turned into twelve years, and what happens next could change everything. A continuation of 'Five Minutes'. The Doctor has little Amelia...now what?
1. Luke gets drafted

It was nighttime and 13 Bannerman Road was for once quiet. Sarah Jane was out at a reunion, to the community it was her school reunion, the people closes to her know better. Her son was in his room. Luke was lying on his bed watching his ceiling bored out of his mind when he heard it, the 'whooshing' noise he'd learned to associate with the Doctor. He was surprised to see the TARDIS materialize in his hallway, however.

A man with messy hair peeked out and looked around before spotting him, "Luke! It's been awhile. Well, not awhile for me but for you certainly!"

"Hello, Doctor. Luke greeted him.

"Now, where is your mother? I need her expertise." The Doctor said ignoring the world around him.

"She's gone out with the others. Children of time reunion."

"Others? Yes wait Reunion?...Okay then, what are you doing here?"

"I've been grounded, "Luke said in annoyance.

"What for?"

"Long story, involving a satellite, a fork and the toaster. You wouldn't be interested. What do you need?"

"Well you see..."

Amelia poked her head out of the TARDIS and looked around, "Where are we?"

"A friend s house. I thought I told you to stay put?"

"Yes, and I'm here anyway. Why are we here?"

"We need help."

Luke watched this exchange with wide eyes, since when did the Doctor have a child?

"So Luke! Wanna go on a trip with us?" The Doctor rocked back and forth on his feet and grinned.

"Mum said I couldn't travel with you; that you couldn't use me as a companion." He frowned.

"Ah yes. Tricky...Hmm...Yes but she didn't say anything about as an employee...How do you feel about technically being a babysitter?"

Luke grinned, "Do I get to see other planets?"

"Yup."

"I'm in! But mum will notice I'm gone." Luke bit his lip and frowned.

"Non-sense. I'll have you back 5 minutes from now. Amelia hush."

Amelia just smiled innocently.

"Let s go then!" the Doctor ushered Luke into the TARDIS. Sarah Jane wouldn't notice her son missing for awhile...would she?

"It's-"

"Bigger on the inside." The Doctor and Amelia chorused together.

"Yeah and different then last time...Wow." Luke looked around in amazement.

"So, Luke, basically your job means you've got to keep her from getting snatched or well dying as I bounce around and save the universe. In return you get to see things that will take your breath away, new planets, old planets, stars collapsing, the first Olympic games. Sound fair?"

"Deal." Luke said breathlessly still in awe.

"Great! Find a room. I'm sure your mother s room is around here somewhere still...Amelia go shower, change you smell of Star whale!"

"You're smelling yourself," Amelia retorted but took off anyway.

The Doctor sniffed himself and made a face, "Fine...Luke go find a room, don't touch the controls and stay away from any door labeled 'come in'."

Luke nodded soundlessly still grinning foolishly. Okay, so they were a bit eccentric, but he got to travel the universe it was an even trade he figured.


	2. Time of the Angels

Daleks, of course it had to be Daleks. The one being in the entire universe that never died and they got to meet them constantly!

Well, at least it wasn't the Cybermen. That was a plus and the kids were having a blast. Luke was ecstatic - he'd gotten to meet CHURCHILL! And they'd sent planes into space with gravity bubbles. The boy was still bouncing.

The Daleks had taken off, once again escaping death. Well, they lived; but he had saved the earth from a bomb and saved a semi-human so maybe the Daleks' escape was evened out.

Luke was ecstatic his mind buzzing with thoughts. 'How many times do you get to see the Doctor hold an entire race hostage with a biscuit!' He'd been expecting somewhere fun after that, somewhere exciting, he'd been with the Doctor and Amelia about two weeks now. Two amazing weeks, but they'd still yet to see a new planet. Today they were in a museum.

"Ooo that's one of mine. And that one. Ha! Wrong, mostly wrong, sort of right." The Doctor bounced around pointing out exhibits.

"Why are we in a museum Doctor?" Luke asked him as he studied his surroundings.

"I think he's keeping score," Amelia told him.

"What's this?" Luke pointed to an old box covered in weird symbols that the Doctor seemed transfixed with.

"Can't see." Amelia grumbled prompting Luke to lift her up so she could see in the case.

"It's a home box but the writing, the graffiti: Old High Gallifreyan: The lost language of the Time Lords. There were days, there were many days, where these words could burn stars, raise up empires, and topple gods." The Doctor told them quite seriously.

"What's it say?" Luke and Amelia said together as if in awe.

"...Hello Sweetie." the Doctor sighed in exasperation.

"So we just write down the stuff and-" Luke's sentence was cut short as the Doctor pulled out his Sonic screwdriver and with a quick hit to a button shattered the glass.

"Run." The Doctor told them grabbing the home box glancing to where he could hear the guards rushed footsteps.

"Why does everything around you involve running!" Luke yelled as he dashed back towards the TARDIS, Amelia's hand in his.

"Saving the universe often involves rampaging aliens." The Doctor shot back.

"Yeah, but these are security guards, they're supposed to be on our side!"

"Obviously Martha hasn't told you about the platoon of Judoon on the moon!"

They made it to the TARDIS slamming the door shut behind them seconds before the guards reached them.

"What exactly is that thing anyway?" Amelia asked watching curiously as he hooked several wires to the box they'd just stolen.

"It's a home box. It's sort of like the black box on an airplane, but if the ship crashes this box flies home with all the flight data stored on it." the Doctor told her.

"So someone in a museum a couple thousand years ago is trying to get your attention by crashing a ship?" Luke asked.

"Didn't necessarily crash the ship. Just left graffiti on the box. Ah ha! There we go."

They watched in interest as a lady showed up on the screen and seemed to taunt the men with her before looking straight at the camera and rambling off a list of letters and numbers that made no sense.

"What is that?"

"Coordinates!" the Doctor laughed gleefully as he pressed buttons and pulled levers.

"Coordinates for what? What's an air corridor?" Luke asked.

The Doctor didn't answer instead choosing to dash across to the door, throwing it open and reaching a hand out as if to grab something. Moments later a woman was pulled into the TARDIS sending herself and the Doctor to the floor.

"Doctor?" Luke asked in confusion.

"River." the Doctor groaned as he helped the woman off the floor.

"Follow that ship!"  
>-<p>

"They've gone into warp drive! We're losing them, stay close!" She yelled at the Doctor as the ship bounced back and forth.

"I'm trying!" he yelled back as he nearly fell over, prompting Luke to hold onto Amelia and the guard railing of the TARDIS tightly.

"Use the stabilizers!" River told him watching as the children almost fell off the higher section of the control room.

"It doesn't have stabilizers!"

"The blue switches."

"The blue switches don't do anything they're just…blue!" the Doctor yelled in annoyance.

"Yes they're blue, they're the blue stabilizers!" Rivers growled as she hit them and the ship's rocking stopped, "See?" She smirked.

"Well now they're just boringers aren't they? They're…they're blue boringers!"

"Doctor?" Amelia moved forward now that the ships rocking had stopped and grabbed his hand reflexively, "How come she can fly the TARDIS?"

"You call that flying the TARDIS? HA!" the Doctor looked rather annoyed, but gave Amelia's hand a squeeze as if to say everything was alright.

"Okay; I've mapped the probability vectors; charted the ship to its destination and," River pressed a button and grinned at Amelia and the Doctor,

"Parked us right alongside."

"Parked us? We haven't landed." Luke looked confused.

"'Course we have. I just landed her." River said.

"But…it didn't make the noise?" the Doctor agreed with Luke.

"What noise?" River asked.

"You know the whole," the Doctor gestured with his hands and tried to imitate the TARDIS' landing noise, making Amelia and Luke laugh in the process.

"It's not supposed to make that noise. YOU leave the brakes on." River said, looking smug.

"Yeah? Well that's a brilliant noise, I love that noise." He countered, trying to save face in front of the kids, "Come along Pond, Smith. Let's have a look." the Doctor said, starting towards the door.

"No! Wait, environment checks." River told him, moving the screen so she could see it.

"Oh yes sorry quite right. Environment Checks," the Doctor agreed, opening the door and sticking his head out, " It's nice out."

"We're somewhere in the Garn belt, there's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest that—"River was cut off by the Doctor.

"We're on Alfava Metraxis: The seventh planet of the dundra system. Oxygen rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, Eleven hour day and," the Doctor stuck his head back out the door before looking back at them again, "Chances of rain later."

"He thinks he's so hot when he does that." River complained, looking at Amelia who was trying hard not to giggle.

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amelia asked her.

"Oh, I had lessons from the very best." River turned and smiled sweetly at the Doctor, "It's a shame you were busy that day. Right then, why did they land here?"

"They didn't land." the Doctor said smugly, finally knowing something she didn't that he could show off.

"Sorry?"

"You should have checked the home box, they crashed." He grinned.

River shot him a questioning look then walked outside to find the ship.

The Doctor shut the door behind her and dashed up the steps towards the consol again.

"Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?" Luke asked the Doctor.

"It's a long story and I don't know most of it! Off we go."

"What are you doing?"

"Leaving, she's got where she wants to go now let's go where /we/ want to go."

"So we're basically running away?" Luke clarified.

"Yup."

"Why?"

"Cause she's the future;_** MY**_ future." the Doctor growled in annoyance.

"Can you run away from your future?" Luke said in confusion.

"I can run away from anything I want, Time is NOT the boss of me."

"Hold on," Amelia tugged at his jacket to get his attention, "Is that a planet out there?"

"Yes of course it's a planet -" the Doctor stopped, already knowing where this was heading.

"You promised us a planet." Amelia grinned, bouncing in place, "Five minutes?"

The Doctor looked like he was going to refuse but relented, "Fine. FIVE minutes but that's all. And I'm warning you now that woman is _not_ dragging me into anything." He yelled as the kids took off out the door.

It was impressive looking, nearly horrifying really. The giant space ship had crashed into what appeared to be a building carved into a cliff face.

They picked their way carefully across the desert looking ground over to where River stood eyeing the crash.

She spoke without even turning around to look at them, "What caused it to crash? Not me."

"Nah, the air lock would have sealed seconds after you blew it. According to the home box the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors."

"Phase shift? That'd have to be sabotage," River said, "I did warn them."

"About what?" the Doctor asked.

"At least the building was empty," River continued on ignoring him, "Applan temple, unoccupied for centuries." 

The Doctor scowled looking rather grumpy as he walked back the few feet to where the kids stood.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Luke prodded the Doctor.

"No." the Doctor muttered crankily but sighed and forced pleasantness into his voice at Amelia's puppy dog eyes, "Amelia Pond, Luke Smith; Professor River Song." He gestured in way of introduction.

"Oh! I'm going to be a professor someday?" River gasped and grinned, "How exciting! Spoilers."

"Spoilers?" Luke repeated the word.

"It means I've given her information about the future she shouldn't have." the Doctor said, eyes closed as if he were praying to some deity for strength.

"But who is she? And how did she do that?" Amelia whispered to him, "She just left you a note in a museum!"

"Two things always guaranteed to turn up in a museum," River said, not even pretending to have not heard the whispers, "The home box of a category 4 star liner; and sooner or later him." River turned and smiled at Amelia, "It's how he keeps score."

"I know!" Amelia laughed.

"Hilarious isn't it?"

"I'm nobodies taxi service; I'm not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like like…Jumping out of a spaceship!" the Doctor objected.

"And you are so wrong." River said, "There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die."

The Doctor turned and stared at her making River grin, "Now he's listening."

She walked off talking on her communicator making plans with whomever she was with.

"We have a minute, shall we?" River asked pulling out the worn blue diary, "Where are we up to: Have we done the bone meadows yet?"

"What's the book?" Amelia asked curiously.

"Stay away from it!" the Doctor snapped making Amelia jump lightly, "It's her diary."

"Our diary." River corrected him.

"Her past my…Future." He said the word in irritation, "Time Travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order."

Suddenly in the distance what looked like four wind tunnels appeared swirling dust everywhere and making Luke step in front of Amelia cautiously.

When the dust cleared five men in fatigues stood carrying guns. One of them looked around before heading to them.

"You promised me an army Doctor Song." The man said in annoyance.

"No, I promised you the _equivalent_ of an army. This is the Doctor." River corrected him. 

"Father Octavian sir," he offered his hand, "Bishop second class. I've 20 clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert operation." Seeing the Doctors confusion Octavian paused, "Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"

"Doctor, what do you know of the 'Weeping Angels'?" River asked. 

"The angel as far as we know is still trapped in the ship, our mission is to get inside and neutralize it. We can't get through up top; we'd be too close to the drives. " Octavian pulled out a handheld device and showed it to the Doctor, "According to this behind the cliff face there is a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber and then work our way up."

"Oh good."

"Good, sir?"

"Catacombs, probably dark ones. Dark Catacombs, great." the Doctor said sarcastically.

"Technically I think it's called a 'Maze of the dead'." Octavian said.

"You can stop any time you like." the Doctor said, staring at the cliff face.

"Excuse me, sir." Octavian told him, walking off to where one of his clerics had called him.

"You're letting people call you 'sir'." Luke said, "You never do that."

"So whatever a weeping angel is it's really bad yeah?" Amelia asked.

"Now that's interesting," the Doctor turned and nailed them with a glare, "You're still here. What part of 'wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe' was so confusing? Aren't you supposed to be a good babysitter Luke?"

"I'm protecting!" Luke protested.

"Aww, don't worry, Luke. He's just being Mr. Grumpyface today." Amelia teased the boys.

"A weeping Angel, Amelia, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced and right now one of them is trapped inside of that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch and assuming I survive the radiation long enough and assuming the whole ship doesn't just blow up in my face, do something incredibly clever that I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?"

"Is River Song you wife?" Amelia asked.

Had the Doctor been drinking anything he'd have choked.

"Yeah!" Luke agreed, "Cause she talks to you and it's like…Like Martha talking to Mickey!"

"She is!" Amelia laughed watching the Doctors face, "She's Mrs. Doctor from the future isn't she?"

"Is she gonna be your wife one day?" Luke asked.

"Yes…You're right," the Doctor sighed, "I am definitely Mr. Grumpyface today."

"Doctor? Doctor!" River called from inside the trailer they'd set the equipment up in.

Luke and Amelia couldn't help but laugh at the look that crossed his face before he turned and walked to the trailer.

"Why do they call him father?" Luke asked.

"He's their bishop, they're his clerics. It's the 51st century. The church has moved on." 

The trailer was small and metal, pieces of equipment strewn across tables and boxes, but on one side was a screen that took up most of the wall. The screen was currently showing a video of an angel statue, standing with its head in its hands.

"What do you think?" River asked, gesturing to the screen, "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault; I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality, it's four seconds but I've put it on loop."

"Yup. It's an angel, hands covering its face." the Doctor said.

"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian said .

"Er, once on earth. A long time ago. But those were scavengers. Barely surviving."

"But it's a statue." Amelia said sounding confused.

"It's a statue when you see it." River corrected her.

"Where did it come from?" the Doctor demanded.

"Pulled from ruins the last century, it's been in private hands ever since, dormant all this time."

"There is a difference between 'dormant' and 'patience'." the Doctor said."

"What's that mean? 'It's a statue when you see it'?" Luke asked.  
>River took a breath as if she'd forgotten he was there then turned to look at Luke and Amelia, "The weeping angels can only move if they're unseen. Or so legend has It."<p>

"It's not legend; it's quantum lock! In the sight of any living creature they literally cease to exist, they're just…stone. The ultimate defense mechanism." He told Amelia.

"What, being stone?" Amelia asked.

"Being stone, until you turn your back." the Doctor said with a grin, almost excited for a moment, "Stay here you two. Luke, watch Amelia, Amelia don't mess with the electronics, and Luke don't mess with them either."

River tried not to laugh at the warning as she followed the Doctor and Octavian outside only half listening to the Doctors rambling.

"The hyper drive would have split open on impact, that whole ship is going to be flooded with radiation , cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost every living thing."

"Deadly to an angel?" Octavian asked hopefully.

"Diner to an angel! Who built that temple and are they still around?" the Doctor demanded.

"The Applans, indigenous life form. Died out over 400 years ago." River said, reading from her handheld.

"And 200 years later the planet was terraformed," Octavian told him, "Currently there are Six billion human colonists."

"Whoo! You lot, you're like RABBITS! I'll never get done saving you!" the Doctor yelled, turning away to hide his grin.

"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population—"

"Oh there is, bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load."

"I don't think they need us." Luke commented dryly to Amelia.

The kids, being kids as they were (though Luke might have resented being lumped in as 'child' had Clyde been there to inform him it was an insult) were quickly bored. Everyone else was dashing about getting ready.

So as it were it wasn't long until Luke noticed some of the equipment the clerics were using looked fun.

"I'll be right back, stay here and don't get hurt." Luke said sternly before rushing off to see if he could get the clerics to let him use some of the electronics.

Amelia rolled her eyes but walked back inside and looked at the screen. It looked like it had moved, but that was impossible. 

"I found this," River said handing the Doctor an old book, "Definitive work on the angels, only work actually. It was written by a madman. It's barely readable but I've marked a few passages."

The Doctor flipped the book quickly scanning the pages, "Oh not bad. But slow in the middle. Didn't you hate his girlfriend? No, no, hold on. Wait… This book is wrong. What is it….this book is wrong." 

Amelia moved closer to the screen, Doctor Song had said she'd only had the same four seconds on loop… But it looked different. It was facing her now. It'd been away, hands over its face moments ago.

She looked down at the time stamp, Maybe River had recorded more than she thought? No, same 4 second loop.

When Amelia looked back up the Angel was even closer to the screen then it had been before.  
>So absorbed in watching the screen, Amelia didn't notice the door shutting behind her, or the locking hydraulics click into place.<p>

Amelia turned away for a second to grab the remote, jumping a bit when it had moved again.  
>She clicked the remote at the screen, but it turned itself back on. She tried it a few times ,but still nothing.<p>

"But…You're just a recording." Amelia whispered in shock, "You can't move."

Amelia put the remote down and moved to pull the plug from the wall, but it wouldn't budge.

With a sigh she looked back up, okay face at screen now!

Amelia jumped backwards with a gasp, okay now might be a good time… 

"Doctor?" Amelia called making her way back to the door. The door wouldn't open. She couldn't even get the handle to move.

Oh the Doctor was going to laugh if she'd got herself locked in a trailer because she was too short or too weak to open the door properly.

Amelia glanced back at the screen and flinched, the angels expression had changed into a snarl, showing off pointy teeth Amelia was quite scared of now.

"Doctor?" Amelia tried harder to get the door open but it wouldn't budge.

Turning around in fear she saw the angel was now in the room with her. Like an image from the projectors they'd used at her school.

"DOCTOR!" Amelia screamed.

"It's so strange when the tw—when you go all baby faced." River said, quickly correcting herself, "How early is this for you?"

"Fairly early." the Doctor replied, not even catching her near mistake.

"So you don't know who I am yet?" There was amusement in her tone, but also a hint of hurt.

"How do you even know who I am? I don't always look the same you know." the Doctor said, flipping through the book again.

"I've got pictures of all your faces. You've never quite shown up in the right order though. Good thing A…I've got the spotters guide."

"Pictures!" the Doctors head snapped up from the book, "This entire book is a warning about the angels, so why no pictures!"

"What do you mean?"

"This whole book! It's all a warning about the angels, so why aren't there any pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?" the Doctor said.

"Well there was that bit, the bit about images? What was that?" River suggested.

"Yes! Hang on," the Doctor thumbed through the book before reading aloud, "'That which holds the image of an angel is itself an angel'."

"Well what does that mean?" River asked with a frown, "'an image of an angel becomes itself an angel'."

"DOCTOR!" Amelia's scream pierced the night.

"Amy!" River gasped running to where the scream had come from.

"Amelia!" the Doctor yelled running towards the trailer, so much in fear he didn't notice River's reaction, or the name she'd used.

"Amelia? What's happening?"

"Doctor, the angel is here! It came out of the television."

"Amelia keep your eyes on it, it can't move if you're looking!" the Doctor yelled. He cursed and hit the keypad, even the sonic wasn't opening it.

"What's wrong?" River asked.

"It's deadlocked."

"There is no deadlock!" River said.

"Don't blink Amelia!" the Doctor called again through the walls as he pulled at power cords, "Keep looking at it!"

"What's happening?" Luke asked, out of breath from his sprint from the cliff face.

"She's trapped with an angel, some babysitter you are!" the Doctor growled, "Oh it's no use the cords won't give! The whole system is deadlocked."

"There isn't a deadlock!" River said, panic in her voice.

"There is now!"

Luke moved towards the door, "Amelia? Can you turn off the screen?"

"I tried."

"Try again!" the Doctor yelled, "but don't take your eyes off of it!"

"It..It just keeps switching back on!" Amelia yelled back out at them.

"Yeah, that's the angel." the Doctor cursed running back to where he'd left the book hoping it'd help him.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked River, watching her apply flames from her gun onto the panels.

"Trying to cut through, but it's not even warm!"

"There's no way in." Luke said fearfully.

"It's not physically possible!" the Doctor agreed.

"What's it going to do to me?" They heard Amelia ask weakly.

"Amelia! Look anywhere, but don't look at the eyes." the Doctor called desperately, arriving back with the book.

"Why?"

"What is it?" River asked him in alarm.

"'The eyes are not the windows to the soul, but the doors; beware what may enter there.'"

Amelia wasn't sure if she'd ever been so scared in her life, even the crack hadn't scared her as much as this did.  
>She could hear them yelling back and forth outside, but unless they yelled directly at the door it didn't transfer everything well.<p>

"What did you say about images?" Amelia yelled.

The Doctor was muffled through the door.

"Doctor?"

"That which holds the image of an angel IS an angel." She heard River say clearly. She sounded as if she was trying to be calm. But it just made Amelia think of the adults who said 'everything's fine' even though it's not.

"Holds it?" Amelia repeated softly. Could an angel be paused like a movie?

"Okay can't hurt to try." Amelia took a deep breath and counted, "One, Two, Three, Four!" As it hit four and the loop flickered Amelia pressed the off button. The Angel flickered then disappeared.

The doors opened behind her allowing the Doctor, River and Luke to rush in.

"I…I froze it!" Amelia said in shock, "There was a blip on the tape and I stopped it."

The Doctor ran forward the few steps and lifted her up into a hug ignoring the fact that if any of the clerics saw him it would obviously lessen the 'I'm a tough monster fighter' image, "Brilliant Pond, just Brilliant!"

The Doctor sat her back on the ground moving to jerk the plug out of the wall using his sonic to make sure it couldn't be done in again.

"Yeah, I creamed it didn't I?" Amelia said shakily, trying to sound confidence.

"That was amazing," River agreed placing a hand on her shoulder as Luke hugged her.

"So that was here? That was the angel?" Luke asked.

"No that was a projection of the angel. It's reaching out, getting a good look at us; it's no longer dormant" the Doctor said, kneeling down to look Amelia in the eye, "Remember what I said about the sonic?"

"Not to use it other than for locks and a flashlight." Amelia repeated.

"Let me see It." the Doctor held out his hand. Amelia dug in her pocket and handed over her child sized Sonic screwdriver; both missed the look of surprise and nostalgia that passed over Rivers face as he took it, but Luke noticed. 

The Doctor took his own out and pressed a few buttons, bathing the smaller sonic in a green light momentarily before he handed it back, "If you set anything ablaze, blow up anything or burst any eardrums with a frequency attempt…."

"You'll ground me?"

The Doctor looked at her seriously, "don't hurt yourself. And the settings go back to child locked once we're done here."

"Thanks."

Their rather mushy moment was interrupted by an explosion outside, making them all start just a little.

"I forgot to tell you they were using lots of explosives." Luke said weakly watching the Doctor (still holding Amelia's hand) take off out the door to where the Clerics stood with Octavian.

River went to follow but was stopped by a hand on her arm, she looked back at Luke, "Yes?"

"You know her. In the future I mean." Luke said, it wasn't a question.

"Who says that?" River said quickly.

"Your actions." Luke said simply, "How old was she?"

"Spoilers."

"Can you answer one question for me, then we'll drop the entire subject."

"Depends on the question." River said softly, as the two started following the Doctor.

"Did I…Do I fail as a babysitter?"

River turned to look at him closely, noting the fear and worry on his face, the Doctors words must have hit harder then she thought. She stepped closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Luke, saying much on the future could jeopardize it."

"I know just…Do I keep her safe? Until he takes her back home I mean." 

River closed her eyes and inhaled, "I can't say much but…I can say without a doubt that you'd never let someone you're protecting get hurt."

Luke semi-smiled, it was an answer, but not a complete one. He figured (correctly) that was all he'd be able to get out of her. 

"Do we have a gravity Globe?" the Doctor asked as he hopped down off the ladder into the dark maze, leaving River to help Amelia and Luke off the ladder.

"Grav-Globe!" Octavian asked the clerics, making one walk forward and hand the Doctor a small globe object.

"Where are we?" Amelia asked, jumping the last few feet to the floor with River's help.

"An Applan Moltarium, sometimes called a 'maze of the dead'." River said.

"What's that?"

"Well if you happen to be a creature of living stone, a perfect hiding place." the Doctor said, dropping the gravity Globe and kicking it into the air.

It flew up to the middle of the maze lighting the entire space making all the people gasp. The entire place was made up of stone, stairs and windows carved into the rocks, statues everywhere in various states of decay.

"Well I guess this makes it a bit trickier." Octavian said.

"A bit yeah." He agreed.

"A stone angel on the loose amongst stone statues; a lot harder than I prayed for." Octavian admitted.

"A needle in a haystack." River whispered eyes wide as she moved her torch around watching the faces of the statues.

"A needle that looks like hay, a hay like needle of death; a hay like needle of death in a haystack of statues," the Doctor paused, "No, yours was fine."

"Right." Octavian turned to the Clerics and started giving orders.

"How do we fight a statue?" Luke asked the Doctor.

"We find it and we…hope." the Doctor said, walking off to inspect statues, children in tow. If they noticed River get held behind by Octavian they didn't show it.

Amelia stopped halfway up the stairwell, making Luke get pulled backwards by the sudden motion. Something was bugging her; she blinked repeatedly and rubbed her eyes.

"Am—Amelia?" River caught up with them, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

Luke bounced in place, making River laugh, "Well go on and find him then, I've got Amelia."

"Thanks!" Luke grinned and dashed after the Doctor.

"So what _is_ a maze of the dead?" Amelia asked River, moving her sonic around as a torch.

"Oh it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls," River paused, "Okay, that was fairly bad."  
>Amelia just shook her head trying not to laugh.<p>

"Okay, gimme your arm." River said, grabbing Amelia's arm with one hand and rolling the sleeve up, pulling out some device Amelia didn't recognize with the other, "Right, this won't hurt a bit."

"OW!" Amelia yelped as the device hissed and pierced her skin, sending a glare Rivers way.

"There you see? I lied." River smiled and then explained, "It's a viro-stabilizer; it stabilizes your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship."

Amelia watched trying not to giggle when River pulled the viro-stabilizer away and absentmindedly kissed her fingers and touched them to the place it had been. Catching herself at Amelia's glance she blushed a bit but didn't say anything.

"So you know the Doctor in the future?" Amelia asked her, "What's he like?"

"Er, the Doctor? The Doctor is the Doctor."

"Helpful aren't you?" Amelia laughed. 

"Yes we are." River said suddenly, shining the light on the Doctor.

"What?"

"Talking about you." River said cheerfully.

"I wasn't listening, I'm busy." the Doctor said moodily in a 'I'm busy leave me alone' voice.

"Ah. Other way up." River said, indicating the device he was holding.

"Oh." the Doctor flipped it around and stalked off.

"You really are his wife aren't you?" Luke said in awe.

"This is the Doctor; do you really think it could be anything that simple?" River asked.

"Yup." Amelia said, popping the P.

"You're good, I'm not saying you're right but you're good." River said quickly, "You are very good."

In the darkness Angelo and Christian wandered, torch waving back and forth to light their way. They were supposed to be checking out where this passageway went, but being a bit afraid of their current job and annoyed at being sent to explore a passageway they were distracted by complaining back and forth:

"Can you believe this? We're hunting STATUES."

"It's better than chasing lava snakes," was the reply as Christian swung his torch to examine a statues face.

"Actually I didn't mind the lava snakes." Angelo admitted.

Christian didn't reply this time, but went ahead.

Making sure to walk around the rocks he watched the statues as he went, pointing his gun at them each individually before moving on. The water dripped around him, the cave felt humid and he felt fear welling in him for some reason.

The sound of stone on stone, Christian jumped a bit; "Who's there? Is someone there?" he didn't get a reply. "Angelo? Angelo!" Christian said sharply but quietly, trying to avoid detection from anything nearby. By time Christian realized his fear was founded it was too late….

"Christian, is that you?" Angelo asked quietly into his communicator, either not trying to hide his fear or just failing at it.

"Angelo, come and see this." Christians voice came from the communicator devoid of emotion.

"What is it?" Angelo asked impatiently.

"Just come and see." Christian urged.

"It's not a school trip, just tell me." Angelo said, moving his torch back and forth backing slowly out of the cave he stood in and through the passage Christian had gone through.

"No really. Come and see." Christian sounded as if issuing a dare to Angelo.

The last thing Angelo knew was fear before everything went away. 

"This is a bit creepy." Amelia said, holding tight to the Doctors hand. He was moving his torch back and forth over statues faces searching.

"Just a bit." Luke agreed following behind, "It'd be really amazing if we weren't being threatened with death though!" he said enthusiastically.  
>River laughed, "You sound like the Doctor."<p>

Luke actually looked pleased at that.

"Everything's fine." the Doctor told Amelia with a smile at the inside joke making Amelia laugh.

"These are so strange," Luke stated leaning up right into the face of a crumbling statue, "They look like they've been exposed to the elements for centuries!"

"Don't sound so enthusiastic about -"River was cut off by the sound of gunfire.

Dashing off down the small incline they came across a smoking statue and a shivering cleric.

"I-I thought I saw it move." The cleric stuttered, "Sorry, I thought it looked at me."

"We know what the angel looks like, is THAT the angel?" Octavian demanded.

"No sir…"

"'No Sir' it is not! According to the Doctor we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good, it would be very good if we could all remain calm in the presence of décor."

"What's your name?" the Doctor asked the young cleric.

"Bob, sir."

"Oh that's a great name! I love 'Bob'."

"It's a sacred name," Octavian told him, "we all have sacred names given in service of the church."

"Sacred Bob." The Doctor nodded.

"Scared Bob." Amelia said sympathetically.

"Yeah more scared Bob now." the Doctor agreed.

"Yes sir." Bob said weakly.

"Good! Scared keeps you fast! Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron." the Doctor pointedly looked at Octavian before clapping them both on the back, "Carry on!"

"Scared means you're smart then?" Luke asked.

"I must be bloody Einstein." Amelia replied.

"Watch you-" River paused changing what she was going to say last moment, "I'd say you'd been influenced by the Doctor but as he doesn't curse often I think I'll call Luke on this one."

Luke blushed slightly but smiled at Amelia's grin.

"Right…" Octavian cleared his throat, "We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes." He turned back to Bob, "You stay with Christian and Angelo; guard the approach."

"Isn't there a chance that this whole place will collapse?" Luke asked curiously as they made their way up the path once more.

"Yeah, cause isn't there a whole ship up there?" Amelia agreed.

"Incredible builders, the Applans," River said, "It'll hold."

"I had dinner with their chief architect once." the Doctor bragged, "Two heads are better than one."

"You helped him?" Amelia said.

"No, he had two heads." the Doctor informed her with a smile, "All Applans do…er, did? Anyway, that book the very end; what did it say?"

"Hang on." River put her torch down to pull out the book once more.

"Read it to me."

River rolled her eyes at the order but read aloud anyway, "_'What if we had ideas that could think for themselves. What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true the time will be upon us, the time of Angels.'_"

"Sounds like a riddle." Luke remarked.

"Sounds like one of those mystery books Aunt Shannon likes." Amelia said.

They were caught up in studying statues and so didn't notice River's flinch at the name.

"Are we there yet? It's a hell of a climb." Amelia said still twirling her sonic about.

"Wa-!" River closed her eyes and tensed her jaw for a moment before opening her eyes again, "The maze is on 6 levels representing the ascent of the soul. Only two more to go." River smiled encouragingly at Amelia.

Luke shrugged, "It's like hiking with Clyde. We got to go camping once. It was a bit less terrifying then this though."

"Lovely people, the Applans, we should visit them sometime." the Doctor said.

"I thought they were all dead?" Luke said.

"Time machine." Amelia said smartly making the Doctor chuckle.

"Very relaxed," the Doctor carried on, "Sort of cheerful, but that's having two heads for you. You're never short a snog with an extra head."

"Doctor!" River exclaimed in shock that he'd make a remark around the children. The Doctor just snickered to himself.

River frowned in annoyance but then paused, "Doctor there's something…I don't know what it is but…"

"Yeah, I know." the Doctor agreed, "There's something wrong. Don't know what it is yet either; working on it." He shook his head before continuing his earlier conversation, "Course then they started having laws against self marrying. I mean what was that about? But that's the church for you." He turned and shined his torchlight right into Octavian's face and smiled in mock apology, "No offense."

"Quite a lot taken if that's alright, Doctor." Octavian tried to brush off his annoyance and stalked away.

Amelia and Luke giggled as they watched him go, the Doctor trying to hide his smirk.

"Don't like him do you?" Luke asked the Doctor as they followed behind the Bishop and his clerics.

"Who said I don't?" the Doctor acted offended.

"He's…stiff." Amelia finally pronounced, making a face.

"The lowest point of the wreckage is about 50 feet up." Octavian said loudly stifling their laughter.

"Church did have a point though." Luke mused, ignoring Octavian in favor of their previous conversation.

"Yeah." Amelia agreed, "The divorces must've been messy."

The Doctor stopped suddenly, jerking Amelia backwards by her hand on accident, "Oh."

"What's wrong?" Amelia asked curiously, shining her sonic at the face of the statue the Doctor was examining.

"Oh…" River breathed out in realization eyes darting from statue to statue.

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"Exactly!" the Doctor told her, watching the statues closely.

"How could we not notice?" River asked urgently.

"Low level perception filter, or maybe we're thick!" he growled.

"What's wrong sir?"

"Nobody move. Everyone stay _exactly_ where they are!" the Doctor said quickly, "Bishop I'm sorry but I've made a mistake and we're all in terrible danger."

"What danger?" Amelia asked, squeezing the Doctors hand a bit in fear.

"The Applans." River told her, shining her torch directly onto the face of one of the statues.  
>"What about them?" Octavian demanded.<p>

"They've got two heads." River said, swallowing back fear.

"Yes, I get that so?"

"The statues don't." Luke said suddenly.

"Exactly." the Doctor said, "Okay, everyone over there!" the Doctor shined his torch over to a corner of the room they were in, "Just move don't ask questions, don't speak." He squeezed Amelia's hand lightly in reassurance but shooed her off to the corner too, mentally noting that River grabbed her hand before Luke did.

"Okay, I want you all to turn off your torches, you too Amelia."

"Sir?"

"Just do it."

The torches went out one by one till only the Doctor's was left.

"Okay I'm going to turn this one off too, just for a moment." the Doctor told them, not turning his eyes away from a group of 5 statues.

"Are you sure?" River asked, trying to emanate courage to the two frightened adolescents beside her.

"No."

Despite being unsure he flipped off his torch anyway, plunging them into pure darkness for about 3 seconds before he flipped it on again.

Everyone gasped as they saw all the statue's had turned to face them.

"Oh my God."

"They've moved!" Amelia said in fear.

The Doctor ignored them and took off down the tunnel they'd come through, quickly shining his torch around, his own breathing a bit panicked now. The entire group of statue's they'd seen throughout the passages seemed to be following behind them. Crawling, arms outstretched towards their prey while they climbed some standing as if on a base, all frozen; quantum locked. Oh God he'd lead them into a trap beyond what he'd dealt with before.

Amelia tried to run after the Doctor but River hauled her backwards by the back of her jumper, keeping Amelia next to her.

River edged forward making sure Luke and Amelia were behind her as she made her way up to the Doctor.

"They're angels, ALL of them." the Doctor told her, fear evident in his voice.

"They can't be." River protested.

"Clerics, keep watching them." He yelled back dashing forward again till he was at a gap in the wall.

"They're all alive." Luke gasped.

"Every statue, every single statue in this maze is an angel." the Doctor told them, angry at himself, "And they're coming after us." 

Bob moved slowly around the chamber, trying to steel his nerves as he watched the faces of the angels. He hadn't meant to shoot, he was just afraid. He wasn't as old as the others and hadn't been on as many trips as they had. He prayed to God for the strength to get him through this, and for the Doctor to find a way to help them all. His thoughts were interrupted by the beep of his communicator.

"Bob come and see this."

"Angelo?" Bob flipped his communicator back on.

"Come and see what we've found." Angelo enticed him.

"Are you with Christian?" Bob asked, "The Bishop said you'd be five minutes."

"I'm here Bob. Come and see this." Christian's tone sounded eager, but was dark underneath.

"Where are you?" Bob looked around trying to find them.

"Through the arch. Come and see." Angelo ordered him, "Honestly you've got to come and see this."

"What've you found?" Bob tried to stall but also tried not to admit he was afraid.

"Come and see."

"No. Wh-what is it?"

"Come. And. See." Angelo ordered him darkly.

Taking a deep breath and praying Bob walked slowly through the arch. His prayers for safety were unanswered and the last he knew was pain and fear.

"There was only one angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear!" River told him.

"Could they have been here already?" Luke suggested.

"The Applans, what happened? How did they die out?" the Doctor asked.

"Nobody knows." River said.

"We know." Amelia whispered softly holding tight to Luke's hand.

"They don't look like angels." Octavian commented.

"And they're not fast. You said they were fast." Amelia said, hoping maybe he was wrong, just once.

"They should've had us by now." River agreed.

"Look at them! They're dying. Losing their forms. They've been down here for centuries. Starving."

"Losing their image." Luke nodded, "And their image is their power?"

"Yes. Power? POWER! HA!"

"Doctor?"

"All that radiation spilling out of the Byzantium! The crash wasn't an accident," the Doctor said enthusiastically, "It was a rescue mission, for the angels. We're in the middle of an army!"

"And it's waking up." River took a deep breath, "We need to get out of here. **_Fast_**."

"Bob, Angelo, Christian? Come in." There wasn't an answer, "Anyone?"

"It's Bob sir. Sorry sir."

"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active," the bishop said urgently, "I repeat: all the statues are active."

"I know sir. Angelo and Christian are dead sir. The statue's killed them Sir."

The Doctor reached out and snatched the communicator from Octavian, "Bob, Sacred Bob. It's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?"

"I'm talking to—"

"Yeah yeah shut up." the Doctor shushed him.

"I'm on my way up to you sir. I'm honing in on your signal."

"Ah, well done Bob. Scared keeps you fast. Told you didn't I? Your friend's Bob, what did the angel do to them?"

"Snapped their necks sir."

Everyone shifted uncomfortably, Amelia and Luke shifting unconsciously closer to River causing her to reach out and place a hand on either of their shoulders in comfort.

"See that's not how the angels kill you. They displace you in time. Unless…they needed bodies for something."

Octavian stole his communicator back, "Bob did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue pla—"

"Oh don't be an idiot the angels don't leave you alive." The Doctor yelled grabbing the communicator back and beeping it on to speak, "Bob, keep running. But tell me, how did you escape?"

"I didn't. The angel killed me too."

The Doctor closed his eyes as he heard the whimper of fear from behind him, placing to the back of his mind for now, "What do you mean the angel killed you too?"

"Snapped my neck sir. It wasn't as painless as I expected but it was quick so that's something." Bob admitted.

"If you're dead how can I be talking to you?" the Doctor asked placing horror on the back burner.

"You're not talking to me sir; the angel has no voice. They striped my cerebral cortex from my body and reanimated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."

"So when you say _you're_ on your way up to us…?"

"It's the angel that's coming sir, yes."

The Doctor flinched slightly, "No way out."

"Then we get out through the wreckage." Octavian said quickly.

"Go, go. go, all of you run!" the Doctor told them when Luke and Amelia hesitated, "Go with River, now. I'm coming just go."

They both looked terrified but obeyed his first rule of traveling: 'Do as I say'.

Amelia held onto River's left hand, Luke running a few steps behind them. Not even thinking she held onto a railing with her left hand to help keep her footing steady only to be jerked backwards yet again.

"Am-Amelia?" River asked, "What's wrong?"

"My hand?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's stone." Amelia said in fear, looking River in the eyes.

- 

"Which angel am I talking to? The angel from the ship?" the Doctor guessed.

"Yes sir."

"Good so the angel isn't in the ship. Thanks!"

He ran up the path that he'd sent the others up to see Amelia, River and Luke hovering on a stair path.

"Don't wait for me, run!" He ordered.

"I can't." Amelia said fearfully.

"Why not?"

"Look at my hand, it's stone."

"Luke, River go ahead." the Doctor ordered them.

Luke ran ahead, but River stayed. The Doctor didn't even pause to chastise her for it.

"You looked into the eyes of the angel didn't you?" the Doctor asked her rhetorically as he shined his torch back and forth between her eyes.

"I couldn't stop myself, I tried." Amelia whimpered.

"It's messing with your head, your hand isn't stone."

"It is!"Amelia protested.

"It's in your mind I promise you."

"I've tried, I can't. It's stone." She looked a bit panicked now that the torches were flickering again.

"Look, the angel is going to come and it's going to turn this light off and then there's nothing I can do to stop it. So you've got to concentrate or we're both going to die."

"You're not going to die." Amelia said stubbornly.

"It'll kill the lights." the Doctor reminded her.

"But…you've got to go! You've got stuff with River." Amelia said trying to be strong, "You _can't_ die here."

"Time can be re-written." He replied, eyes in the distance, "It doesn't work that way."

Amelia turned around as best she could and watched the statues that were advancing as the lights flickered.

"Keep your eyes on it, don't let it move."

"You've got to go. Run. They'll miss you, they need **_you_**."

"See I'm not going anywhere, I'm not leaving you here."

"But they need you! Those people will die without you." Amelia said, trying not to cry.

"Amelia Pond you are magnificent and I'm sorry."

Amelia nodded not looking at him, "You've got to leave me. I know."

"Oh no, I'm not leaving you. I'm never leaving you. I'm sorry for this." the Doctor leant down and bit the back of her hand.

"OW!" Amelia yelped and grabbed her hand.

"See? Not stone!" the Doctor said cheerfully, "Now run."

"You bit me!"

"Yeah, and you're alive."

"I've got a mark!"

"And you're alive! Did I mention?"

"Ow! Have you got space teeth?"

"You bit her?" River asked incredulously as they ran.

"Yeah, alive, that's all I'm saying!" the Doctor grumbled, "Critique my parenting skills later." He pulled the two with him as he ran, not noticing the slip in his word choice.

"The statues are advancing on all sides."

"Sir, my torch keeps flickering." One of the clerics said.

"They all do." Octavian replied.

"So does the Gravity globe." River told them trying to ignore the emotion stirred by Luke holding Amelia tight.

"We're down to four men, expect incoming." Octavian said.

"Yup it's the angels, they're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves." the Doctor said, studying the ceiling before reaching over to hold onto Amelia's jumper as if to keep her close.

"So we won't be able to see them."

"Which means we can't stay here." the Doctor clarified.

"Two more incoming!" one cleric yelled.

"Any suggestions?" River asked.

"They're advancing on all sides." Octavian grimaced, "And we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium."

"There's no way out, no way back, no way up." River looked grim, "No pressure, but this is usually when you have a REALLY good idea." She looked at the Doctor in hope.

"There's always a way out," the Doctor said as the power flicked off for a few moments then back on again.

"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor please?" Bob's voice came from the communicator.

"Hello Angels, what's your problem?" the Doctor asked, handing his torch off so he could pull out the communicator.

"Your power will not last much longer, and the angels will be with you shortly. I'm sorry sir."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"There is something the Angels are keen for you to know before the end."

"Which is?" the Doctor asked.

"I died in fear." Bob said frankly.

"I'm sorry?"

"You told me my fear would keep me alive, but I died afraid, in pain, and alone. You made me trust you and when it mattered you let me down."

"What are they doing?" Luke asked River.

"They're trying to make him angry." River responded.

"I'm sorry sir; the angels were very keen for you to know that." Bob sounded contrite.

"Well Bob the angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead Bob but I swear to whatever is left of you they will be sorrier."

"But you're trapped sir, and about to die."

"Yeah and speaking of traps this traps got a big mistake in it a great big whopping mistake!"

"What mistake sir?"

"Trust me?" the Doctor asked Luke.

"You saved me." Luke said in way of answer.

The Doctor looked at River who smiled, "Always."

He crouched down briefly to look Amelia in the eye, "Trust me."

"Yes." Amelia said, not hesitating at all.

"Bishop?"

"We have faith sir."

"Good then give me your gun."

Octavian looked confused but handed over his pistol.

"I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous and when I do Jump."

"How high?" Amelia asked lightly causing him to laugh despite the situation.

"Jump where?" Octavian asked.

"Just jump. High as you can. Leap of faith, Bishop."

"On my signal."

"What signal?"

"You won't miss it." the Doctor warned him.

"You mentioned a mistake we made?" Bob's voice came through again.

The Doctor shifted his stance and aimed the gun at the grav globe. "Didn't anyone ever tell you? There's one thing you never put in a trap if you're smart. If you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, _ever_ put in a trap."

"And what would that be, sir?"

"Me."

He pulled the trigger, a gunshot filled the air and darkness fell around them.


	3. Flesh and Stone pt1

AN: We're still looking for a brit-picker, if there are any volunteers. Reviews, as always are welcome!

"Look up!" the Doctor commanded shining his torch around at the ceiling.

"What happened?" Amelia asked woozily as River helped her to her feet.

"We jumped." River told her, subtly checking Amelia for injuries.

"Jumped where?" Luke looked around trying to grasp where he was.

"Up, up! Look up!" the Doctor repeated looking up a look of amusement edging onto his face before he tried to look serious again.

"Where are we?" Luke questioned looking up.

"Exactly where we were." River said breathlessly.

"No we're not." Amelia disagreed looking around, this was not where they were, there weren't the corridors on the side, nor angels surrounding them…

"Move your feet." the Doctor nudged Luke aside crouching down messing with something on the floor, sonic out.

"Doctor, what am I looking at?" Luke said clearly puzzled.

"Explain." Amelia demanded tugging lightly at the Doctors Jacket.

"Oh come on Amelia think. The ship crashed but the power is still on yes? So what ELSE is still on?"

Amelia gasped realizing that they were exactly where they had be before, but looking 'up' proved to be looking 'down' at where they had been,

"The Artificial gravity was on."

"Yup. One good jump and up we fell!" the Doctor agreed happily bouncing and creating a metal clanging noise as his feet hit the floor, "Shot out the grav globe to give us an updraft and here we are!" he aimed his sonic at the opening hatch for the ship.

"Doctor? The statues, they look a lot more like angels now." Octavian warned him.

"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage aren't they?" Luke asked, "Draining all the power."

"Yes. Within the hour they'll be an army!" the Doctor agreed with Luke.

"Well that's just brilliant." Octavian muttered.

The Doctor ignored him and pressed his Sonic against the hull again sliding open a hatch that dropped into the ship.

Amelia gasped and grabbed Luke's hand when the lights started flickering again, "What's going on?"

"They're taking out the lights." the Doctor explained trying to sound calm, "Just look at them. Look at the angels."

"I'm watching." River informed him.

"Right. Okay," the Doctor moved the hatch, "Into the ship, now, quickly all of you." He leapt into the hole producing yelps of fear from Luke and Amelia.

"Doctor!" Amelia yelled looking down the hatch only to see the Doctor standing on his feet looking up at her as if she were looking through a window.

"Oh come on now, it's just a corridor." the Doctor rolled his eyes affectionately and jumped clanking the metal against his shoes, "The gravity orientates to the floor. Now in here all of you and don't you dare take your eyes off of the Angels. Move, move, Move!" the Doctor yelled sonicing the keypad on the wall.

Luke and Amelia exchanged looks of mixed fear and trust before Luke leapt in hauling Amelia after him.

"OK, men, go,go,go!" Octavian yelled from outside as River and the other clerics joined them inside the corridor.

Octavian jumped in last moments before the hatch closed sealing the door to the outside, "The angels, presumably they can jump up too?" 

"They're here, now." the Doctor told him seriously as the door shut tight behind them," In the dark, we're finished. Run!"

"This whole place is a death trap!" Father Octavian protested dashing down the corridor.

"No, it's a time bomb. Well, a death trap AND a time bomb." the Doctor corrected him tugging Amelia with him and making a noise of despair, "And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic."

Everyone of the Clerics –Father Octavian included - jumped when a loud banging noise was heard from the exterior door. River crept subtly closer to Luke and Amelia.

"Okay, Just me then." the Doctor corrected himself squeezing Amelia's hand in comfort, "What's through here?" he indicated the door.

"The Secondary flight deck." River told him starting work on the control panel.

"OK, so we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah?" Luke asked.

"Doctor, what happens if the gravity fails?" Amelia asked him, not noticing Rivers look of discomfort at Amelia's use of his name.

"I've thought about that." the Doctor assured her.

"And?" Amelia prompted.

"And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See? I have thought about it." the Doctor examined the power box alongside River nudging Amelia closer to Luke, "The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them, it's impossible!" the Doctor declared.

"How impossible?" River asked.

"Two minutes." He answered fiddling with the box.

The hum of the engine suddenly quieted leaving them in relative silence.

"Doctor…"Amelia whimpered and clutched Luke's hand tightly.

"What?" he asked distractedly.

"The door." Luke told him.

The Doctor spared a glance towards the door to find it had been re-opened and they could see the outside rocks that made up the cavern.

"The hull is breached, and the power is failing." Luke sounded worried.

"Sir! Incoming!" one of the Clerics yelled aiming his gun at the door."

"Doctor! Lights!" River prompted him.

The Doctor working on the panel River indicated and flipped the lights on only to have them go out again.

"DOCTOR!" Amelia shrieked inching backwards as an angel stood froze just outside the door.

The Doctor frowned in concentration and the after a secondary flicker of the lights they came on brighter again illuminating four angels standing in the corridor with them.

"Clerics, keep watching them." Octavian ordered.

"Yes sir."

"And DON'T look at their eyes, "the Doctor told them, "Look anywhere else. Just not at the eyes. Now then, I've isolated the lighting grid, they can't drain the power now."

"Good work, Doctor." Octavian nodded approvingly.

"Yes. Good…Good in many ways, good you like it so far…"

"So far?" Amelia asked worriedly clutching the Doctors hand.

"Well, there's only one way to open this door. I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control."

"Good, Fine, just do it." Octavian said.

"Including the lights." Luke realized, "All of them. You're going to turn out the lights."

"Yes." the Doctor nodded.

"For how long?" Octavian asked.

"Fraction of a second, maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer." the Doctor admitted scrubbing a hand through his hair.

"'_Maybe_'?" Octavian repeated incredulously.

"I'm guessing. We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship, there isn't a manual for this!" he yelled.

"Doctor, we've lost the torches. We'll be in total darkness." River warned him.

"Not total darkness." the Doctor smirked, "Amelia!"

Amelia held up her tiny pink sonic and smiled uneasily as it emitted a small light making River grin.

"Very nice." River told her with a smile.

"No other way anyway." the Doctor said, "Bishop?"

"Dr. Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust this man?" Octavian demanded.

"I absolutely trust him." River said confident in the Doctors abilities.

"He's not some kind of madman then?" Octavian continued.

River searched for an answer before responding somewhat weakly, "I absolutely trust him."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and stopped paying attention going back to working on the door.

"I'm taking your word, because you're the only one who can manage this guy. But that only works so long as he doesn't know who you are. You cost me any more men, and I might just tell him…Understood?"

"Understood." River said bitterly shutting the panel and going to stand by Amelia and Luke.

"Okay, Doctor, we've got your back."

"Bless you, Bishop." the Doctor grinned.

"Right then, Combat distance, ten feet." Octavian directed his clerics, "As soon as the lights go down, continuous fire. Full spread over the hostiles. Do not stop firing while the lights are out. Shot gun protocol, we don't have bullets to waste." He warned them.

"Right, Amelia," the Doctor took the sonic from Amelia and handed it to River, "When the lights go down, the wheel should release. You and Luke spin it clockwise, four turns."

"Ten," Amelia replied nodding and taking her spot on the right side of the wheel.

"No, four, four turns." He said again.

"Yeah, four, I heard you." Amelia said noting Lukes' odd look but dismissing it.

"Ready!" the Doctor yelled placing the sonic onto the circuit.

"On my count then. God be with us all," Octavian said raising his gun, "Three…Two…One…FIRE!" Octavian ordered as the lights went off.

"Turn, turn turn," the Doctor encouraged them helping Amelia.

"Doctor, quickly!" River said urgently shining the small light at the doorway as the angels approached, even it started to flicker.

"It's opening, It's working." Luke declared as it started to slide open.

"Go, go," the Doctor shoved Amelia and Luke through followed by River.

"Fall back!" Octavian ordered the Clerics.

They quickly moved putting their guns away and diving through the door followed by Octavian as the Doctor held the door open with the sonic.

"Doctor, quickly!" River called.

"Doctor!" Amelia sounded fearful.

The Doctor moved as close to the door as he could, stretching his arm all the way out before scampering through the door seconds before it closed tight behind him with a clank.

The Secondary flight deck was in worse repair than the corridor. It looked to have been the middle of a fight or just badly affected in the crash.

There were wires strewn everywhere, consoles and panels broken or open to expose their interiors.

"Doctor?" Amelia questioned moving away from Luke and River to stand near the Doctor, "What is he doing?" She gestured towards Octavian who had placed a device on the door.

"Committing an act of idiocy." the Doctor replied distractedly.

"I've magnetized the door. Nothing could turn that wheel now." Octavian said confidently.

"Oh yeah?" the Doctor said.

The wheel jolted and began to move sounding like screeching metal.

"Dear God!" Octavian gasped.

"Ah now you're getting it. You've bought us time though, that's good. I am good with time." the Doctor gave him a little credit.

"Doctor!" Luke exclaimed, "The doors are moving."

"Seal that door, seal it now!" Octavian told the Clerics.

With a nervous gesture the Cleric did as ordered jumping when a third door began to spin.

"We're surrounded!" River even looked a bit nervous.

"Seal it! Seal that door!" Octavian shouted to the nearest cleric.

"Doctor, how long have we got?" Luke asked him.

"Five minutes, max."

"Nine." Amelia said absently.

"Five," the Doctor shot Amelia a strange look, "I know you're upset about twelve years, but really, five minutes.

"Five, right yeah." Amelia nodded.

"Why'd you say nine?" Luke asked Amelia quietly.

"I didn't." Amelia whispered back.

"We need another way out of here." River said.

"There isn't one." Octavian snapped.

"Yeah there is. Course there is. This is a Galaxy class ship, it goes for YEARS between planet-falls. So what do they need?" the Doctor asked enunciating the last four words.

River looked up from her console sharply and looked at the Doctor, "Of course!"

The Doctor snapped his fingers and grinned moving over towards the doors.

"Of course, what?" Amelia looked confused, "What do they need?"

"Can we get in there?" Octavian asked ignoring Amelia.

"Well, it's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow." He replied pressing along the back wall before grinning manically," Clamps! There's Clamps! Release the clamps!"

The Doctor gave Amelia a smug grin before pointing the Sonic at the clamps among the bottom of the wall.

"What's through there?" Luke asked curiously.

"What do they need?" Amelia asked River.

"They need to breathe." River told Amelia kindly .

The door rose as the Doctor stepped back smiling at Amelia and Luke's awe struck faces.

"But that's….that's…"

"It's an oxygen factory." River said looking over the trees and vegetation revealed by the wall.

It looked like someone had scooped up a section of the Rainforest that Amelia had seen in books and put it in the middle of a spaceship.

"It's a forest." Amelia gaped.

"Yeah, it's a forest; it's an oxygen factory." River agreed.

"And, if we're lucky, it's an escape route!" the Doctor said giddily.

"Eight." Amelia laughed.

"What did you say?" River asked her a look of concern on her face.

"Nothing, I didn't say anything." Amelia replied watching the forests.

"Is there another exit? Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there." the Doctor yelled to the Clerics and Octavian.

"On it!" Octavian replied stepping into the forest and looking around, "Stay where you are until I've checked the Rad levels."

"But trees! On a spaceship?" Amelia laughed in disbelief again.

"Oh, more than trees, way better than trees. You're going to love this!" the Doctor told her stepping into the forest where his voice began to echo, opening a part of the tree truck Amelia saw it was full of lights and wires that seemed to be part of the tree itself, "Treeborgs! Trees, plus technology. Branches become cables, become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out rain. It even rains! There's a whole mini-climate. It is an eco-pod running through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle, on a spaceship, in a maze. Have I impressed you yet, Amelia Pond?"

Amelia giggled, "Seven."

"Seven?" the Doctor asked all play gone from his face as she dashed back to where she stood.

"Sorry, what?" Amelia asked confused.

"You said 'seven'." the Doctor told her studying her face intently.

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did." River and Luke said obviously concerned.

"Doctor!" Octavian cried, "There's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck."

"Good," the Doctor replied not shifting his gaze, "That's where we need to go."

"Plotting a safe path." Octavian told him shifting through the forest after his clerics.

"Quick as you like." the Doctor said studying Amelia intently making her squirm in place.

"Doctor? Excuse me. Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir." Angel Bob's voice came through with static over the radio.

"Ah there you are, Angel Bob!" the Doctor broke his gaze from Amelia and grabbed the radio plopping down into the command chair and spinning slightly, "How's life? Ooh, sorry. Bad subject?"

"The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve." The Radio crackled.

"Achieve?" the Doctor repeated into the radio, "We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging. It's nice in here, consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?"

"The angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world and all the stars and worlds beyond."

The Doctor paused and spun the chair back and forth contemplating a reply before responding, "Well, we've got comfy chairs, did I mention?"

"We have no need of comfy chairs." Angel Bob said seriously.

"I made him say comfy chairs." the Doctor said smugly to the others.

"Six!" Amy giggled.

The Doctor stood up quickly and spoke into the radio rapidly, "Okay, well, enough chat. Here's what I want to know: What have you done to Amelia?"

"There's something in her eye." Angel Bob said forebodingly.

"What's in her eye?"

"We are." Was the simple eerie reply.

"What's he talking about?" Luke asked.

"Doctor, I'm five."

Everyone stared at Amelia.

"I mean, five. FINE! I'm fine." Amelia said assertively trying to say the word right.

"You're counting." River told her worry in her voice.

"Counting?" Amelia said weakly.

"You're counting down. From ten." Luke told her.

"You have been for a couple of minutes." the Doctor added.

"Why?" Amelia asked wide eyed.

"I don't know." the Doctor admitted studying her eyes closely.

"Counting down to what?" River asked him.

"I don't know!" the Doctor repeated.

Luke stepped forward and held onto Amelia's hand in a show of comfort, quietly thanking his mother for teaching him that sometimes simple tactile gestures showed solidarity.

"We shall take her." Angel Bob said over the radio, "We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all of time and space."

"Oh, get a life, Bob." the Doctor rolled his eyes and plopped back down into his chair making a note to buy one for the TARDIS, "Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship, but there's nowhere _near_ that much."

"With respect, sir, there's more power on this ship than you yet understand."

Suddenly there was a loud tearing screeching noise that sent them all covering their ears or cowering. It sounded 100x louder than nails on a chalkboard and sent chills down their spines. The ripping noise, a horrible tearing grinding.

"Dear God, what is it?" River yelled, instinctively reaching out to shield Luke and Amelia.

"They're back." Octavian whispered.

"It's hard to put in your terms, Dr. Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing." Angel Bob said.

"Laughing?" the Doctor asked dubiously, pulling Amelia closer.

"Because you haven't noticed yet. The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed. "Angel Bob said, for the first time an emotion nearing excitement entered his tone.

"Doctor!" Octavian snapped.

"No, wait, there's something I've…." the Doctor stood up sharply and turned around slowly, "Missed."

In the wall at the back of the room above the doors was a crack. Not just any crack, but a crack the size and shape of the one that was in Amelia's room; the one he'd fixed. Only this crack was glowing with a bright blue-white light and sent a feeling of dread into the Time Lord's hearts.  
>"That's…That's like the crack from my bedroom wall! Back in Leadworth." Amelia whispered holding the Doctor's hand tightly.<br>"Yes." the Doctor agreed softly.

**_"Two parts of space and time that should never have touched."_** The words came back easily.

"OK, enough, we're moving out!" Octavian snapped.

"Agreed." River said and looked at the Doctor, "Doctor?"

"Yeah. Fine!" he replied distractedly scooting a chair over to the wall so he could stand closer to the crack and test it with his sonic.

"What are you doing?" River's voice showed annoyance and panic.

"Right with you." He replied testing the sonic again before turning it on the crack.

"We're not leaving without you!"

"Oh, yes you are. Bishop?"

"Miss Pond, Dr. Song, Mr. Smith, NOW!" Octavian growled out the order.

River sent an exasperated look at the Doctor but grabbed Amelia's hand with one hand and Luke's with the other pulling them with her into the forest.

"Doctor, come on!" Amelia yelled back.

"So…What are you?" the Doctor said interested in the answer, yet terrified at the same time of what he might find. He studied the reading on his sonic screwdriver and worry covered his face, "Oh, that's bad. Ah, that's extremely very not good." He pressed his ear against the wall listening closely, almost hoping to hear _'Prisoner Zero has escaped'_ or something that would give him some clue that this could be easily fixed, but he heard nothing but the soft whirling of the ships back up power system.

When he turned around he jumped in place, he was surrounded by Angels. "Do. Not. Blink." He reminded himself as he dashed towards the console and leapt over it, glancing back in between both rows of Angels as he ran. He was barely over the console when something grabbed the back of his jacket collar and yanked him backwards. His startled yell rang through the room, and he hoped it hadn't reached the forest.

After a few seconds of manly cowering he opened his eyes again and looked around, "Why am I not dead then?" he turned nervously and saw that the Angels all hand their hands up, reaching towards the crack as if worshiping at an alter; "Good, and not so good…Oh, this isn't even a little bit good. I mean, is that it? Is that the power that brought you here? That's pure time energy, you can't feed on that!" he twisted a little in place to see how free he was to move, "That's the power, that's the fire at the end of the universe! And I'll tell you something else," a loud rumbling shook the ship, "Never let me talk!" he yelled back running into the forest leaving behind his jacket still clutched tightly in the Angels grasp. That's okay, he could buy another jacket. 

-In the Forest-

Octavian and his clerics walked through the forest slowly examining their surroundings and making sure to arrange them so to keep River and the children in the center of them to keep them safe.

As they walked though Amelia stumbled, she was turning paler, her eyes becoming less focused. She felt sick to her stomach and dizzy. She stumbled on the path and pulled River's hand as she nearly fell.

"Amy—Amelia? What's wrong?" River asked anxiously, letting go of Luke's hand to hold Amelia's arms to examine her closely, "What's wrong?"

"Four." Amelia whimpered sitting down on a moss covered rock and curling up in the fetal position, hands by her face.

"Med-scanner, NOW!" River yelled reaching her hand out expectedly. One of Clerics hurriedly pulled one out of his pack and placed it in his hand. It was a tan coloured device not unlike the blood pressure cuff that Luke's Uncle Harry had used on them before.

River strapped it onto Amelia's arm and flipped the screen up to read what it was showing off as Amelia's data.

"Dr. Song, we can't stay here, we've got to keep moving." River told him.

"Is she okay?" Luke asked kneeling by Amelia as well.

"I don't know, Luke." River replied shifting so Amelia's head wasn't on the hard rock, but on resting on her lap instead.

"Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralize the Angels. Until that is achieved-"

"Father Octavian, when the Doctor is in the room your ONLY mission is to keep him alive long enough to get everyone else home." River snapped,

"And trust me, it's not easy. Now, if he's dead back there, I'll never forgive myself, and if he's alive, I'll never forgive him." She paused, a new look – a mixture of annoyance and relief – came across her face, "And, Doctor, you're standing right behind me aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah." the Doctor grinned cheekily hopping down from his higher point on the forest path to her level.

"I hate you!" she told him loudly, but her slowly spreading smile betrayed her.

"You don't." He said smugly, "Bishop, the Angels are in the forest."

"We need visual contact on every line of approach." Octavian said directing his men to spread out.

"How'd you get past them?" River asked as the Doctor crouched by Amelia's side.

"Found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe."

"What was it?" Amelia asked weakly.

"The end of the Universe. Let's have a look then." the Doctor stole the med-scanner from River and looked over the data.

"So, what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing, you're fine." River told her, brushing the hair back from her face softly to calm Amelia and herself.

"Everything, you're dying." the Doctor said bluntly.

"Doctor!" River exclaimed, trying to keep herself calm for Amelia and Luke.

"Yes, you're right, if we lie to her she'll get all better!"

"The Doctor never lies. He just doesn't tell the real truth." Amelia mumbled burying her face in her hands.

"Right. Amelia! Amelia. What's the matter with Amelia? Something's in her eye." the Doctor tossed the med-scanner back to River, "What does that mean? Doesn't mean anything!"

"Doctor?"

"Busy!"

"Scared!" Amelia mimicked him.

"Of course, you're dying, shut up!"

"OK, let him think." River said to Amelia, gesturing for Luke to talk.

"The Doctor always knows what to do." Luke assured her, holding her hand in-between both of his, "He'll fix you."

The Doctor stood and started pacing, "What happened? She stared at the Angel, she looked into the eyes of an angel for too long…."

"Sir! Angel, incoming!" one of the clerics yelled. A look in his direction showed an angel watching them through the trees.

"And here, Sir!" A second cleric yelled.

"Keep visual contact," Octavian ordered, "Don't let it move."

"Come on, come on, wakey, wakey!" the Doctor pounded the side of his head speeding up his pacing, "She watched an Angel climb out of the screen. She stared at the Angel and…and…"

"The image of an Angel is an Angel." Luke supplied.

"A living image in a human mind. We stare at them to stop them from getting closer, we don't even blink and that's exactly what they want, because as long as our eyes are open, they can climb inside. There's an angel in her mind!" the Doctor said excitedly before clapping his hands over his mouth, realizing what he'd said.

"Three." Amelia said quietly, her voice quavering, "It's coming. I can feel it."

"Is she going to die?" Luke was near tears holding tightly to his new friend, his charge…He shouldn't have left her in that equipment trailer!

"Please, just shut up, I'm thinking. Now counting, what's that about?" the Doctor mused and pulled out the radio again, "Bob, why are they making her count?"

"To make her afraid, sir."

"OK, but why? What for?"

"For fun, sir." Angel Bob sounded apologetic.

"GRAH!" the Doctor growled in frustration and threw the radio hard against a tree trunk. One of the Clerics turned to watch the Doctor instinctively but turned back to his post immediately when he heard a branch crack in an Angel's wake.

"Doctor, what's happening to me? Explain!"

"Inside your head, in the vision centers of your brain, there's an Angel." the Doctor explained sitting down next to Amelia and scooting Luke to the side a bit, "It's like there's a screen, a virtual screen inside your mind, and the Angel is climbing out of it. It's coming to shut you off."

"Then what do I do?" Amelia turned her eyes to the Doctor and he swore he could see the screaming face of an angel reflected back at him in both her eyes. 

"If it were a real screen, what would we do? We'd pull the plug. But we can't just knock her out, the Angel would take over!"

"Then what?" Luke said.

"Quickly!" River warned the Doctor.

"We've got to shut down the vision centers of her brain. We've got to pull the plug and starve the Angel!"

"Doctor, she's got seconds." River told him as the med-scanner beeped franticly.

"How would you starve your lungs?" the Doctor asked River urgently.

"I'd…I don't…I'd stop breathing." River said.

"Amelia, close your eyes!"

"No…No, I don't want to." Amelia said.

"Good, because that's not you. That's the Angel inside you, it's afraid. Do it! Close your eyes!"

Amelia hesitated.

"Close your eyes, Amelia." He urged her.

Amelia closed her eyes quickly and the scanner began beeping again, before the readings began to show as normal again.

"She's normalizing!" River let out a sigh of relief, "You did it! You did it."

"Sir, two more incoming!" one of the Clerics yelled.

"She's still weak," River said handing the med-scanner to Luke, "It's dangerous to move her."

Luke absently pocketed the device, "So, an she open her eyes now?"

"No." the Doctor bent down to crouch in front of the now sitting Amelia, "Amelia, listen to me. If you open your eyes now for more than a second, you _will _die. The Angel is still inside you. We haven't stopped it, we've just sort of…paused it. Like you did with the projection. You've used up the countdown." He leaned forward and absently smoothed her hair back from where it had been mussed, "You cannot open your eyes."

"Doctor, we're too exposed here! We have to move on." Octavian yelled interrupting the quiet moment. 

"We're exposed everywhere, and Amelia can't move. And Anyway, that's not the plan." the Doctor said straightening.

"There's a plan?" River said skeptically, sitting with her arms around Amelia comforting her.

"I don't know yet, I haven't finished talking." the Doctor paused, "Right! Father, you and your Clerics will stay here, look after Amelia. If anything happens to her, I'll hold each of you personally responsible, twice! River, you, Luke and I are going to go find the Primary Flight Deck which is…" he licked his finger and held it up testing the air, "A quarter mile straight ahead. We'll stabilize the wreckage, stop the Angels and cure Amelia."

"How?" River asked standing up.

"I'll do a thing."

"What thing?"

"I don't know, it's a thing in progress. Respect the thing! Moving out! C'mon Lukey-boy."

"Why me? I thought I was supposed to watch Amelia." Luke asked.

"Because I've known your mother for oh 500 years or so and I know she'll force a regeneration if I leave you alone in the middle of a forest with men who have guns and alien Angels closing in on all sides."

"…Good point."

"Doctor, I'm coming with you. My Clerics can look after Miss Pond. These are my best me, they'd lay down their lives in her protection." Octavian said starting forward.

The Doctor looked Octavian up and down and said with disdain, "I don't need you."

"I don't care. Where Dr. Song goes, I go." Octavian glowered.

"What?" the Doctor looked between River who was trying to look innocent and the blustering Octavian, "Are you two engaged or something?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking." Octavian replied, "Marco! You're in charge till I get back."

River growled in annoyance as Octavian grabbed her arm and hauled her with him to start at the path.

"Sir!"

"Doctor….Please, can't I come with you?" Amelia asked turning her head to where she thought the Doctor was based on voice.

"You'd slow us down, Miss Pond!" Octavian yelled back, grunting in pain a second later as River drove her elbow into his stomach 'accidentally'.

"I don't want to sound selfish, but you'd really speed me up."

The Doctor sat down next to Amelia wrapping an arm around her briefly, "You'll be safer here. We can't protect you on the move. I'll be back for you as soon as I can. I promise."

"You always say that." Amelia muttered.

"I always come back." the Doctor replied standing up, "Good luck everyone. Behave. Do NOT let that girl open her eyes. And keep watching the forest. Stop those angels advancing. Amelia, later!" he tapped her lightly on the head before jogging off, "River, I'm going to need your computer."

"Yeah…Later." Amelia said quietly, fidgeting nervously with her hands. She was blind, surrounded by angels and men with guns, in a forest, in a spaceship that was in a maze on a new planet in the future. If this wasn't a time to worry then there never was a time. But she had to be brave, the Doctor was brave, so she had to show she could be brave so he wouldn't think she was a baby and leave her back on Earth.

Suddenly two familiar hands grasped hers in his, "Amy-Amelia, you need to start trusting me. It's never been more important." the Doctor told her seriously and quietly. 

"You don't always tell the real truth."

"If I always told you the real truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me."

"Doctor…That crack in my wall, how can it be here?"

"I don't know yet," He admitted, "But I'm working it out. Now, listen. Remember what I told you when you were seven?"

"I am seven. What have you told me?"

The Doctor leaned and rested his forehead against hers, "No…No…that's not the point. You **_have_** to remember."

Amelia felt his arms encircle her, the tweed jacket he always wore scratchy, but comforting. He kissed her on the forehead and stepped back.

"Remember what? Doctor? Doctor?" but it was too late, he was gone.


	4. Flesh and Stone Pt2

**-On the path-**

Octavian led the way, gun out, followed by River and Luke, the Doctor trailing a little bit further behind studying his sonic.

"What's that?" River asked him indicating the readout.

"Readings from a crack in the wall."

"How can a crack in the wall be the end of the universe?"

"Here's what I think. One day there'll be a very big bang, so big every moment in history – past and future – will crack." the Doctor detailed.

"Is that possible? How?"

"How can you be engaged 'in a manner of speaking'?" he shot back.

"Well…Sucker for a man in uniform." River smiled in a way that reminded him pointedly of Jack.

Octavian, fed up with them lagging behind, strolled over, "Dr. Song is in my personal custody. I released her from the Stormcage Containment Facility four days ago and I am legally responsible for her until she has accomplished her mission and earned her pardon. Just so we understand each other." He sent a glare Rivers way and started walking again.

"You were in Stormcage?" the Doctor grinned and River rolled her eyes, making a noise of disgust at his amusement.

"What's Stormcage?" Luke asked curiously.

"A prison."

The Sonic beeped again gaining River's attention and keeping her from yelling at the Doctor, "What? What is that?"

"The Date! The Date of the explosion where the crack begins."

"And for those of us who can't read the base code of the universe?"

"Amelia's time." the Doctor said, eyes wide showing her the numbers: **_26/06/2010_**

Back in the forest Amelia sat on the rock, twiddling her thumbs. Fear was still there, but it was lessoning in the face of no increase of danger.

"So…What's happening? Anything happening out there?"

"The angels are still grouping." Cleric Marco told her. He wasn't going to tell her that the lights were starting to flicker because one of the angels – when someone had blinked—had reached into a tree and started to pull at the wires.

"Are you getting this too?" Marco asked.

"The trees? Yeah." Another Cleric replied.

"Here too, sir." A third cleric.

"What's wrong with the trees?" Amelia worried.

"They're ripping the Treeborgs apart," the third Cleric said; Marco felt like throttling him.

"What is it? What's happening? Tell me, please, I can't see."

Marco sighed, he had a sister near her age and damned if he would let his sister go through this, "It's the trees, miss. The trees are going out."

The angels were advancing, taking advantage of the flickering lights and Marco wasn't told how much longer until they reached his group. He started praying under his breath, repeating the revised version of the Lord's Prayer, wishing he hadn't taken this job.

He prayed for the safety of his men. He prayed that Dr. Song would be able to get the Doctor to help them. He prayed that Father Octavian would return and stop the Angels. But what he prayed for, above all else, was that his courage would not fail him and that he would be able to stand and keep that little girl safe.

On the other side of the forest the Doctor stood messing with River's handheld, having input the data from his screwdriver into it. Octavian was exploring the wall with Luke looking for a way in as River stood guard facing the forest, Octavian's revolver in hand.

"It doesn't open it from here, but it's the Primary Flight Deck." Octavian told them finally.

"There's this." Luke tapped a circular clear spot with his foot.

"That's got to be a service hatch or something." Octavian said.

"Well, hurry up and open it! Time's running out." River said.

"What? What did you say?" the Doctor demanded, "Time's running out. Is that what you said?"

"Yeah. I just meant—"

"I know what you meant, hush! But what if it could?"

"What if what could?" River pushed him.

"Time. What if time could run out?" the Doctor said, an animated look in his eyes.

"Got it!" Luke told them as Octavian popped the hatch open.

"Cracks in time, running out…No, couldn't be. How is a duck pond a duck pond if there aren't any ducks?" the Doctor rambled out loud, recalling a conversation he'd had with Amelia while they waited for the TARDIS to finish repairing, "She didn't know the Daleks, but she's from '96. Would she have known them? Ok, time can shift. Time can change. Time can be rewritten!" he concluded, then a dawning horror reached him, "Ah…Oh!"

"Dr. Song, get through, now!" Octavian helped River through the hatch and Luke after, "Doctor? Doctor?"

The Doctor ignored him doing calculations in the air, "Time can be unwritten. It's been happening all over and I haven't even noticed!"

"Doctor, we have to move." Octavian urged him.

"The CyberKing! A giant cyberman walks over all of Victorian London and no-one remembers!"

"We have to move it! The Angels could be here any second!" Octavian yelled putting a hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

"Never mind the angels," the Doctor shrugged away Octavian's hand, "There's worse here than angels!"

The lights went out suddenly plunging them into darkness. A shifting noise reached the Doctor's sensitive ears and he whirled as the lights turned out to find Octavian in a choke hold, an angels arm around his neck.

"I beg to differ, sir." Octavian said weakly trying to breathe.

"Let him go," the Doctor ordered scanning the Angel.

"Well it can't let me go, sir, can it? Not while you're looking at it."

"I can't stop looking at it, it'll kill you."

"It'll kill me anyway. There's no way out of this. You have to leave me." Octavian told him.

"Can't you wriggle out?"

"No. It's too tight. There's nothing you can do."

"Angels advancing, sir!" the fourth cleric informed Marco.

"Over here, again." The second said.

"Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet. Wait for it." Marco gave the order.

"What is it?" Amelia stood up, "What's happening, just tell me!"

"Keep your position and, Miss, keep your eyes shut!" Marco warned her as the angels advanced, "Wait!"

A bright light appeared and started to spread, illuminating the whole forest, "The ship's not on fire is it?"

The second cleric turned towards the light, "It can't be. The compressors would have taken care of it." When he turned back to the forest he was shocked, "Marco, the angels have gone! Where'd they go?"

"What? The Angels?"

"This side's clear too, sir!" the third cleric joined the surprise.

Marco pulled up his handheld cautiously, keeping an eye on the forest as long as possible, "There's still movement out there, but away from us now. It's like they're running."

"Running from what?" Amelia asked.

"Phillip, Crispin, we need to get a closer look at that." Marco said and the two clerics jogged off towards the light.

"What are they looking at? What's there?" Amelia was desperate for information.

"It's like…I don't know…A curtain of energy? It's sort of shifting. It makes you feel weird, sick."

"And you think it scared the angels?" Amelia asked trying to move closer.

"What could scare those things?" the other cleric speculated.

Amelia turned nervously towards his voice.

"What are you doing?" Marco asked her.

"Point me at the light."

"You can't open your eyes." Marco said, holding onto her jumper all the same.

"Not for more than a second, that's what the Doctor said. I've still got 3 whole seconds le "

"Miss, you can't." Marco said softly.

"I need to. Please? Am I looking the right way?"

Marco sighed but pointed her in the right direction, "Very quick."

"OK." Amelia opened her eyes and horror and panic sunk in, "It's the same. It's the Crack. The crack in my wall!"

"Close your eyes, now!"

"It's following me! How can it be following me?" Amelia cried falling to her knees.

Marco quickly knelt and supported her, holding his hand over her eyes to force her to close them, "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Amelia said, tears leaking out despite the tightly closed eyes, "It's the same crack."

"Marco, you want me to take a closer look at that?"

"Go for it, but don't get too close, Pedro." Marco replied, making sure Amelia was okay.

"What about the other two? Why not just wait till they come back?" Amelia questioned as she heard the other clerics footsteps fade away.

"What other two?" Marco asked.

"The ones you sent before."

"I didn't send anyone before." Maybe the blindness and terror were starting to affect her mind, her memory.

"Yes, you did. I heard you. Crispin and Phillip."

"Crispin and who?" Marco repeated, "Amelia, there never was a Crispin or a Phillip on this mission, I promise you."

"No, I heard you." Amelia argued, "Before you sent Pedro."

"Pedro?"

"Yeah, before you sent him."

"Who's Pedro?"

"Something happening." Amelia said in fear, "Pedro was here a second ago, and now you don't know him!"

"There never was a Pedro. There's only ever been the two of us here!" Marco assured her.

"No, there were five of us. Why can't you remember?"

"Listen, shh, listen. I need to get a closer look at that light, whatever it is. Don't worry, I won't get too close."

"No, you can't! You mustn't." Amy cried holding tight to his fatigues.

"Here, spare communicator." Marco pulled it out of one of his vest pockets and placed it into her hand, "I'll stay in touch the whole time. I promise."

"You won't. If you go back there you'll disappear, just like the others."

"There weren't any others."

"There won't be a 'you' if you go…"

"Two minutes, I promise." Marco told her as he left.

"Please, just listen to me!" Amy yelled, her voice echoing around the clearing. She'd never felt so alone….

-The Flight deck -

"Sir, there is nothing you can do." Octavian assured the Doctor.

"You're dead if I leave you." the Doctor warned him."

"Yes, yes, I'm dead. And before you go."

"I'm not going!"

"Listen to me. It's important! You can't trust her." Octavian said desperate to get his information across

"Trust who?"

"River Song. You think you know her, but you don't. You don't understand who or what she is."

The Doctor didn't feel like admitting to Octavian that he was nowhere near understanding who or what River song was even on a good day anyway; "Then tell me."

"I've told you more than I should. Now, please, you have to go. It's your duty to your friends, to your little girl."

"Just tell me," the Doctor said, ignoring the little girl comment for the moment, "Why was she in Stormcage?"

"She killed a man, a good man, a hero to many."

"Who?"

"You don't want to know, sir. You really don't."

"WHO did she kill?" the Doctor repeated forcefully.

"Sir, the angels are coming. You have to leave me."

"You'll die." the Doctor said.

"I will die in the knowledge that my courage did not desert me at the end. For that, I thank God and bless the path that takes you to safety."

"I wish I'd known you better." the Doctor said honestly, regretting his actions.

"I think, sir, you know me at my best."

"Ready?" the Doctor asked, tears in his eyes.

Octavian closed his eyes and whispered a quick prayer for the safety of his family, the Doctor and even Dr. Song, "Content."

The Doctor took a deep breath and dodged around Octavian, telling himself that the cracking noise he heard was his imagination as he dove into the service hatch, closing it behind him.

"There's a transmat!" River said eagerly, "If I can get it to work, we can beam the others here. Where's Octavian?"

"Octavian's dead, so is that transmat. You're wasting your time. I'm going to need your communicator." He said, taking it from her suddenly limp grip.

-

"Hello, are you there? Hello? Hello?" Marco heard his communicator go off, Amelia's scared voice coming through softly.

"I'm here. I'm fine. I'm quite close to it now." Marco told her, if it wasn't so scary he'd be amused at how worried she was for him. He made a mental note to give his sister an extra big hug once he got back home. Octavian usually was good about letting them visit with their family when a mission was over. He'd take her somewhere nice…Maybe skating, she liked skating.

"Then come back! Come back now, please?"

"It's weird looking at it…"

He had a sister. Or did he? Everything was getting fuzzy, maybe he should turn back. But something was urging him on further. The light was like a sirens call drawing him in. Closer and closer, it urged him. He tried to turn back, but he was feeling dizzy and sick now, "It feels really…."  
>Marcos last thought as he was pulled into the light was of the little girl he should have protected.<p>

"Really what? Hello? Really what? Hello? Hello? Please say you're there! Hello? Hello!" Amelia's voice came franticly through the communicator.

"Is that you?" the Doctor's voice joined hers on the communicator. 

**-Primary flight deck-**

"Doctor? Is that you?"

"Yes. Where are you? Are the Clerics with you?"

"No…They've gone." Amelia sniffled trying not to cry again, "There was a light and they walked into the Light. They didn't even remember each other, Doctor."

"No, they wouldn't." the Doctor closed his eyes thinking.

"What is that light?" Luke asked him.

"Time running out." the Doctor pressed in the button on the communicator again, "Amelia, I'm sorry. I should never have left you there."

"Well, what do I do now?" Amelia asked him.

"You come to us. Primary Flight Desk, other end of the forest."

"She can't see, Doctor!" Luke said worriedly, "She can't open her eyes!"

"I know that," the Doctor said using his Sonic on the communicator, "Turn on the spot."

"What?" Amelia said through the communicator.

"Just do it. Turn on the spot! Now, when the communicator sounds like my screwdriver, you're facing the right way. Just follow the sound."

He heard shuffling noises that indicated she was turning, but then the noises stopped.

"You have to start moving now."

Silence.

"Amelia, there's time energy spilling out of that crack and you have to stay ahead of it!"

"But the Angels, they're everywhere." Amelia whispered in fear.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but the Angels can only kill you."

"Doctor!" River gasped looking up from her work on the transmat in shock.

"What does the Time Energy do?" Amelia questioned, he could hear the shuffling noises that told him she was starting to move.

"Just keep moving!" He ordered.

"Tell me!"

"If the time energy catches up with you, you'll never have been born! It will erase every moment of your existence. You will never have lived at all. Now, keep your eyes shut and keep moving!"

"It's never going to work." River said desolately.

"What else have you got?" the Doctor shouted, flipping the button so Amelia couldn't hear him, "River, tell me!"

"I've got to help her." Luke said pacing back and forth, terrified, "I should be helping her."

"You need to stay here, Luke." the Doctor told him.

"I should be with her!" Luke yelled.

"Luke, you need to calm down." River told Luke, "The Doctor and I will get her; you don't have any reason to run out there."

"She's my charge, I promised to watch her." Luke worried.

"She's his sister too; you'd think that'd count." The Doctor said absently working at sending the communicator the newest update.

"WHAT?" River and Luke both yelped.

"Oh, did I say that out loud?" the Doctor frowned, "Well, it's step-sister anyway."

Whatever River was going to say was drowned out by a loud clanging noise followed by what sounded like all the air being sucked out of the ship.

"What's that?"

"The Angels running from the fire; they came here to feed on the time energy. Now it's going to feed on them." the Doctor said, flipping the radio back on he calmed his voice, "Amelia, listen to me. I'm sending a bit of software to your communicator. It's a proximity detector."

"A what?"

"It'll beep if there's something in your way. You just maneuver till the beeping stops. You need to do this Amelia, because this? This is very important." He took a deep breath and rested his forehead against the communicator, beating himself up mentally for leaving her behind, "The forest is full of Angels."

"No!" Luke yelled and moved to the opening they'd come through as if to go get her, but the Doctor hauled him backwards by his shirt in a quick grab that River barely saw.

"You're going to have to walk like you can see."

"What do you mean?" Amelia asked.

"Look, just keep moving." the Doctor told her trying to keep Luke in place.

"Luke, you're broadcasting." River told him wincing and rubbing her temple, "You've got to work on that."

"I've got to get her." Luke said dashing for the service hatch again only to be thwarted by the Doctor locking it with the Sonic.

"You're not going anywhere, Luke. You're staying here where it's safe." the Doctor ordered him.

"Safe?" River scoffed.

"Safe-r." the Doctor corrected himself, "You want to help? Just…Help River with the transmat."

Luke frowned and River winced again. The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Luke, if your mother heard that language she'd wash your mouth out with soap, now stop broadcasting."

"That Time Energy, what's it going to do?" River asked the Doctor as Luke started working in earnest.

"Er, keep eating." the Doctor said fixing the console.

"How do we stop it?"

"We feed it."

"Feed it what?"

"A big complicated space-time event should shut it up for a while." the Doctor said, absently tugging at his hair deep in thought sending it up in worst tuffs.

"Like what, for instance?" River queried a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"**Like me, for instance!**" he bellowed, making River flinch back.

A high-pitched beeping sounded suddenly through the flight deck, echoing off the walls.

"What is that?" River asked. 

"It's a warning. The angels are all around her now." the Doctor closed his eyes and breathed deep; flipping on the communicator he calmed himself once again, "Amelia, listen to me. This is going to be hard but I know you can do it. There are angels all around you, but they're scared.

They're running and survival instincts are kicking in. They'll assume you can see them; all you have to do is walk like you can see. Just DON'T open your eyes. Walk like you can see."

He waited, listening, but didn't hear any movement.

"You're not moving, you have to do this!" He told her sternly.

-

Amelia shivered in fear. She hated the dark, hated keeping her eyes shut. She was all alone and trying to nudge her way along the path without falling. Next time she'd have to see if the TARDIS had any shoes her size that had Velcro. Even the shoes she had on now were about a size too big, but they were all she had besides her wellies. She held the communicator out in front of her listening to the beeps. It was kind of like the bats they had on TV. Echo-locators? Echo-Cating? Something like that…

It started beeping more rapidly and she turned towards the right to avoid it, but it only got louder and faster. She slowly edged her way forward again turning the other direction.

It took her three attempts to find her way.

About three steps into the new 'safe' path she felt her shoelace get caught under her other shoe. When she realized what she'd done it was too late and she fell, sprawling in the dirt. The communicator slipped from her hand when she fell.

"No." Amelia cried reaching for it, but all she felt was dirt, "Doctor! I can't find the communicator, I dropped it! I can't find it. Doctor!" She yelled still searching in the dirt.

Almost as if they sensed her weakness the Angels came to life, turning slowly to study the girl whose back was to them.

"Doctor…" She stood up, forgetting the communicator at the sound of stone grinding having terrified her. As she stood she turned unknowingly coming face-to-face with one of the Angels as it reached for her.

A cool burst of air seemed to wrap around her, and lights burst so bright she saw it with her eyes closed tight. Instead of pain like she expected and the stony grasp of an angel, warm arms encircled her holding her close.

"Don't open your eyes." River told her, holding her tight, "You're on the Flight Deck, the Doctor and Luke are here."

"We transmatted you." Luke said.

"Told you we could get it working." River said smugly.

"River Song, I could bloody kiss you!" the Doctor proclaimed hugging Amelia.

"Ah well, maybe when you're older."

An alarm sounded loudly over the Doctors laugh, blaring like a fire siren almost.

"What's that?" Luke asked.

"The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power, which means…The shield is going to release!" he pushed Amelia back behind him again, transferring her hand from his to Luke's.

As he did so the shield to the forest opened up slowly revealing an Army of Angels standing facing all of them, frozen in place with menacing snarls on their faces.

The Doctor stepped forward, "Angel Bob, I presume."

"The Time Field is coming. It will destroy our reality." Angel Bob's disembodied voice echoed.

"Yeah, and look at you, all running away. What can I do for you?"

"There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close and they will be saved."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could do, could do that," the Doctor nodded along to Angel Bob's statements, "But why?"

"Your friends would also be saved."

"Well, there is that."

River stepped forward from her place guarding the children and grabbed the Doctors arm to get his attention, "I've travelled in time. I'm a complicated space/time event, too. Throw me in."

"Oh, be serious! Compared to me, these Angels are more complicated than you and it would take every one of them to amount to me, so get a grip."

"Doctor, I can't let you do this!"

"No, seriously, _get a grip._"

"You're not going to die here!"

"No, I mean it. River, Amelia, Luke, get a **grip**."

Understanding dawned, "Oh, you genius!" River hurried back to Amelia and Luke.

"Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now."

"Thing is, Bob, the Angels are draining all the power from this ship, every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the gravity of the situation, or to put it another way, Angels…"

"You hold on tight and don't you let go of anything." River told Amelia , placing her hands on one of the handles of the panel, "Luke, no matter what, hold on."

Luke nodded and grabbed on, hooking his arms around it just in case he needed a free hand as River grabbed the handle on the other side of Amelia.

"Night-night." the Doctor smirked, leaning backwards at the last second to get a handhold.

The alarms stopped blaring and suddenly everything seemed to tilt. The Gravity had finally failed.  
><strong><em> 'We'll all plunge to our deaths, see? I've thought about it.' <em>**

The Deck turned on its side and they were left holding on for dear life, vertical to the crack now. The angels, unable to hold onto anything as long as the Doctor was watching them were sent tumbling backwards into the light making it burst bright for a moment before it closed completely.

"Night-night." the Doctor repeated.

-

"Ah, bruised everywhere." Amelia complained. She wasn't sure where the Doctor had produced the blanket she was wrapped in from, but she was grateful for it.

"Me too." Luke said.

"Me three!" the Doctor joined the whining.

"You didn't have to climb out with your eyes shut."

"Neither did you, I kept saying: 'The angels all fell into the time field, the angel in your memory never existed, it can't harm you now'."

"River said to be careful though." Amelia pointed out, "And why do I remember it? If it never existed once it went into the crack. Marco didn't remember the others."

"You're a time traveler now, Amelia. It changes the way you see the universe forever. Good, isn't it?" the Doctor asked, secretly proud she'd remembered the Clerics name. It didn't matter how important you were , if you were a traveler or stationary, if someone saved your life you were duty bound to remember them.

"And the Crack, is that gone too?" Luke said.

"Yeah, for now. But the explosion that caused it is still happening….somewhere out there, somewhere in time." He stared off into the ocean for a moment before breaking out of his thoughts, "Excuse me a moment, Luke if something happens to Amelia I'll forget who you are to me and find a mud pit somewhere!" he yelled back walking over to River, ignoring the giggles from Amelia and the gulp of fear from Luke.

"You…me…handcuffs." River rolled her eyes and held out her hands which were encased in a very familiar pair of handcuffs, "Must it always end this way?"

The Doctor ignored the question and the pain that came along with it, "What now?"

"Well, the prison ship's in orbit. They'll beam me up any second. I might have done enough to earn a pardon this time. We'll see." River smiled hopefully.

"Octavian said you killed a man." the Doctor said bluntly.

Rivers smile faltered, "Yes. I did. A good man. A very good man. One of the best men I've ever known."

"Who?"

"Oh, that's a long story, Doctor, and it can't be told. It has to be lived. No sneak previews. Well, except for this one: You'll see me again, quite soon when Rome falls."

"Soon for me, or soon for you?" the Doctor countered, wondering if she was planning something.

"For you, of course," River grinned, he was catching on quickly.

"I'd never go to Rome, Rome's boring. All fighting, conquering, 'kill the Christian'-y…Though they were the greatest military machine in history."

"Would you prefer we met at the Pandorica?" River suggested with a smile.

"The Pandorica, ha!" the Doctor laughed and leaned forward to whisper smugly, "That's a fairy tale."

"Oh, Doctor, aren't we all?" River laughed, "I'll see you in Rome."

"I look forward to it."

"I remember it well."

The Doctor shook his head and chuckled as Amelia and Luke walked over.

"Bye, River." Amelia said.

"See you, Amelia." The handcuffs started beeping, "Oh! I think that's my ride."

"Bye, " Luke echoed.

"Can I trust you, River Song?" the Doctor inquired, tilting his head and studying River.

"If you like, but where's the fun in that?" She laughed as the same whirlwinds Luke had seen earlier scooped her up in the transmat.

"What are you thinking?" Amelia asked after a few moments of silence.

"Time can be rewritten." the Doctor said softly. After a few seconds he seemed to snap out of it, but he didn't lose the stupidly happy smile,

"Amelia, where are your shoes?"

"I lost them when I transmatted." Amelia blushed, "They were too big."

"Then why were you wearing them?"

"I didn't have any others!"

"Oh, what am I going to do with you?" the Doctor shook his head and laughed before leaning down quickly and scooping her up over his shoulder.

Amelia yelped and laughed, "Doctor, put me down!"

The Doctor spun in place quickly making her laugh harder, "Sorry? What was that? I didn't quite get that!"

Luke followed the two back to the TARDIS, thinking hard on what he wanted to do.

"Alright then, where to next? Anywhere you want, any time you want, bar anywhere where you have to breathe underwater." the Doctor proclaimed, dropping Amelia down into the jump seat.

Luke frowned and finally made a decision, "I want to go home."

The Doctor and Amelia both frowned.

"OK." the Doctor said quietly.

Amelia hopped off the jump seat, ditching the blanket in the process and hugged Luke tightly, "I don't want you to go."

"Amelia, I have to." Luke told her, "I've been here a while, but I need to go home. I miss my mum and my friends."

"I'm your friend too!" Amelia tried to coerce him into staying, "And I need you."

"No you don't, you've got the Doctor." Luke assured her.

The TARDIS landed quietly – for once – in Luke's bedroom. Luke and the Doctor both stepped out.

"I'm sorry, Doctor." Luke said once he made sure no one was home.

"No, Luke, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ever put you in a situation like that." the Doctor replied, hugging the teen.

"Thank you, though. For taking me. For showing me everything." Luke smiled, "I've just got one question."

"What's that?" the Doctor asked, pausing with one foot inside the TARDIS.

"What did you mean she's my sister?"

The Doctor looked around the room quickly as if assuring himself that no one was there, "Your mum and I are married. Well, only on the Lost moon of Poosh, which isn't actually lost any more. So that makes you my step-son."

"Oh. Does that mean you've decided to keep Amelia?" Luke guessed.

"Shhh, don't tell anyone. And if your mother asks you weren't babysitting. I took it upon myself to make up for 15 birthdays."

"I'm only one!" Luke laughed.

"Well, why ever would I know that?" the Doctor winked and climbed back inside the TARDIS, shutting the door. As the TARDIS disappeared into the air, Luke shook his head.

It had been fun visiting all those places, meeting Churchill, River; seeing the Daleks up close without getting hurt. Museums, space stations and slightly intelligent fungi he was certain shouldn't have been growing in a tea kettle.

Looking at his alarm clock Luke was surprised to see only about 5 minutes had passed, as promised.

He'd think about how awesome that was later, for now all he wanted to do was sleep.


	5. Off to Saurtine!

-ON THE TARDIS -

"Ugh!" Amelia let out a frustrated noise.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked. Luke had been gone for about 3 days now and the quiet was a little weird.

"I can't get my hair right." Amelia complained, "I can't braid it myself."

"Come here then, bring your brush and hair-tie too."

"You can do hair?" she asked skeptically handing hi the brush and tie before sitting down in front of him.

"Of course! I'm 907, I've had a lot of time to learn."

"But you're a boy!" Amelia said as he started fixing her hair.

"Yes, but I've traveled with lots of girls."

"Like Luke's mum?"

"Yes. But with others too. I never had to help Sarah with her hair, she managed fine on her own. Same for Rose, I guess having a hairdresser as a mother helps. But I did have to help Susan, Ace and Zoe on occasion."

"Who are they?"

"Susan's...was my Granddaughter. She died though, on that bad day when bad things happened. Zoe traveled with me and a young Scotsman named Jamie for quite a while. She was 15!"

"So I'm not the first young person?"

"No. I've had a few younger humans. Let's see, This? This I learned from Ace." the Doctor said tying her hair,

"She loved braids, but it's a little hard to french braid your own hair."

Amelia smiled and hugged the Doctor, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, I'm bored and a little peckish. I don't feel like cooking through, do you?"

"I don't know how to cook much yet!" Amelia protested.

"Of course not. Well then, we'll have to find somewhere to eat or someone to cook for us."

"Any ideas?"

"Can we go to a different planet?"

"Different how?"

Amelia thought for a moment, "Somewhere that's as opposite from human or Earth as you can get without dieing or being in danger that's fun."

The Doctor grinned broadly, "Oh I like you! I know a planet where everything food wise is sugar. Saurtine here we come!"

**[AN: Short little interlude, the next chapter is being beta'd and we'll be able to get a 'at least once a week' updating pattern going soon!]**


	6. Field Trips

The trip to Saurtine had been relatively uneventful. A few small fires, a couple tons of sugar, one near sacrifice but overall not too exciting.

He was starting to come to terms with the fact he was stuck with Amelia. Well, maybe not stuck...Slightly less than able to return her to any proper human home. That sounded a bit better in his mind. She was his now, like Ace. The Doctor had even stopped and picked her up some shoes that fit. So they said "SJS" on one pair and "MS" on the other pair, they FIT and that was the point.

Currently the two were gathered in the library looking at a book called 'Non-Terrestrial beings' that wouldn't be published till 2572ad.

"Which planet is he from?" Amelia tapped one of the sketches.

"He's a Slitheen, which makes him from Raxacoricofallapatorius." the Doctor grinned, "Try to say that twice fast!"

"I don't think I could say it once!"

He'd decided that a portion of their day should be used to educate her further. He could do that without much hassle, he did teach physics for a day or two, and he'd been around humans for a few hundred years. It shouldn't be too hard to teach her that many things. She already had basic English letters down, another couple of weeks and he was sure she'd be reading full sentences.

Their current lesson was on Alien species, so she knew there were other things out there beyond Humans, Time Lords, Star whales, Angels and River.

"It's not too hard." he chuckled, "I don't expect you to read or write it, but you could say it."  
>Amelia laughed, "Racks-a-cortical-fall-of-tortoises?"<p>

"Close enough, Pond, Close enough. There are lots of different families there, they're really tall, and made up mostly of calcium. That makes them extremely vulnerable to acetic acids, vinegar. But it reacts explosively and fatally; they explode. Unless there's no other choice what do we do?"

"Avoid eating chips around them?" Amelia tried to look innocent, but the giggle snuck out anyway.

The Doctor poked her in the side making her laugh harder, "Whatever they do they do for the money anyway. Maybe as a defense I should start throwing pounds at them." he flipped the page continuing the lesson. "This is the planet Demanshi 6."

"Demanshi? What's there?"

"Warriors and Warlocks mostly." the Doctor flipped open a side page to show off several illustrations of the beings that inhabited the Demanshi planets, "and everyday normal Demanshians."

"Warriors and Warlocks?"

"Warriors is obvious, isn't it? They're like trained soldiers, only it's their race. Warlocks...Well, they can't really do magic. They just hold sway over elements. Air, they manipulate, they can control water from moisture they draw from the ground or air, they can cause earthquakes and sudden sink holes, and I once knew a man who was almost roasted by one who created a spark and threw fire at him."

"Wow." Amelia stared at the book in shock and looked up at the Doctor, "Can we go there?"

The Doctor hopped up from his spot on the floor instantly and held out a hand to help her up, "Of course! I haven't been there in...well, ever! It's about time I did something new."

"Besides kidnapping children and fighting alien statues?"

"Just go find your shoes." the Doctor stuck his tongue out childishly and dashed off down a hallway.

Amelia rolled her eyes but grabbed the hastily kicked off shoes and tugged them on. They were blue and had lights on the back that lit up when she walked. They were a little bit big, a bit worn and said "M.S." on the back, but they fit better than the ones she'd had before.

"Don't dawdle, Amelia, we'll be late." the Doctor called after her.

Amelia dashed down the hall after him trying to find her way without help. She came to a junction that had two separate ways to go. There was a sticky note on the wall that proclaimed "This way, Pond!" and pointed to the left. She went to the right.

"I'm smarter than that, you know." Amelia climbed up the steps to the console. The Doctor shrugged off his coat and moved to the other side, pressing buttons along the way,"I don't know what you're talking about, Pond."

"Yes you do, you always know."

"I don't always know, you know."

"I know you know I always know you know." Amelia shot back.

The Doctor peered around the center at her, eyes narrowed lightly, but a smile in place; "You're getting better at the circular talk."

"I've learned from the master."

"Well, I -"

"Too bad she's not here, she could give you a lesson."

"Oi! Don't you start that stuff too!" the Doctor complained, "It's bad enough I have to deal with it from her."

"I'm sure she says the same any time people ask about you."

"Oh it's quite probable, after all she is insufferable and you have to pass the time somehow in prison."  
>The Doctor fiddled with a few more switches and buttons then pulled on switch back sending the TARDIS rocking back and forth out of the Vortex.<p>

"A little warning!" Amelia stumbled at the sudden movement and had to grab onto the railing to hold herself in place.

"Warning negates the fun!" He laughed, manically flipping switches till everything stopped.

"Well, come along, Pond. Let's see what Demanshi is like this time of year."

"What time of year did we land?"

"Haven't the foggiest!" He cheerfully flung open the doors and Amelia's eyes widened in awe.

The grass - if you could call it that - was lilac in colour and came up to her knees. It felt soft as silk though, not like Earth grass. The trees made even the Doctor feel like a child, they reached so high towards the sky as if stretching for more light. The leaves were a brilliant sapphire blue in colour, shining like gems against a light pink sky. In the sky not quite directly over head twin suns blazed next to each other, one just slightly smaller than the other.

"Wow..." Amelia spun slowly as she stepped through the grass, observing everything.

"Wow indeed." the Doctor stuck his hands in his pocket and followed behind her, "Better than Alpha Metraxis?"

"Definitely." Amelia spotted a bit of brighter colour and moved the grass to look.  
>It looked like a sunflower, only a lot smaller, the inside was bright red and the petals a deep purple.<p>

"Here you go, Pond." the Doctor plucked it and tucked it behind her ear, "Now you're outfit is complete."  
>She didn't clash near as bad as she had before, the Doctor admitted sadly, she actually looked semi normal...for a human.<p>

The TARDIS had been trying to fit the clothing she had available to Amelia's size, but most of it couldn't be shrunk horribly, so she'd instead been point Amelia towards the direction of the shorter female companions clothing.  
>Amelia had borrowed from Rose today; a set of cut off overall trousers that on Rose had been a mini skirt length outfit had - even with fiddling of the straps - come down to Amelia's knees. Underneath it she wore a bright tye-dye shirt that the Doctor was certain had been a belly shirt when Martha had gotten it in the 60's. This was finished up with dark blue light up shoes that were scuffed.<p>

"Not quite complete." Amelia dug through the grass and produced a similar flower. She reached up and stuck it in the Doctors braces.

"Quite a fashion statement. Better than celery!" he proclaimed making her laugh. "Now, shall we, Pond?" he offered her his hand.

"Of course!"

They walked across the grass looking around and spotting all the weird animals.  
>It wasn't long before they came across a small market. That was one thing to be loved about most planets that the Doctor had been to ; Most of them had small markets full of strange and wonderful things.<p>

"Look at this, Doctor!" Amelia laughed and picked up a stuffed animal off of one of the tables. It was bright orange and had five eyes.

The Doctor grinned and held up another, this one was bright blue with four arms and horns, "Think we should get it for Luke?"

"As a 'Wish you were here'?"

"Yup! Sort of like a post card reward."

Amelia considered it for a few minutes then nodded in agreement, "I think he'd like it."

Her attention was quickly caught by another stand, this one with moving creatures on display.

The Doctor watched her walk off and quickly bought both the blue and orange toys, sticking them in his pockets. When he turned around Amelia was no where to be seen.

"Amelia?" the Doctor looked around again running to where she was headed, "Amelia! Where are you, Amelia?"

No where to be seen. No where he could hear her, "AMELIA!"

Okay, don't panic. He'd lost companions before, they always found their way back or he found them. What's the worst that could happen?

Strike that...

"AMELIA!"

* * *

><p><strong>[Dun dun dun! <em>Stop being dramatic.<em> Make me! _Ignore the immature one_ – Hey! –_ We have watched the newest season, we will try hard not to spoil, not that we can be sure what will happen with RA but it will continue!_ The show must go on._ I said stop the dramatics!_]**


	7. Friends and Fairytales

Amelia was dizzy and falling. Head over arse or so it felt and the ground rushed up to meet her suddenly knocking all the wind out of her.

"Children are not supposed to be unaccompanied on the main planet." a voice had told her before slapping a button on her and then she was in the air falling.

"Think she's alright?" Amelia heard someone whisper nearby.

"I don't know. She looks funny..."

"I can hear you!" Amelia said sitting up. She was in the middle of a clearing that was filled with that same grass from earlier along with flowers that looked like tulips, but were a bright emerald green.  
>There were trees surrounding where she sat, making her think she was in a forest.<p>

The two who had been talking looked a bit guilty. Well, she assumed the expressions were guilt.

The first voice belonged to a boy that looked, while childish, a LOT older than her. He was a good foot taller than Amelia. His skin was a pale blue colour, like a robins egg; his hands were the size of saucers! He had hair that was a deep dark blue that brushed what she assumed were his ears. His hair flowed around tiny spikes that were green in colour and arranged like a Mohawk going across his skull. They looked a lot like horns. 

The second voice belonged to a girl. She was around the same height as the boy. Her skin was a bit darker blue, like the sky on Earth. Her hair was pale pink and pulled back in a braid that brushed her shoulders. She had fewer horns across her skull, but they were the same shade of green.

"Forgive me." The boy blushed and offered her his hand to help her up.  
>Amelia staggered to her feet and immediately felt rather short. She had to look up to see both of their faces.<p>

"It's okay. Who're you two?"

"I am Tybre," The boy said, bowing slightly, "This is my nest-mate Kali.

"Hi." Kali smiled shyly and bowed as well.

"I'm Amelia, Amelia Pond." Amelia awkwardly returned the bow. "Where exactly am I?"

"You do not know?" Kali looked confused.

"No...I was with a man called the Doctor, we were on Demanshi 6, in a market. Then I was spinning and came here."

"Oh..." Tybre nodded, "You are not allowed without tracking or an adult on any of the big planets. You're now on Planet 2."

Amelia's brow furrowed in thought, trying desperately to remember which one was Demanshi 2, "Is that the teenaged planet?"

"No!" Kali giggled, "We're little ones still. We haven't even got to go to the 3rd planet yet!"

"Oh?" Amelia nodded, "So next step up would be for older kids?"

"Yes." Tybre said solemnly, "You have to wait here until your Ammi em and your Pasire come for you."

"Ammi em and Pasire?" Amelia repeated. After a moments thought she realized it must be what they called their mum and dad. "I haven't got an Ammi em or a Pasire."

Kali shrugged, "Your Guardian then."

Amelia considered it, "I don't have a Guardian."

Tybre and Kali both gained twin expressions of horror, "An older nest-mate?"

Amelia figured that was their term for sibling, "I don't have any nest-mates."

Tybre shook his head, he couldn't comprehend such things, "If you were alone they would have placed you in another nest."

"I'm not Demanshi, I'm human; I don't think we have nests like that."

Kali had tears in her eyes and she leapt forward and seized Amelia in a hug.

"Erm...Hi? Crushing me." Amelia managed as she was lifted off the ground.

"Sorry." Kali put her back on the ground.

"We've never heard of someone who had no one." Tybre told Amelia.

"Come with us back to the school; we will find a nest for you!"

"I've got somewhere I live." Amelia told Kali, following her down a trail anyway.

"Without a Guardian?"

"Well, he lives with me. I live with him, but I don't think he's a Guardian. Luke said I babysit him as much as he babysits me."

Tybre looked at her oddly, "Baby sit? Why would you sit on a child?"

"Er...Nest mind?"

"Ah." Tybre helped her over a fallen log. "Someone who makes sure you do not injure yourself."

"Exactly."

The walk through the forest wasn't so bad, she'd slipped in mud, but that wasn't too horrid. She could change clothing on the TARDIS or Kali said she could borrow some until the Doctor came for her. But she noticed something on her walk;  
>"Tybre, why are there towers all around?" She asked indicating the nearest tower that was block-like in structure and came out of a small building.<p>

"Those are Guard towers." Tybre looked at her as if she were slow, "They protect us."

"Do you need protecting?" She thought the Doctor had said their planets were safe.

"If someone comes then yes. We are the future and need to be protected. They have a lot more towers on Planet 1 and Planet 5 though."

"Planet 5 is for the public's safety, not the planet." Kali giggled.

"Planet 5 is where the teenagers are, right?" Amelia asked watching the tower as they passed it and gaining a small polite wave from the adult inside it.

"Yup. We don't go there."

"No one goes there." Tybre snorted. "Pasire says that only trained Warriors and Warlocks do!"

"I want to be a Warrior when I grow up." Kali said, a dreamy look on her face.

"I'm going to be a Warlock." Tybre bragged to Amelia, "Watch this." He stared at the ground in concentration for a minute before a tiny whirl wind appeared. It lasted only a few seconds and didn't go higher than 6 inches, but he managed it.

"That's so cool, Tybre. Kali, don't you know if you're a Warrior yet?"

"No, not until I show I'm really strong or until they test at 14." Kali shook her head sadly.

Amelia rubbed her sore ribs and thought Kali was plenty strong enough already!

The School wasn't like Amelia figured it would be. She pictured a small building like her Earth school. Their school was many thing, but 'small' it was not.

It was a tall grand building built from a beautiful white stone that seemed to glow. It had towers and turrets coming out of the structure.

"It looks like a fairy tale..."

Tybre looked at her oddly, "A fairy what?" 

"Fairy tale, it's like a story that's told to you by your Parents, er your Pasire and Ammie em or your Guardians that has princes and princesses."

"Like the story of the Prince Dammi and his bride facing off against the Executioner?" Kali smiled, "I love that story!"

"It's mushy." Tybre pulled a face as he disagreed.

"You'll have to tell me that one, Kali, I don't know it." Amelia laughed.

"Kali, Tybre!" an adult came out of the school and shot them a very mumsy look, "You two are late for lunch."

"Sorry Guardian Neira." the two said contritely.

"I see you've brought along a stray again. Well, what is your name?"

Amelia stared in shock. Tybre and Kali were a foot taller than her, but this woman...She was taller than the Doctor! She had long pink hair like that fell in curls around her shoulders and wheat coloured horns that stuck out about 4 inches or so, but not in a Mohawk pattern like with her new friends, hers were a pattern of 4 around her head, two front, two back.

"I think the bengals got her tongue." Kali told the woman in a mock whisper.

"I think she's never seen a Demanshi woman before." Guardian Neira replied, crouching down - and still taller than her - she looked at Amelia, "Hello there. I'm Guardian Neira Daughter of Lias of the Scout tribe. What are you?"

"I'm..." Amelia thought about it, "I'm Amelia child of...I don't know...but I'm from Leadworth and human." She offered holding her hand out.

Guardian Neira took her hand, dwarfing it in her own, "In that case you would say 'I'm Amelia of my own self grown from Leadworth', but nice job in trying."

"Guardian Neira, she doesn't have a Pasire, an Ammi Em, a Guardian OR older Nest-mates." Kali looked distraught.

"She's human, Kali, they use the words 'mum' and 'dad'."

Kali nodded as her brother hugged her.

"Humans don't have Guardians either, or nest mates. They only have one child at a time and they're not in eggs."

"Really?" Kali sniffled, "How do you know?"

"I took courses on Planet 3, silly, they taught us all about other species."

"How do they have babies then?" Tybre asked curiously as Guardian Neira picked up Kali.

"They grow them, inside." Guardian Neira made a face, but winked at Amelia as both Demanshi children made noises of disgust.

* * *

><p>He'd searched the market up and down and hadn't found her. He'd even tried the sonic to locate hers, but it was no use; she'd vanished.<br>Finally the Doctor resorted to asking random people if they'd seen a really short child.

One woman - who dwarfed him by a good foot and a half - looked at him sympathetically; "You've lost your young one?"

"Yes! She was just with me, I turned around and she was gone." the Doctor told her.

"Ah, she must have been taken by one of the Minders."

"Minders?"

"Yes. They watch the markets and our cities and keep an eye on the off worlders to keep them out of trouble. Was she wearing her wrist monitor."

"Wrist monitor?"

"They should have given you one at the station." she sighed, "If you leave your child alone for even a few seconds one of the Minders will pick them up to keep them out of trouble. Some of the younger are so little and get under foot, you know."

"Where would a Minder have taken her?" the Doctor felt a tiny bit of relief edging in.

"It would depend on her age."

"Er, she's seven."

"Ah, then she's most likely on Planet 2. Just go to the main offices and have them search for her. You'll be fine." She patted him on the shoulder and only his super-human strength kept him on his feet.

"Thanks, but where ARE the main offices?"

She chuckled, "Follow that street all the way down, then take a left; it's at the end."

"Thanks!" he took off at a run, dodging people of various species and heights as he ran sliding lightly on the dirt.  
>The main offices were tall. Really tall.<p>

"Blimey…" He ran a hand through his hair. They were a good 10 earth stories tall and a deep jade against the pink sky. The doors were twice his height. As he was trying to figure out how to open them a figure around his height walked up.

"Trying to find a way in?"

The man, he assumed it was a man, was around his height with shoulder length purple hair and orange spikes in a swirling pattern across his skull; he was still a good 6 inches taller than the Doctor.

"Yes."

"Pet registry, Planet 1 placement or lost child?" He chuckled and opened the door for the Doctor.

"Lost child." He replied then paused, "Why would I be wanting Planet 1 placement?"

"Well, Demanshi women are very beautiful…" The man smirked, "You'll be wanting the last door to the right, there." He pointed towards a door that was done in a tie-dye of colours.

"Thank you, very much."

"If you need anything just holler for me; Student Esuz son of Finley of the Ipbix tribe." He winked; knowing very much how off worlders considered their names long, odd and hard to manage and disappeared towards his door.

The Doctor stared after the man for a minute then shook his head and went up to the door, shoving it open and looking around inside.

"Can I help you?" A woman with white curls asked politely.

"I need to find a lost child." he replied making his way up to the tall desk.

"How are you related?" She asked pulling out forms.

"She's my..." he frowned trying to find a term to sum up exactly what she was to him, "ward?"

"Okay," she made a note. "Species?"

"Human."

"Age?"

He frowned trying to remember, "Erm...I'm not...Seven?"

"Hmm." She wrote something down, "Gender?"

"Female."

"Height?"

This was going to take forever...

* * *

><p>"What is it?" Amelia asked as she looked at the bowl in horror.<p>

"It's the best dessert EVER!" Tybre said enthusiastically taking a big bite.

"It's Chokar cake with Kyreberrie sauce with swimming minnows." Kali smiled happily, "With the real cream!"

Amelia made a face.

Guardian Neira laughed, "Here. Without minnows, give it a try."

"Why would you not want minnows?" Tybre demanded clearly outraged, "They feel so neat swimming in your tummy."

"Humans can't eat raw meats, minnows included." Guardian Neira told them.

"Humans are weak." Kali observed sadly.

Amelia looked at the bowl with a bit of distrust but sucked it up and tried to open her mind. She dug her spoon in, getting bits of everything and took a bite, expecting something horrid.  
>She chewed. Paused, swallowed and opened her eyes, "It's good!"<p>

"Yes, it is!" Kali agreed enthusiastically digging into hers.

It tasted like carrot cake, but with chocolate bits and some sort of almond. The sauce was like strawberries crossed with celery, but much sweeter.

"You know one of the best ways to experience another culture is to eat their food, wear their things and talk with their people." Guardian Neira said, "Speaking of…" She reached out and poked Amelia in the shoulder, chuckling as dried mud crumbled off.

"Sorry." Amelia blushed.

"Don't be. At any given time there are about 100 to 500 children running around here, 30 under my direct care." Guardian Neira laughed, "You're not the first to fall in the mud and you won't be the last."

Much to Amelia's embarrassment the only clothing they had that fit her belonged to Kali and Tybre's youngest nest-mate, Dex.

It was a long crimson coloured tunic that reached her knees. The fabric looked quite coarse, but was soft and light. It was tied at her waist with a white braided belt. Underneath it she had jade green trousers that were loose (Yet another thing the children laughed at) and fit so that the flared out over a pair of leather boots that were laced up and still big.

"Alright, story and rest time." Guardian Neira proclaimed, "Tybre, go to the rec room and alert the others?"

"Others?" Amelia inquired.

"Yes, currently I have 25 under my watch, but over all there are 245 under the age of Nine and over the age of three in this school."

"Wow, how many schools are there?"

"On this continent? 63. But there are seven different continents. There are around 400 schools working at any given time." Guardian Neira opened a door to show off a dormitory style room with several circular beds filled with fluffy pillows and blankets.

"That's a LOT." Amelia said in surprise, following Kali to sit in one of the beds, Kali hadn't let go of her tunic yet.

"Not really. You have to remember we take care of 90% of the children between three and nine for four planets." Guardian Neira shrugged, "There could be more or less depending on the clutches."

Within minutes Tybre had arrived, baby Dex in his arms and a giant group of children with him.

"Are they all your family?" Amelia asked a bit overwhelmed.

"No." Tybre laughed as he helped his brother snuggle into the blankets. Dex was a cute little child, he only had two horns- the same green shade as his siblings - and long green hair around his shoulders. He hadn't stopped smiling since she'd met him.

"Our dorm covers three tribes: the Halir, the Scout and the Exscons."

"Oh."

"We're Exscons." Tybre informed her.

Once every child was situated in a nest - She noticed that those sharing a nest tended to have the same horn colour. She guessed that horn colour must show what tribe you belong to.

"Shhh, hush now children." Guardian Neira cooed to one of the whining ones, "It's rest time. Of course you get a story, don't worry little ones. Now, what one shall we hear today?"

"Tell the story of Prince Dammi and Princess Hasre, please?" Kali begged, "Amelia doesn't know it."

"She doesn't?"

The children murmured in disbelief.

"Okay, just for our guest we'll hear the tale of Prince Dammi, despite how many times it's told before." Guardian Neira laughed.

Kali tugged a blanket up over herself and Amelia and smiled happily.

"Once, many, many cycles ago Prince Dammi son of King Esmal of the Roccal tribe started his rule of the Nine Planets."

"When you were little?" One child called out impishly.

"No! My Father was barely drying out of his egg!" Guardian Neira laughed, "His rule was very strict, but it was a rule that led to much prosperity. Many began to think after one hundred years that he would always be Prince, and never a King. For to be King you must take a wife. But then one day he met she who would be his Queen. She was a very beautiful and powerful warrior from the Exscon tribe called Hasre."

"Exscon?" Amelia whispered, "Like you?"

"Great-grandfather's fifth brother's eldest's hatchling's eldest cousin." Kali said eagerly.

"The King and Hasre were very happy and very much in love and soon a huge wedding was planned. Such a lovely wedding even the scribes couldn't write. Not too long after they had an announcement; there was to be a hatch! King Dammi and Queen Hasre were to be parents."

"Lots of babies." Dex giggled.

"Uh huh." Kali smiled.

"Then on the day of celebration where the gifts are given something horrible happened. As the Queen, eggs in arm, opened one of the packages she found a necklace, as she touched it both she and the egg disappeared in a flash of white light."

"Bad!" Another child called out.

"Very! Now, the King searched high and low for his bride and finally they found her on a planet far far away from here called London. King Dammi was filled with fear for his wife and eggs and casting aside all rules he went himself with 1000 of his best Warlocks and Warriors, nearly a whole generation of our people! The planet was full of strange primitive beings. They wanted to keep the queen all to themselves for her kindness and beauty."

"She was really beautiful." Tybre said, he'd seen photos his Grandfather had.

"King Dammi went to the leaders of the people and offered a trade; All the gold and gems in his treasury , just so long as he gained his wife and eggs safety. The primitives did not understand so the King had no choice but to go to the planet with his Elite Guard to where the Queen was being held."

"Kick their butts!" A boy yelled, punching the air.

"He found the Queen to be guarded by primitives who held strangely shaped weapons and threatened her. But worse than this, oh so much worse, though he found his eggs, but they found on to be hatched. He couldn't find the hatchling though. In a fury he fought and defeated Hasre's guards' singlehandedly. They searched high and low for their hatchling and in their search he encountered her: The Executioner."  
>There were several shrieks of terror as many children hid under their blankets.<p>

"She was dressed in armour they'd never seen before! She wore animals skin over her arms and feet, with the fur of another wound around her neck still red with the blood of its defeat. She bared her legs and neck, as if daring them to hurt her. Her hair was stained a deep red from the blood of the thousands of enemies she'd slaughtered. Her nails were long and blunted, but a deep red with long green streaks of venom! She put up a great fight when the King tried to take his family home. The Kings best fought valiantly, killing many primitives who tried to keep the Queen. Unfortunately the Executioner took many of them down herself. The Warlocks, upon seeing the King was in trouble, placed a spell on the Executioner and lead her to the ship to lock her up."

"In a cage." Tybre said fiercely. 

"Exactly. The ship took off, the Executioner still on board so they could find the location of the hatchling by extracting information. King Dammi sent the remaining eggs to be guarded in his room by no less than four Warriors. When the evil Executioner awoke from the spell she was enraged. Her vengeful wrath spread as she killed her guards using magic even they could not understand. She escaped her cell and once out she made the ship stall. She disappeared in a white light like that that had taken the Queen. When they tried to go back to find their hatchling the ship was consumed by a roaring fire!"

"Boom!" Dex said seriously. 

"She didn't account for the fact that two of the mission were on their way back to the ship when it exploded. They had great news, they had located the hatchling! Those two were the only survivors of the generation on board. One young warrior, newly graduated and one young Warlock, the first of her tribe to be selected for the King's army. Both were seriously injured, but survived. They were found over a day later by a rescue craft, the young hatchling held in-between the two, unscathed."

"They got our Queen." Kali told Amelia.

"They had saved the hatchling, the only remaining member of the Royal family. A distant cousin, no longer considered royal, took control and declared that one day we would kill the Executioner, but until the hatchling Princess was old enough to decide upon the best course of revenge we would leave the planet of London alone." 

"So the Executioner is still out there?" Amelia asked in awe.

"Yes," Guardian Neira said, "She's killed several more in battle since that day, but the Queen has declared if she ever sets foot on this planet she is to be killed and that no Demanshi is to set foot near London."

"Not till we've got a BIG army." Tybre told Amelia, "Then we can go and kill her to revenge all our fallen family."

"Wow." Amelia breathed in shock, "I don't blame you."

"That's enough for now, rest yourselves." Guardian Neira said, dampening the light.

Amelia slept and dreamed of what she'd been told.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Well, 'A Good man goes to war' just made RA Take a sharp turn AU. <em>RA's ALWAYS been AU<em>. Yeah, but now its gotten even AU-yer. _Is that a word?_ It should be]**


	8. Bureaucracy, doubts and names

**[Just a reminder, because we've been asked, Amelia is 7 in this story. We get a LOT of views, and that's pretty cool. We have a rule of writing: We write for ourselves -_you write for me_ - shush you, and if others like it then awesome. _The fact that we've got 27 people on the alerts list? That just flat out is brilliant._]**

"-and last off I need her universal index number recorded on her passport." the woman said.

The Doctor looked like he'd bit a lemon, "Er..." They hadn't got a universal index as she wasn't recorded anywhere in history quite yet. He didn't think the Psychic Paper could come up with one they could use.  
>Finally he said weakly, "I don't have one."<p>

The woman snapped the file shut. "Well, then I can't help you."

In a last ditch effort for help he whipped out the Psychic paper, flashing it at her, "Maybe this will convince you!"

She turned pale quickly, "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were here as an advisor for the Chief Warrior!"

"That's alright, it was a stealthy mission." He waved her off and looked at the paper trying to see what she'd seen.

Whatever she'd seen got him a quick escort up the street to a giant military like compound not far beyond the main offices. Within minutes he was ensconced in a comfy chair about 3x too big for him holding a cup of tea that was near bucket sized.

The man who came into the office had medium length blue hair tied back with black ribbon at the base of his neck; his skin was a blue like the sky you could see on Earth; he had green horns arranged in a mohawk pattern across his skull that stuck out a good six inches; his eyes flashed a brilliant gold when he looked at the Doctor. This was on top of him being at least 8ft tall and a good 300lbs or so. His clothing was unlike what the Doctor had seen on the streets outside.

He wore trousers that were mixed splotches of lilac and brown colours (the Doctor guessed this must be their version of Earth's camo pants) held up by a purple belt; Brown boots that came up mid shin and a lilac colured flowing shirt - tucked in, which he hadn't seen before - that was open in a V shape at the collar.

"I've been informed you're my newest advisor." the man said, his voice was a deep baritone that rumbled in the Doctor's chest. "Yet, I have not asked for any new ones, nor would I take any advice on war from such a...scrawny species. No offence."

"None taken." the Doctor said pleasantly, "I hate war. No offense to you."

"Then why are you here, and why do you have paper that says you're my advisor?"

The Doctor placed the bucket of tea aside and stood on his chair to reach eye level with his counterpart, "What would you do, were your child taken? Would you lie to reach a high authority to get them back?"

"Easily." he replied then offered the Doctor his hand, "I am Chief Warrior Thraz son of Zaniel of the Exscon tribe."

"I'm the Doctor." the Doctor replied attempting to shake hands, though his was dwarfed by Thraz's dinner plate sized hand.

"How can I help you, Doctor?"

"I was in the market, I turned my back for a few seconds and poof, my ward disappeared"

"Ah, taken by a minder." he nodded seriously, "and a man such as yourself who would lie so convincingly to see the man in charge wouldn't have gone through the check in for off worlders, would he?"

The Doctor smiled innocently.

"That's what I thought." Thraz chuckled and indicated for the Doctor to follow ,"You're lucky that we have a system in place for this. However, it is normally used on the children of visiting dignitaries who have decided they don't need to go through customs."

The Doctor tried to look innocent, but it failed, "Sorry?"

Thraz just shook his head, grin not fading, and lead him to a room with a big machine in it. The machine was about Six feet tall, a dark gray colour with handles on either side. The front was almost taken up completely by a scanner, above it there were six light bulbs and a screen.

"We input the data about your child," Thraz said pressing a few buttons, "And it scans the planets for her, well Seven Planets anyway."

"What about the other two?" "No one goes to Planet 9, it's a vastly uninhabited - by anything sentient - planet covered in ice. Legend says any who go there will die. Planet 5...Well, Doctor, to put it lightly that's the planet that holds all the teenaged Warriors and Warlocks in training. Think about that, an entire planet full of 14 to 20 year old Warriors and Warlocks. Even I shudder to visit."

"...Point taken. Lets see, she's about..." the Doctor waved his hand back and forth trying to estimate, "Oh, about 4 feet tall, no idea on weight." Thraz started typing in the data.

"One heart, only one respiratory system, single skeletal system with no back up muscles - a pity really-. She's got green eyes and red hair." the Doctor finished, a proud grin on his face.

He didn't notice Thraz freeze on the last two descriptors. After a moment Thraz shook himself out of his thoughts and typed it in, "Well, Doctor, that will search now and within one to three hours we'll have a result."

"Three?"

"Our populations are spread on 8 planets, Doctor. We number near as great as the stars." Thraz shrugged and held his hands out, palm up in a gesture of 'what can I do?'

"I doubt you're as many as the stars." the Doctor scoffed, but held a playful grin.

"Leave a man to his delusions!" Thraz patted him on the back, "Excuse me, I've got a REAL consultant to see."  
>Thraz looked back to see the Doctor ensconced in viewing the scanner as he ran to his counterpart's office.<p>

"Thraz, I'm in a meeting." she said, rolling her eyes in a mix of affection and exasperation.

The Chief Warlock was a tall woman about a foot shorter than Thraz, with soft white hair tinged with purple streaks. Her horns stood out not quite as much as his and were a deep violet set in a diamond pattern. Pink eyes gazed at him in a way that normally would have made him shrink back a bit.

She wore a loose violet skirt that flowed around her ankles - that set off the colour of her horns quite well - and a lilac tunic, tucked in like Thraz's. She wore boots as well, but instead of the brown scuffed ones Thraz had, hers were a White colour and only came up to just above her ankles.

"Not anymore," Thraz said sternly, aiming a look at the Demanshi in the office that made his soldiers cower, "Get out." The woman didn't need telling twice and scattered.

"Thraz, that was a newer soldier, JUST graduated!" "Sorry, Tsik." Thraz said, not sorry at all as he shut the door and locked it.

"What's got you in a tizzy this time? I haven't seen you this twitchy since Tybre fell out of his nest a few years back."

"There is a man here, called the Doctor, he's looking for his lost ward."

"Easily dealt with." Tsik waved him off then paused, "The Doctor?"

"Yes! The ward he's looking for? She's got red hair and green eyes." Thraz told her eagerly.

"That..." Tsik shook her head, "That doesn't necessarily mean anything."

"Think about it, Tsik!" Thraz pleaded, "Think of what we've been told by Jorcan and Jarin!"

"She'd be over 300 by now."

"She didn't just travel in space." Thraz said temptingly, "Nor did she travel with only females."

"Thraz!" Tsik took a deep breath, "Are you sure?"

"Not even remotely, but I have a feeling." Tsik paused, closing her eyes and thinking it over. After a few minutes she opened her eyes, "Go keep watch of the Doctor until the child is found. ONCE she is found you'll get an image of her to show to Jarin. If Jarin agrees she's who you think she is or the child of who you think then we'll deal with it. Until then you do NOT mention this to anyone else, you do NOT contact either of them and you damn well go no where NEAR the Queen. Understood?"

Thraz saluted her, "Understood!"

"Go." Tsik said wearily, watching as he took off running again, slamming her door behind him.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to believe the stories she'd been told by the old Chief and his nest-mate Time Travel...It was possible, in certain circles. They knew that, Demanshi personally didn't indulge in it, they looked towards the future, not towards the past.

"God help us if she is who Thraz believes." Tsik said to herself, letting her head rest on her hands.

* * *

><p>-Amelia-<p>

* * *

><p>"I am Tybre of th-"<p>

"No, Tybre." Guardian Neira shook her head again, "Father first, remember? Yourself, your father and then your tribe. Try it again?"

"I am Tybre son of Thraz-"

"Father's title as well." Guardian Neira reminded him."

Tybre took a breath and tried again, "I am Tybre son of Chief Warrior Thraz of the Exscon tribe."

"Very good!" Guardian Neira handed him a boiled sweet the size in diameter as a 2 pence piece.

Amelia had been watching them for an hour now do their names. It was amusing, they all had strange names - to her ears anyway - and she couldn't imagine having to list everyone like that! Even the three year olds were managing it, somewhat. Then again, the incentive was a boiled sweet that smelled strongly of strawberries.

Kali smiled, "Do I go next?"

"Yes, though I think it might be cheating to have nest-mates go one after another."

"I am Kali daughter of Chief Warrior Thraz of the Exscon tribe."

Neira laughed and handed her the sweet, "Very good, even if Tybre sounded it out first. Okay, next up Dex."

Dex made a face, "No."

"No?"

"Too big."

Neira smiled, "What if I say it with you?"

The five year old whined a bit, bouncing in place. He wanted the sweet, but his name was hard.

"I Dex."

"Son of-?" Neira prompted him.

"C'ef War'or T'raz."

"Of the?"

"Excon t'ibe. Gimme."

Neira rolled her eyes a bit, "Put it together?"

"I Dex son of C'ef War'or T'raz of Excon t'ibe. Gimme."

She handed it to him and he squealed in delight, commencing to gnaw on it.

"How about you, Amelia?" Neira asked offering one of the sweets, "Want to give it a shot?"

Everyone looked curiously at the human.

"Why not?" Amelia took a breath, "I am Amelia of my own self grown from Leadworth."

There were murmurs from different children; everyone had a parent, guardian or nest-mate to list!

"Very good! You remembered." Neira handed her the sweet and Amelia tried to figure out exactly how to eat it without chokeing.

"Okay, play time. You guys can go run around outside, stay INSIDE The guard towers and the little gate." she warned them, "And watch the younger ones."

Amelia slipped the sweet into her pocket and followed Kali and Tybre outside again.

"We can't go out of the little gate?" she asked, noting they'd come through it when she'd first got to the school.  
>Tybre blushed a darker blue, "We saw a light and wanted to see what it was."<p>

"Ah." Amelia smirked, "You went wandering."

"Yes." Kali pursed her lips to keep from grinning too brightly, "But shhh, we aren't supposed to."

"I do plenty I'm not supposed to." Amelia told her, "It's a child's prerogative Or, so I'm told."

"Tyb'e, play!" Dex demanded tugging at his brother's hand.

"Fine." Tybre sighed good naturedly and started tossing Dex's oddly shaped toy ball back and forth with him.

"Amelia?" Kali motioned for her to sit down in the grass next to her.

"Yes, Kali?"

"Is it true humans only come one at a time?"

"A lot of the time, yeah. One of the ladies in the town where I lived had three at one time!" Amelia offered, "But most of the time we only have one or sometimes two babies."

Kali frowned, "That's weird."

"You've only got Tybre," Amelia said, "And Dex is an only, isn't he?"

"Tybre and I had another from our nest, but she got taken cause of our Pasire being really important." Kali said,

"Dex doesn't have any though."

"Why not? "

"Because he's rare!" Kali giggled.

"Oh." Amelia frowned, trying to puzzle that one out. She didn't get far into her thought process before the ball rolled over to her.

"Throw it back!" Tybre goaded her.

Amelia looked at it, it was probably their version of a cricket ball, but it was near the size of a football.  
>She considered it and then kicked it over to Dex.<p>

"Whoa, why'd you kick it?"

"It's a sport at home." Amelia explained when Dex rolled it back and she blocked it with her foot. "You have to run and kick the ball, no hands allowed, into a net without it being taken away." Tybre's eyes went wide, "Show us?"

She soon had Kali, Tybre, Dex and a group of others attempting this 'strange' sport.

Guardian Neira sat back and watched her charges bouncing back and forth trying to kick the small ball into two makeshift 'goals'. After a moment she noticed the green light click on near the entrance that told her the world was being scanned. "Guess they've noticed she's gone." she said to herself.

A small yipping noise interrupted Amelia's game as a tiny face poked through the gate. "What was that?" She asked, examining the grass near the gate.

A tiny blue face poked through the grass looking in.

"Eww," Kali made a face and hung back, holding onto her brother for safety, "It's a Uval."

"It looks like a puppy!" Amelia laughed as it wiggled through the gate on stubby legs.

"It's a pest." Tybre disagreed.

"It looks like a Corgi. The lady next door had one, but it was mean." Amelia held out her hands to let it sniff her.  
>The Uval - "Puppy!" - looked just like a corgi puppy, with a slight difference; it was neon blue.<p>

"They're a menace, they eat crops, dig holes and terrorize livestock." Tybre told her.

It wiggled closer to Amelia so she lifted it up, petting it carefully. It wiggled more, let out a noise of happiness and started licking her face.

"That tickles!" She protested while giggling.

Neira laughed at her charges distress as they watched her play with the 'pest'. "You guys, not everyone thinks they're pests."

"They don't?" one boy asked in confusion.

"No, some keep them as pets in cages." she told him, "They're just different"

Tybre and Kali finally gave in a let the 'puppy' sniff them.

It gave them both a lick making them giggle.

"See? He's not a pest!"

* * *

><p>-Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>Thraz paced back and forth in the back of the room. They'd located two humanoids so far, but neither were Amelia. Their locations were sent off to the missing department and the machine scanned again.<p>

He flexed his hands and alternately shoved them in his pockets and fiddled with the change he carried or wound them together. He hadn't been this nervous since he was told his first nest was hatching.  
>After a few more minutes the machine went "Ding!" again, sending both Thraz and the Doctor scrambling.<p>

"What's it say?" Thraz demanded as the Doctor read.

"Four feet tall, one heart...Can you get an image on this thing?"

Thraz tapped a few buttons and brought up an image of the yard she was in. A group of children were playing with a ball, kicking it around. On the other side of the yard his three children sat with a small red haired female playing with a Uval pup.

"That's her!" the Doctor proclaimed, "That's Amelia. Which planet is this?"

"Planet 2. Those are my children." Thraz said, mind boggling a bit.

The Doctor looked between the screen and Thraz, "I see the resemblance?"

"I'll send out a call to pick her up." Thraz told him, printing out a photo of the girl, "Wait here." The Doctor twitched in place looking anxious. He didn't like being given orders, nor did he like 'waiting'. That was nearly impossible, even for a Time Lord!

Thraz tried not to run so in the end it looked near a skip as he barged into Tsik's office again.

"Well?" Tsik asked wearily.

He held out the photo triumphantly.

Tsik took it and studied it closely, hoping to find something to discount Thraz's thoughts. She'd never seen the Executioner before, and this bright cheerful face wasn't what she pictured when she thought of her. "I'll call Jarin. You go pick up the girl."

Thraz bounced in place looking like a child with a Kyreberrie sweet and dashed off to get transport to Planet 2.  
>Tsik took a deep breath and dialed the number on the call pad. The air above it swirled into the screen showing the dial sign as it ran.<p>

The screen paused then showed answer, "Hello?"

The woman on screen had long turquoise hair pulled back into a braid and twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were so dark a red that they almost looked like lava. She had slightly darker skin than Thraz and her face was crossed on the left side with a network of scars in a very light blue - nearly white. Her horns were bi-coloured black and white swirling together, both on opposite sides of the front of her skull; the left one had been broke off and file down to half the height of the other.

"Yes, hello. This is Chief Warlock Tsik daughter of Jarkan of the Junar tribe -"

"I know who you are, Tsik." She chuckled, "What do you need?"

"Sorry, Jarin but..." Tsik cursed her nerves, "We have a man here who lost his ward. Which isn't too unusual but...Well, his name is 'the Doctor' and his ward has red hair and green eyes."

Jarin hissed in a breath, "Have you got a photo?"

"Yes, one moment." Tsik grabbed it and pressed it against the screen on her side.

From the muttered curses she heard she assumed that was a 'yes' from Jarin.

"Have you called Jorcan or the Queen?"

"No, ma'am, not yet."

"Jorcan and I will inform the Queen. Either that is her, or the child. Either way we'll know soon." Jarin growled low in her throat, "I'll brief them, you get Thraz, the child and the Doctor to the side chamber within the hour."

"I...Yes ma'am." Tsik nodded, "Understood."


	9. Reunions, Bengals and the Queen

Thraz went to oversee the girls' pick up personally. It made him absolutely certain that she wouldn't escape. He couldn't keep the Doctor away though as he'd shoved his way on board

"You know, most other species are not allowed on Planets 1, 2, 3 or 5." Thraz said, trying to disguise his anticipation.

"I'm not most other species." the Doctor replied looking out the window of their craft.

"No, you're not." Thraz said softly.

The flight was short - Thraz had commandeered a fighter plane to get them to Planet 2 - only about 10 minutes.

As soon as their craft touched the grass the Doctor had hopped out looking much like an excited puppy. Thraz had followed at a much more leisurely pace, trying desperately to calm his beating heart that felt as if it would bounce out of his chest.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic and pressed a button on it, grinning as it started beeping. Thraz jogged to keep up with the Doctor's flat out run across the grass.

* * *

><p>-Amelia-<p>

* * *

><p>Amelia started and looked down as a loud beeping noise sounded. She hadn't heard that noise since they'd been in the forest with the Angels.<p>

"What is that?" asked Tybre curiously.

Amelia pulled out her sonic and watched it before pressing another button.

"That's him." She said, a smile spreading across her face.

"The one who watches you?" said Kali.

"Yup! He's coming for me." Amelia stood up quickly, Uval pup in arms and looked around. Within minutes she saw the Doctor nearing the gate.

"Doctor!" She yelled dashing towards the gate.

"Pond!" he said cheerfully, throwing open the gate and snatching her up in a hug, "What's rule number 1!"

"Don't wander off," said Amelia hugging him tight, Uval in between them, "Sorry. But in my defense they stuck me here, I didn't do it."

"Not a good reason."

Thraz cleared his throat to interrupt them but whatever he'd been about to say sternly was cut off.

"Pasire!" Tybre shouted excitedly, running and tackling into his father.

"Pasire?" Dex and Kali turned, grinned and tackled their father as well.

The Doctor tried not to grin, but failed at the sight of this giant warrior being crawled on by three children; "Amelia?"

Amelia had been shifted to the side, but the Doctor hadn't let her down, still holding her, hands around the back of her legs and her waist, Uval against both their chests;"That's Tybre, Kali and Dex. He said they're of the Exscon tribe."

"Learning the culture are you?"

"They have weird food, but it's not bad. Oh, and giant sweets! You'd like it."

* * *

><p>-Aircraft-<p>

* * *

><p>"-and they have really long names!" Amelia gushed, "I got to watch them all do their names."<p>

"Really?" the Doctor asked, quite happy to let her talk as he was still kicking himself over losing her.

"Yes. Tybre had to do it first he said he's 'Tybre son of Chief Warrior Thraz of the Exscon tribe' then Kali had to do it." Amelia said digging in her pocket she produced the sweet, "We got these if we did it right."

"What's yours then?"

"I am Amelia of my own self from Leadworth." she smiled.

"Very nice, Pond." the Doctor said proudly.

Amelia examined the sweet again and held it out to Thraz, "Would you like it?"

Thraz watched her as if she were about to bite him, "What?"

"I can't eat it, it's too big. Tybre said they were great and Kali said her Pasire loved them. Would you like it?"

Thraz took it cautiously, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"What is this little one?" the Doctor asked poking the Uval.

"He's a uval." Amelia patted him on the head, "He looks like the dogs, the one they show with the Queen."

"Corgi." the Doctor supplied.

"Yes. I figured you have a horse, I can own a Uval." said Amelia smugly

"That's different..Give me a moment I'll think of a reason."

As they landed the Doctor hopped out, giving Amelia a hand down ,"Thank you kindly, Thraz, but we'll be off now."

"No, Doctor, you won't be." Thraz said authoritatively

"What?" the Doctors voice dropped it's joviality, "Yes, we will be going. Places to go, people to see."

"No, I'm sorry, Doctor, but you cannot leave." Thraz nodded and a woman dressed in fatigues like Thraz came forward and grabbed the Doctor in a bear hug "You see, when we realized who was here we realized what we had to do to save our society."

"Let us go! You can't have the TARDIS." the Doctor struggled against his captor.

"We have no want of the TARDIS, Doctor." Thraz said simply, "We have want of the Executioner of our Kind."

"What?" the Doctor said dangerously, "What are you on about?"

Amelia looked scared, "Guardian Neira told us that story, the executioner killed 1000 Demanshi."

Thraz smiled a terrifying smile, "Yes. And we now have either them, or their child."

"Who?" the Doctor looked between Thraz and Amelia, "No! You aren't touching her!"

Thraz grabbed Amelia by her arm as he would his children, "Hychar, take him to the side room off the Throne."

"Yes, Sir."

"DOCTOR!" Amelia screamed for him as they were separated

* * *

><p>Palace<p>

* * *

><p>Jarin paced back and forth across the room, long strides nearly shaking the walls.<p>

"Calm yourself, Jarin." Jorcan told his sister, face turning to follow the sound of her footsteps, "I'm getting dizzy trying to follow you."

The right side of Jorcan's face was crisscrossed in near white scars like his sister; burns and cuts healed by time. His right leg was missing from the knee down, replaced by a metal replicant. He looked near identical to his sister in fact.

"Then stop trying to follow me." she snapped.

"Jarin..."

"Sorry, just...Sorry." Jarin paused in her pacing and scowled.

"And get rid of that look. It's unbecoming. Don't stick your tongue out at me."

Jarin hissed and schooled her face, "I hate when you do that. How do you do that?"

"After three hundred years of getting use to blindness and three hundred and twenty of being your nest-mate I know your actions." Jorcan chuckled.

"How can you be so calm?" Jarin demanded, "The Executioner or her child is here! We have a chance for revenge; a chance to take action for what happened to us!"

"No vengeance now will return my sight, my leg, your arm or your horn." Jorcan stated, "Any action now is just spreading further. Plus, I know our Queen will not allow retribution on a child. Will you, Dasre?"

"How do you always know when I'm here?"

Queen Dasre was a tall woman. She stood just over 8 feet tall (A very proud thing for her) making her about a foot shorter than either of the other two in the room. She had waist length golden hair that flowed around her as if it were liquid and seemed to glow around horns so blue they outshone even the trees. Silver eyes regarded Jorcan with a mix of annoyance and amusement.

"You smell different than anyone else, my Queen." Jorcan inclined his head in greeting.

"Dasre, you'll let us do what needs to be done, won't you?" asked Jarin.

"That all depends on what it is that needs to be done." Dasre said, "If it is death, then it depends on several factors."

Jarin scowled but nodded, "I bow to your judgment, you know that Dasre."

"I do." Dasre hugged Jarin, "But I also know how much you struggle with your anger, even now."

Tsik stood near the doorway, wringing her hands together. She felt like she was intruding on a very personal scene.

"Do come sit down," Jorcan said to Tsik, "I don't bite."

"Much." Jarin added, some humor coming back.

"I'll have you know that Bengal had it coming," Jorcan sniffed in offense, "He bit me first."

Dasre giggled and took her seat,"Jorcan!"

Jarin rolled her eyes but took a seat to the left side of the Queen as always, "The Bengal really did. Jorcan still has the fang marks on his a-"

"Jarin!"

Tsik stifled a laugh, but at this point she didn't know if it was hysterical or if she really did find it funny.

"Right, business at hand." Jorcan cleared his throat.

"Either the Executioner or her child is in our custody." Tsik said, stomach full of butterflies, "Which means we can either stop her for good, or lure her here. Thraz told me to inform you all he's on his way with both the child and the Doctor."

Dasre nodded pensively, "We shall see."

Tsik thought about asking what they'd see, but was afraid to know.

* * *

><p>-Thraz-<p>

* * *

><p>Amelia screamed as Thraz dragged her into the building, away from the craft. Her arm felt like it was on fire where he gripped her, so tight she could feel her arm pulsing.<p>

"LET ME GO!" She shrieked again, Uval in arms barking insanely.

"Stop fighting." Thraz growled. She was acting like a petulant two year old. He was holding her like he held Dex when he threw a tantrum, by her arm in a firm yet gentle grip. Thraz made a face, feeling his hand was a bit wet and moved his grip to look at her more. Looking, however, showed her entire arm was red, gaining bruises and twin gouges went across her forearm.

"By Dammi." He hissed in shock. He'd forgotten humans were a LOT Weaker.

Amelia took advantage of his shock and took off running down the hallways. She had to find the Doctor, fast!

"STOP!" Thraz yelled, chasing after her.

But Amelia was either very fast or very lucky and she slipped through a side door too small for Thraz to enter into.

She heard him cursing behind her as she followed the hallway down as far as it would go. Not too far in she heard a sniffing and growling noise.

Freezing in fear she looked around, holding her sonic out as a light in the dimly lit hallway.

Feet on the ground, movement noises, she whirled and came eye to eye with a giant beast.

She didn't have time to scream before it nudged her making her fall.

The Uval yipped in fear but shivered into Amelia to hide.

The beast looked like a giant tiger. It was the same height as Amelia at its back but outweighed her by a few hundred pounds. It had giant fangs it showed as it curled its lips to sniff at her. It was a orange colour with white stripes, giant pointed ears and long whiskers.

"Nice kitty?" Amelia whimpered.

After a moment the beast leaned down and snatched her up by the back of her tunic. Amelia gasped in shock - but not in pain oddly enough - as it padded down the hallway much like a terrier with a toy ball.

She yelped in fear and tried to struggle out of its grasp, but the growl it let loose made her go still again. As soon as it let her down she'd run. It jogged down another bigger hallway and up to a room. With a snort it shoved its shoulder against the door, pushing it open. As it walked into the room it hit the door with its back paw, effectively shutting it behind them. It near pranced over to a group of shocked looking Demanshi adults, plopped her down on the floor before walking to sit in front of the only male and purring quite happily in a 'look what I've got' manner.

One of the women - one with White hair - sat back in her seat, "Oh Dammi!"

The woman with Gold hair sent the white haired one an annoyed look, "Jorcan..."

The man reached down and patted the giant beast on the head, "What've you brought me, Tsar?"

"A bloody scared looking human child with red hair." the woman with turquoise hair told him.

Amelia scuttled backwards on the floor trying to regain her footing, uval barking and whimpering.

The woman with golden hair stood up out of her seat and walked over, "Well aren't you a tiny one. Hello, I'm Dasre, what's your name?" She crouched down next to Amelia.

"I'm Amelia." Amelia said still looking terrified, Uval in arms.

"That's a very pretty name." Dasre said calmly, "What happened to your arm?"

"Thraz grabbed me." Amelia whimpered and tried not to cry, "He took me away. Where's the Doctor?"

The woman with white hair started cursing quite fervently, Amelia only knew it was cursing because she couldn't understand it.

"Tsik, go find this 'Doctor' and your counterpart." Jorcan growled, "Now."

Tsik ran out of the room, looking very pale.

The other woman looked shocked, "That's Amelia? That's the-"

Jorcan reached over and covered her mouth, "Shhh, Jarin."

Dasre reached towards Amelia, cursing internally when she flinched, "I'm just going to help you up, okay?"

Amelia nodded.

Dasre reached under Amelia and helped her to her feet, "I think your arm needs looking after. Jarin can you-?"

Jarin walked to the side of the room and dug through a cupboard, producing a white box. Sitting it on the table she proceeded to just watch the child.

"Over here." Dasre lead Amelia to the table and lifted her onto it as if she weighed nothing. "Can I see your arm?"

Amelia took a deep breath but extended her arm.

Dasre clicked her tongue in annoyance and dug through the kit producing a wipe; "This might sting."

Amelia held her breath, it indeed stung and she couldn't help but gasp.

"Sorry." Dasre smiled kindly and produced a plaster. It wrapped around the girls cuts three times. Dasre contemplated telling her that that particular plaster was used for scraped knees, but decided against it.

* * *

><p>Planet 2<p>

* * *

><p>"Guardian Neira, will Amelia be okay?" Kali asked worriedly.<p>

"Of course she will." Neira told them as she led all the children inside for tea.

"Pasire had on his angry face though." Tybre informed her. "That's the face he got when those kids went after a Bengal."

Neira shook her head, "I doubt your father would do anything to a child. I think he was just angry that the minders took a child again.


	10. The Queen's past and Amelia's future

Tsik ran through the halls trying to locate Thraz. She'd never seen Jorcan look angry before. Jorcan was always the calm one, he was sweet - though if she said that to his face he'd hurt her - despite his outward manner.

It took a few minutes to come across Thraz. His pants had a hand shaped smear of blood on the right leg and he looked winded. "Tsik! Have you seen the girl? I had her and-"

A loud SMACK sounded through the corridors.  
>Thraz looked shocked, his face was a bright purple on one side in the shape of a hand-print and his lip was bloodied. "What in the name of King Dammi was that for?"<p>

"You hurt her!" Tsik accused him.

"I didn't mean to," Thraz said defensively, "I grabbed her like I'd grab Dex and-"

"Thraz!" Tsik looked outraged, "She's HUMAN you don't grab one like a three year old. You hold them like a hatchling learning to walk. You hold one like you would hold Grenor!"

Thraz looked very pale, Grenor was Tsik's only child. He was born the only egg, quite sickly and with no horns. He was very tiny, delicate and needed a soft touch.

"I didn't know. But still, she's the Executioner -"

SMACK

"OW! STOP HITTING ME!"

"NO! As the Chief Warlock part of my duties are to keep the Chief Warrior in check." Tsik said angrily, "And I've been a bit lax in that today. Now come on." She grabbed him by his wrist like a child.

"Where are we going?"

"To find wherever you've stuck the Doctor."

* * *

><p>-The Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor struggled against Hychar's grasp. He hadn't encountered someone this strong in quite a while. "I'd appreciate it if you let me down." he said, thankful of his bypass system.<br>No answer.

"I really didn't want to do this but..." He inched his hands down and into the pocket of his trousers and produced his sonic. With a quick flick of the buttons it emitted a high-pitched noise that dropped Hychar like a stone in water.

The Doctor withdrew himself from her grasp and straightened his jacket, "Sorry."  
>He retraced their footsteps to find Amelia, but only found blood. He saw red himself as he started dashing down hallways following the beeping of his screwdriver trying to locate hers.<p>

Around the fifth corner he ran smack into another person. He bounced backwards and looked up. A murderous look crossed his face, "Thraz, what have you done with my-with Amelia?"

Thraz was bruised on both sides of his face and scowling, "I did-"

"Shut up, Thraz, I'm revoking your speaking privileges" the female snapped. She turned to face the Doctor, looking down at him with an apologetic almost shy look, "Thraz here did not realize that humans are not nearly as strong as Demanshi children, the blood was an accident and she is being tended to."

"For now." Thraz said ominously

"What's that mean?" the Doctor demanded.

Tsik sighed, furrowing her brow and biting her lip, "I think we should go now."

"No, you tell me what that means." the Doctor glared at Thraz, making the other male quake a bit internally.

"She is to be executed for her crimes or those of her mothers." Thraz said with a snarl.

Tsik slapped Thraz again, "I said shut up. Go play warrior somewhere else. Doctor, come with me please? I'll tell you, I promise, on the way to your ward."

The Doctor sized her up and then nodded, placing his hands in his pockets he indicated for her to go, "I'll follow."

Thraz stormed off grumbling several untranslatable words to himself.

"Why is he saying you'll execute my Amelia?"

Tsik took several breaths, her stomach fluttering. She knew the stories of the Doctor, she didn't want to be the one who told him.

"Tell me." He commanded

"There is a story we are told from the time we are little," Tsik started, "A story of our Queen's parents and the Executioner of our kind. It was many, many moons ago-"

* * *

><p>-Amelia-<p>

* * *

><p>Amelia's arm was still aching horribly, but with the bandage on it was immobilized and it didn't hurt quite AS bad. She was holding the Uval close and watching them all, trying not to show fear when the man cleared his throat and gestured in her direction.<p>

"Come here."

Amelia hesitated.

The man's features twisted into a smile, "Please."

She edged closer to the man and his terrifying beast."Yes?"

"I am Protector Jorcan son of Lithos of the Ssilrae tribe." he offered her his hand and clapped the other onto the animals head, "And this is Tsar, my pet."

"I'm Amelia of my own self from Leadworth." she repeated mechanically, her attempt at shaking his hand making him think of a newly hatched child.

His lips twitched but he tried not to smile, "I see you took in lessons at the School planet?"

She nodded and then blushed, "Yes."

"Well, I assure you that Tsar would not have hurt you. He's been trained to track down and return hurt or sulking children over the years. If you were in his tunnels he knows you aren't supposed to be there so he'd bring you to us."

Amelia nodded again, before vocalizing her thoughts, "Why are they arguing?"

"Who?"

"The Lady with the Gold hair and the one who looks like you."

"Ah, you look like someone we've met before and we're trying to figure you out." Jorcan supplied.

"Oh." Amelia didn't question further.

A few minutes later Jarin turned away from her bickering with Dasre. She'd felt that child staring at her for ages now. Feeling angry and annoyed as it was, and knowing this was either the Executioner or her child she snapped; "What in Hasre's name are you staring at?"

Dasre smacked her, "Jarin-"

"Your eyes." Amelia answered honestly.

"My-what?" Jarin did a double take.

"Your eyes. They're very pretty." Amelia told her, "I never see any like that where I'm from. We all have boring eye colours like blue, green and brown."

Jarin was taken aback, she had no response ready for that. She always had remarks about her scars or her missing horn. Dasre's elbow to her ribs prompted her to respond, "Thanks?"

Amelia just smiled. Her screwdriver was beeping, that meant the Doctor was coming. She could be patient and wait for him. They weren't being mean, just loud.

Dasre rolled her eyes at Jarin's shocked face and took a seat next to Jorcan, "Amelia, where are your parents at?"

"I haven't got any." She replied, "Just my Aunt and the Doctor. He takes care of me."

"I see." Dasre bit her lip then tried again, "Do you know London?"

"Yeah." Amelia's face lit up, "That's where Luke lives! Well, near London the Doctor said so. He said we'll go again when I'm older."

Jarin choked a bit.

"It's not as exciting as Demanshi though." Amelia confided in them, "The trees are green, the grass is green, and the sky is blue. It's all dull."

Jarin struggled and got her emotions back under control again not long before the doors burst open.

"Amelia!" the Doctor strolled in like he owned the place, Tsik not far behind him.

"Doctor!" Amelia said happily, climbing off the floor and running to hug him.

"Ah, there you are. We're leaving, soon." the Doctor told her, "I'll get someone to fix your arm."

"The Queen put a plaster on it, see?" Amelia showed him her arm, "She's famous you know."

"Is she?" he questioned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and placing himself slightly in front of her.

"Yes. Neira told us the story about the Executioner 'cause Kali and Tybre said I didn't know it." said Amelia bouncing with new knowledge, "They say she survived an explosion as a baby!"

"Luck." Dasre said easily, "And the protection of my two faithful guardians."

The Doctor watched Dasre for a moment then tapped Amelia's head, handing her some box thing with wires from his pocket.

Amelia sighed but stuck two ends of the wires in her ears and pressed a button on the box.

The Doctor watched her to make sure she couldn't hear and then turned to the Queen again; "You are NOT executing her."

Dasre noticed the girl cover her eyes as well and took that as a sign she didn't have to be calm.

"I am Queen Dasre daughter of King Dammi of the Roccal tribe, you do not tell me what I will and will not do."

"She's a child and has done nothing wrong." the Doctor countered.

"She slaughtered over 1000 of our citizens!" Jarin exclaimed, "All my nest-mates bar Jorcan and look what she's done to us."

"She hasn't and she won't." the Doctor snapped, protectively standing in front of her now, "She'll never lift a hand to you. You can't prove she did."

The two glared at each other for several minutes before the Queen spoke up.

"One thing you may not know about the Demanshi, Doctor: We remember the first thing we smell. First things we hear." Dasre said calmly watching the Doctor.

"Your parents?" he said, distracted and unsure of what this had to do with anything.

"No, those who hatch us normally" she replied, "I remember the smell of vanilla and the smell of honey."

"I didn't know you had those on Demanshi."

"We don't. It's the scent of the Executioner." she stood up as if to steady herself and walked slowly to the window to stare out.

The Doctor tried not to think about the fact that Amelia's favorite tea had vanilla and honey in it.

"Doctor, tell me, do you remember the first words you ever heard?"

"No." he shook his head, "I can't remember infancy. Most species cannot."

"Demanshi can. Those first precious moments are ensconced in our memories. Those memories...They can be of parents, normally they're of guardians, but they stay there and they leave an impact."

"Que-"

"Silence." She took a deep breath to calm herself, Tsar winding around her ankles helped a great deal, "many remember first words as 'it's a boy', 'it's a girl', 'another proud son' et cetera, et cetera. Do you wish to know the first words I recall hearing?"

The Doctor swallowed hard but nodded; if he knew what had to be fixed it would serve him better, "Yes."

"'Kill the mother'." she said firmly, "The first words I heard were those giving the order to execute my Ammi Em."

"Just those three words?" the Doctor asked finally.

"'Kill the mother' and then arms around me, the scent of vanilla and honey and words, softly said alongside the sight of red."

"More words?"

"A few. Though they were soft, I can't quite bring them to mind ever."

The Doctor had to remind himself to breathe. "Queen Dasre, that doesn't-"

"Yes it does." Dasre interrupted him again. "Her scent matches and her voice - though not matured - carry the same patterns. She is the Executioner."

Jorcan, Jarin and Tsik all inhaled, though in fear or shock the Doctor wasn't sure.

"She hasn't done anything; she's a child." the Doctor said, his voice deathly calm.

"No, but she will." Dasre turned away from the window and back to him, "Which means we can't kill her - yet!" She said the last over Jarin's and Tsik's outraged voices.

"What?"

"Doctor, Demanshi do not indulge in time travel, it's a silly thing. We prefer to look to the future than to the past. However, that doesn't mean we do not know all about it. I'm smart enough to know that if I hurt her now it will change the course of everything. We won't have anything we have now. Events must play out as they did, because they will." Dasre held up a hand to quite Jarin, "We cannot kill her for what she hasn't done yet. But take heed, Doctor, for the next time she's within our grasp we will not be so kind."

Jarin's face went from murderous to calm in a heartbeat, "Fine; we will let her live until she's old enough to die."

Tsik nodded, clearly upset still.

Jorcan grunted, though no one quite knew his thoughts.

"Fair enough." the Doctor conceded, not that he had any plans on letting them anywhere close to his Amelia ever again.

"Go now." Dasre warned him.

He tapped Amelia again and as the child opened her eyes Dasre's face gained a smile again.

"We're leaving." he told Amelia sternly.

Amelia handed him the box back and picked up the Uval, "Even him?"

"Even him." the Doctor agreed, lifting the two up.

"Thank you for taking care of me." Amelia thanked Dasre with a shy smile.

"It was the least I could do." Dasre inclined her head in goodbye.

"Think we can come back and visit someday, Doctor?" Amelia asked once they were safely ensconced in the TARDIS once more.

The Doctor said nothing, but stared into the console as if hoping to find all his answers in the reflection

* * *

><p><strong>[Attempting to do one chapter per week, but difficulties have arisen due to monetary issues and<strong>- _**She didn't pay the bill, she has no net**. _ **I was saying that! You could update too.** _**You won't let me**._ You're **not good at it!** _**Perfectionist.**_ **_As always, thank you for all the kind reviews_!]**


	11. Old Friends and Dreams

The Doctor stuck his head out of the TARDIS to look around, trying to see exactly where he was. He spotted Martha and Mickey standing near a fountain with coffee trays and paper bags and grinned, "Smith! Jones! Need your help. Well, I need Martha, I'm certain Mouse will follow anyway." he declared waving them over.

"It's Mickey!" Mickey protested following Martha in anyway.

"Whoa, the two of you regenerated." Martha said, looking around in awe at the new structure.

"Yup! I like this me, this me is fun and comes with bow ties"

Mickey sat his bags down on the floor and reached out to mess with the Doctor's bow ties, "Bow ties are so not cool."

"Are too." the Doctor sniffed, clearly offended.

"Sure they are," Martha said, "If you're under 5 or over 75."

"Hey! You're supposed to defend me, Jones." the Doctor scolded her.

"Against aliens, maybe." She conceded, "But not against Mickey."

"I..." He trailed off and grabbed her left hand, holding it up to inspect, "What's this?"

"An engagement ring." Martha rolled her eyes, "I've showed you before."

The Doctor scowled, examining it turning her hand in the light, "I thought he'd have better taste in jewelry."

"Tom does just fine, thank you." Martha grumbled, trying to pull her hand back.

"Tom?" the Doctor paused, made a face and dropped her hand.

"What do you need, Doctor?" Martha asked him, trying to ignore the expression he'd donned Martha didn't get to reply as suddenly Mickey was besieged by a yapping blue blur.

"Argh! What the hell is that?" Mickey yelped, jumping backwards and balancing on the fence railing.

"His Majesty Prince Yumo. Don't worry, he doesn't bite." the Doctor said then turned to Martha, "Right! I've got an Alien I need you to treat before I can do anything with her." he said, "Follow me!"

Martha sighed, sat down the coffee trays and jogged after the Doctor down the twisting corridors.

"Is that really an alien prince?"

"No, just an Uval. Little pet of the Alien." he replied, "That's his name, though."

Little sticky notes and dry erase drawings lined the walls in places down the corridors, but she wasn't able to read any of it.

The Doctor opened the door to a brightly lit room and Martha tried not to roll her eyes. It was the cleanest most organized room in the TARDIS, but that wasn't saying much.

"It hasn't changed since last time we were in here." she commented looking around. After a moment she spotted a small form lying curled up on one of the beds sniffling. "Well, that bit's new."

"Yup! That's Pond, she got injured by a very annoyed Demanshi warrior, but we'll get her fixed up right quick."

"You taking her back to her family, her planet?" Martha asked moving closer to examine the girl.

"Of course." he replied. It wasn't a lie, he had plans to...eventually

"Where's she from?"

"Oh, little planet." the Doctor waved his hands to indicate size. "Still primitive compared to most civilizations and well known as well...primitive." he leaned close to whisper conspireingly, "She doesn't even know computers or Cell phones."

"Can you sit up for me?" Martha asked the girl.

She sniffled and sat up. She was wearing some weird tunic getup that frankly reminded Martha of the history class at school when they'd covered the Middle Ages.

"Pond?" Martha queried.

"Yup." the Doctor rocked in his heels and grinned.

"Okay..." Martha had heard weirder names, "Pond, I'm Martha. I'm a Doctor, where're you hurt?"

The girl held out her right arm which had a giant bruise across the forearm with twin gashes down the underside of it.

"Doctor, what happened?"

"She fell; Chief Warrior for the Demanshi grabbed her as she fell. She's not as tough as his kids are." the Doctor shrugged.

"I'm tough." she sniffled.

"Yes, you are. But not as tough as a Demanshi. Really, you couldn't eat a Kyreberry boiled sweet."

"They were too big!"

Martha was able to quickly clean and stitch up the girls twin cuts and wrap the arm overall.

"You've not broken anything, but a few bad sprains. Just don't use that arm very much for a week or two, okay?"

"Okay." she nodded."I was good, but the plaster they put on stopped numbing and fell off."

"Right, well if that's all well and good we can get going." "Yeah, home. I've got work and..." Martha trailed off looking sleepy, "Does anyone else hear birdsong?"

* * *

><p>The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the sky was blue and it was a perfect day. Martha thought to herself as she mixed a batch of frosting up. It had been the best idea they'd ever had when she and Mickey had moved to a tiny suburb of London. It was tiny, peaceful and perfect for their expanding family. Their 12 year old was happy, healthy and perfect; they had a baby on the way. Could life get any better?<p>

"Whatcha got, mum?" her perfect daughter asked her curiously, entering the room and hopping up onto the counter to sit and watch her.

"Biscuits for your school trip." Martha flicked a bit of frosting at her to make her laugh, "So neither you nor your father are getting into them till tomorrow."

"Who says I'd take any?"

"Because I know you, Amy." Martha tried to look stern.

Amy laughed, flicking her long red hair behind her shoulders ,"I haven't stolen any cookies in years!"

"Weeks more like it. Oh...I hear that motor going. Your dad's pulling up."

"Are you going to tease him again?"

Martha just winked, sat the bowl down, pressed a hand to her belly and screamed as the motor started turning off, "MICKEYYYYY!"

Mickey pulled into the driveway of their perfect little two story cottage. Best idea they ever had, moving to this little suburb. No Aliens, no guns, no life threatening situations. He wasn't 'Ricky the idiot', he wasn't 'Mouse', no here he was just normal 'PC Mickey Smith'.

Martha didn't chase after aliens, there were no people who died and came back -unless you count Mr. Davies who was revived by the electro shock-thingy-, she was just plain Doctor Martha Smith who ran the local pediatrics clinic.

Their daughter wasn't gallivanting off to other worlds, she didn't chase aliens and she didn't live in a TARDIS. She was just normal Amy Smith, their bright and shining adopted 12 year old.

He pulled off his helmet and dismounted his motorbike, showing the two things that he did use as a 'wild' streak: Long hair around his neck done up in tight braids, pulled back with a band that matched and his classic Harley. His wild child hadn't died TOTALLY.

"MICKEYYYYY!" his wife shrieked from inside the house. "Mickey, it's starting!"

He dropped his helmet and dashed into the house, dodging their snoring Corgi and several random children's artifacts. As he reached the kitchen he found his wife sitting in a chair calmly eating frosting from a spoon, his daughter on the counter laughing with a spoon of her own.

"False alarm."

"What?" He tried to catch his breath.

"False alarm." Martha repeated.

"What?"

"Well, I don't know what it feels like, I've never had a baby before." She gained that smirk he loved but before he could protest she stuck the spoon with the frosting on it in his mouth.

"Good one, mum." Amy laughed.

Martha got up and washed her hands off, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I fink 'ou 'ust 'o t'at 'o mo' meh." Mickey muttered.

"Say it again, without the spoon."

"I said, I think you just do that to mock me." said Mickey, swallowing all the frosting and dumping the spoon in the sink.

"Of course not."

A loud wooshing noise came from outside. The noise was quiet, then loud again like an engine revving.

"No..." Amy said slowly, looking out the window.

"I know," Mickey rolled his eyes, "Leaf blowers. Just use a rake, lazy."

"No, it's..." Martha looked where Amy was and saw the TARDIS materializing.

"I knew, I just knew." Amy said, dashing towards the door, Martha and Mickey not far behind.

The Doctor sighed, he'd been aiming for a beach, but had apparently crashed somewhere near London.

"Thanks." he patted the Console in an annoyed affection, "Let's go see what danger you've gotten me into this time."

He peeked his head out and noticed two things: He was at some tiny cottage and he'd crushed someone's flowers.

Then he noticed the someone's.

"Amy!"

"Doctor!" she crashed into him with a hug.

"Hey, Boss." Mickey said with a grin, offering the Doctor his hand in greeting.

"Mickey!" He exclaimed cheerfully pulling him into a hug. The Doctor stepped back and eyed him seriously, "I've crushed your flowers."

"Oh...Martha will kill you."

"Where is she anyway? She always rushes to greet me!"

"She'll need a bit longer."

The Doctor rolled his eyes calling out, "Whenever you're ready, Martha!" His eyes went wide as she exited the cottage, coming up to greet him. "Oh, wahey! Hey, you've...You've swallowed a planet!" He hugged her tight, resting a hand on her stomach.

"I'm pregnant." Martha laughed.

"You're HUGE!"

"Yeah, I'm pregnant."

"Look at you! When worlds collide."

"Doctor, I'm pregnant." Martha repeated, amused by his reaction.

"Oh, look at you all! Five years later and you haven't changed a bit." He hugged Martha and Amy again, "Apart from well, age, size and height..."

"Good to see you, Doctor." Mickey agreed.

The Doctor paused and sized Martha up again, "Are you pregnant?"

Martha laughed happily, grabbed Amy's hand and went back into the house.

The Doctor stared after them and looked at Mickey.

Mickey shrugged as if to say 'women'.

The Doctor shook his head, clapped Mickey on the shoulder and followed the duo inside.

They made a weird sight walking up the lane as they showed the Doctor their town.

Amy led the way in her bright tie-dye shirt, blue swirling skirt and hiking boots, leading a chubby Corgi wearing a bright purple harness with tiny wings on it.

Followed by her parents (Quite a stir at the colour difference) and a man who looked like a student trying to be a professor.

"London is not quite as vibrant as I remember it." the Doctor commented, looking around and seeing hardly anyone on the streets.

"We're in a suburb now." Mickey told him

"Where is everyone?"

"This is busy." Amy told him with a shrug, "It's rather quiet."

"But healthy and restful." Martha came to their town's defense, "Loads of people here live well in to their 90's."

"And there's no crime." Mickey puffed up.

"Well, don't let that get you down."

"It's not getting me down!"

The Doctor watched as Amy played with Yumo, rolling a ball along the ground for him to jog off to get and return it happily. "Well, I just wanted to see how you were. I don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord's for life! You don't get rid of the Doctor so easily."

"You came here by mistake, didn't you?" Martha tried to hide the smile.

"Yeah, a bit of one. I did need to check on Amy though."

"Don't worry, Doctor." Mickey assured him, "She's fine. No alien contact, though she knows of them, and she's not shown any violent tendencies."

"Well, she did give Jeffery Charles a bloody lip, but in her defense the little brat did deserve it. He was taunting her about how different we look." Martha added for the Doctors benefit.

"What a result." the Doctor smiled, "Good decision then. Look at all this...Look at this...bench? Great bench, nice bench...What'll they think of next."

The three sat in an uncomfortable silence trying to think of anything to say.

"So...What do you do around here to stave off the, you know-"

"Boredom?" Martha asked.

"Self harm." the Doctor said.

"We relax."

The Doctor mouthed the word relax and made a face as if the word were bitter.

"We live, we listen to the birds!"

"I think we know what else you do." the Doctor muttered, eying Martha's belly.

"Yeah, see we have birds." Martha said, ignoring his comment, "those are nice."

"We never got any time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days." Mickey laughed, "Unless they were aliens."

"Oh, blimey." the Doctor held his hand to his head as it started aching, "My head's a bit, whoo...No, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good," His eyes started drooping as he began to drift into sleep, "old..days."

He slumped, his head on Mickey's shoulder in a dead sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Sorry, net problems still…problematic but we are updating! I've simplified the next few chapters on here so my lesser counterpart can come on and update without me. <em>I'm not lesser!<em> In posting you are so nyeh. _Thank you all for the favorites and reviews! It always brightens our day to read them.]_**


	12. Birdsong and Children

"What?" the Doctor bolted upright from his position on the Console floor." No, yes, sorry what?"

He moved quickly and found Amelia dressed in her pajamas entering the room, puppy at her feet, blanket wrapped around her looking sleepy and a bit upset. Martha and Mickey weren't far behind; both fully dressed in their everyday wear.

"Oh, you're OK. Oh, thank God. I had a terrible nightmare about you two. And you Amelia." he shook his head and hugged her, "That was scary. Don't ask, you don't want to know. You're safe now." He pulled Martha into a hug.

"Oh...Okay?" Martha looked at Mickey's hair surreptitiously, not noticing him doing the same towards her stomach.

"That's what counts. Blimey, never dropped off like that before. Well, never, really. I'm getting on a bit, you see."

"You're young." Amelia said softly.

"Oh, Pond, don't let the cool gear fool you. I am 907! Now, what's wrong with the console."

"Red lights flashing? Does that mean something?"

"Probably." the Doctor agreed.

"Doctor," Martha ventured, "I also had a kind of dream thing."

"Yeah, so did I!" Mickey agreed hesitantly.

"Not a nightmare though just...we were married?" Martha indicated herself and Mickey.

"Yeah, in a suburb out of London."

"A sweet little suburb and you were pregnant."

"I was huge, I was a boat!" Martha looked astonished.

The Doctor walked up and circled Mickey, then tugged off his hat, revealing his shorn head.

"So you had the same dream then? Exactly the same dream?"

"Are you calling me a boat?" Martha asked, narrowing her eyes and glaring at Mickey.

"Doctor, you were visiting!" Mickey exclaimed, ignoring his blunder.

The Doctor poked Martha's stomach and opened her jacket examining her.

"Yeah! You came to our cottage to visit! You wanted to check on our daughter. Our-"

"Daughter." the duo finished again.

Amelia squeaked and hid her face in Yumo's fur.

"We had a daughter." Martha said in shock.

"She was human, but with violent tendencies that we need to watch." Mickey said.

"With long dark hair and a love of animals." Martha whispered.

"You brought her to us!"

The Doctor made a face.

"How can we all have the same dream?" Amelia asked him softly.

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense." the Doctor said, crouching down to talk to her in her spot curled up in the blanket with Yumo.

"Wait, you had a nightmare about us!" Mickey exclaimed.

"What happened to us in the nightmare?"

"It was similar, in some aspects."

"Which aspects?"

"Well, all of them."

"You all had the same dream?" Amelia asked him.

"Basically." he told her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

"You said it was a nightmare." Mickey said.

"Did I say nightmare? No. More of a really good...mare. Look, it doesn't matter. We had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track. Forget it, we're back to reality now."

"Doctor, if we're back to reality now how come I can still hear birds?" Martha asked worriedly as the chirping song filled the TARDIS.

"Yeah, the same birds. The same ones we heard in the..."

"Dream!" Mickey said bolting upright as he opened his eyes to find himself face to face with the Doctor. "Oh, sorry nodded off, stupid! God, I must be overdoing it."

"I dreamed I was back on the TARDIS." Martha said sleepily.

"You had the same dream, didn't you?" Mickey asked the Doctor.

The Doctor jumped up from his seat as Amy came dashing over, crashing into Mickey.

"We were back in the TARDIS." the Doctor said.

"But we thought this was the dream." Mickey asked, arms wrapped tight around his daughter.

The Doctor crouched down and picked up a pebble, studied it and threw it back down again with a scowl.

Martha levered herself off of the bench, "I think so. Why do dreams fade so quickly?"

"Doctor, what is going on?" Mickey asked him seriously.

"Is this because of you? Is it some weird Time Lord thing because you've shown up again?"

"Listen to me," the Doctor said urgently, "Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel."

"But we're awake now." Martha said as she wrapped an arm around her daughter and her stomach protectively.

"You thought you were awake on the TARDIS too." he pointed out.

"But we're home!" Amy told him looking around.

"Yeah, you're home. You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Mickey, Martha, Amy, which is which? Are we flashing forwards...or backwards?" the Doctor looked around again and looked grim, but almost excited, "Hold on tight, kiddos. This is going to be a tricky one."

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>Martha awoke with a gasp and found herself sitting on one of the chairs in the TARDIS console room. Mickey was sitting on the railing and looking vaguely like he had a headache. The little Alien was curled up tight in her blanket, her pet on her lap under it.<p>

"This is bad! I don't like this." the Doctor yelled and kicked the console before yelping in pain and grabbing his foot. "Argh! Never use force. You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case - ALWAYS use force."

"Should I run and find the manual?" Martha asked him.

"I threw it in a supernova." he replied hopping down the stairs and looking underneath the console.

"That explains his driving..."

"You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?" Martha looked confused.

"Because I disagreed with it! Stop talking to me when I'm cross." the Doctor yelled, waving his finger at her in annoyance.

"Ok, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?"

"If we were dreaming of the future." the Doctor said ominously, climbing the stairs two at a time.

"We were in London, of course we were dreaming of the future."

"Yeah, and we could still be in London dreaming of this. Don't you get it?"

"No, OK, no, this is real. I'm definitely awake now!"

"You thought you were awake when you were all elephant-y." the Doctor gestured with his arms to show a very pregnant exaggeration.

"Hey," Martha threatened him with some near tool, "Pregnant."

"You could be giving birth right now!"

Martha looked quite disturbed by that.

"This could be a dream." Mickey admitted.

"I told you, trust nothing we see or hear or FEEL. Look around you, examine EVERYTHING. Look for all the details that don't ring true." the Doctor told them as he worked on the console.

"Okay, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside."

"With a bow tie wearing alien."

"Who's had several bodies."

"Along with a weird alien child and a bright blue dog."

"So maybe 'what rings true' isn't so simple."

"Valid point." the Doctor admitted.

The TARDIS powered down, all noise from it ceased.

"It's dead. We're in a dead time machine." the Doctor stated, disbelieving.

The TARDIS suddenly darkened as the power shuddered and failed; birdsong echoed in the TARDIS all around them.

Martha and Mickey automatically moved towards each other and the Doctor slid across the glass to kneel by Amelia, "Remember - this is real, but when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels!"

"It is real. I know it's real." Martha told him.

The Doctor jolted and realized he was on his feet in the middle of the street as a group of school children dashed by. Martha woke up to find herself on a bench outside of the library with Amy. Mickey pulled himself off the ground where he'd been using Yumo as a pillow.

"OK, THIS is the real one, definitely this one." Martha said rubbing her stomach wincing at the well placed kicks,

"It's all solid."

"Yeah, it felt solid in the TARDIS too." the Doctor replied.

"You can't spot a dream while you're having it, can you?" Amy asked helping her dad off the ground.

"What on earth are you doing?" Mickey asked as the Doctor waved his fingers around in front of his face quickly.

"Looking for motion blur, pixelation. It could be a computer simulation. I don't think so, though."

A lady walked down the lane, a little boy in her arms. She stopped to smile as she passed, "Hello, Doctor!"

"Hi?" the Doctor replied.

Martha smiled back, "Hello."

She paused to look at the two of them then continued on.

"You're a Doctor...right." the Doctor frowned.

"Yup. And unlike some people I've actually passed some exams." Martha smirked.

"A Doctor though, not an agent, not a consultant for anything, you don't even wear a uniform." the Doctor looked at her with an intrigued look, "How interesting." He walked down the road, Amy chasing after him, Martha and Mickey not far behind.

"What is?" Martha demanded.

The Doctor ignored her talking to Amy instead, "You go to school?"

"Private one up the road. 4.0gpa." Amy said proudly.

"After school?"

"Football team and track; Debate club on occasion and gymnastics." The Doctor made a face, "Well that's definitely a nightmare."

"Hey, what's interesting?" Martha asked again.

"Your dream family," he pointed at Martha, "Your dream job and your perfect world with no crime," He pointed at Mickey. Then after a pause added: "And your dream babies." he pointed this time accusingly at Amy and at Martha's swollen belly. "I think you're all dreaming."

Mickey snorted, "No offense, mate, but if it were an old dream of mine I'd be married to Rose with three kids."Martha made a noise of annoyance and he turned reddish and stuttered, " Er, not that that dream hasn't changed and-"

"If it were my dream family from 5 years ago I'd more than likely be with Tom and have TWO kids." Martha said sending a look of annoyed affection at Mickey.

The Doctor turned his gaze to Amy and she shrugged, unsure of what he wanted.

He stared at her for a minute then jerked his thumb to point over his shoulder, "What's that?"

Martha looked to where he pointed, "Children's home."

The Doctor turned and examined the building, paying special attention to the different residents watching from various windows.

"You said everyone here lives to their 90s."

"Yeah." Amy agreed as she tried to keep Yumo from pouncing on the Doctor, finally giving up and handing the leash to Mickey.

"And there's no crime at all?"

"Bar the occasional egging, no." Mickey looked very proud.

"There's something here that doesn't make sense." the Doctor offered his hand to Amy, "Let's go and poke it with a stick."

The two walked off. Mickey with a groan started after them.

Martha moaned and placed a hand on her lower back, "Oh...Can we NOT do the running thing?"

* * *

><p>-Inside-<p>

* * *

><p>The Children's Home was strangely quiet. Some children were playing checkers near the windows. Another was stretched across the ground colouring in a colouring book. Several sat around reading.<p>

One of the residents looked up and smiled seeing the group, "Hello Dr. Jones!"

"Hello, Davy. How's your cough?" Martha asked kindly.

"Better. I haven't gotten sick," Davy frowned, "But I am still coughing."

"Easy, just need a spray of the A-67 spray compound...No, you don't have that yet. Forget that."

"Who's he?" A little girl asked Martha, sneaking up and looking at him appraisingly, "Another Doctor?"

Martha elbowed Mickey who was snickering, "Yes."

"Can I borrow you?" She asked, tugging at his jacket, "You're my big brother's size." She gestured for him to kneel down, showing off a nearly finished knit cap.

"Slightly keen to move on. Freak psychic schism to sort out." he muttered, but kneeled down anyway. The Doctor looked up and stared into the little girls eyes, "You're incredibly old, aren't you?"

The girl looked frightened for a moment. Birdsong filled the room and everyone turned to watch as the four collapsed into sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: No internet loss is gonna stop our updating! <em>Let's just hope the neighbors never find out... <em>Hope you enjoy it, I love writing this series completely._]_**


	13. Freezing stars and holograms

**[So, I finally get a weekend to sleep in and what do I hear? 8am wakeup of 'You forgot to update'. _It wasn't 8am! _It was close! Sorry guys, updating now and if I have the net long enough I'll stick up two]**

The Doctor gasped back into wakefulness on the TARDIS to find himself leaning against the console. Martha and Mickey on two other sides of it. Amelia curled up on the glass floor.

"Okay, I HATE This, Doctor. Stop it, because this is definitely real, it's definitely this one." Martha yelled. "I keep saying that, don't I?"

"It's bloody cold!" Mickey complained as the Doctor dashed around on the levels.

"The heating's off." the Doctor replied.

"The heating's off?" Mickey repeated.

"Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do." the Doctor glanced up at them then muttered a bit lower, "or a cap."

"Yes, sorry about Carol." Martha told him, "She's quite lovely though."

"Hmph. I wouldn't believe that sweet little girl act if I were you."

"What do you mean, 'act'?"

The Doctor ignored her, "Everything's off, sensors, core power. We're drifting. The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere." he dashed back to the controls, searching them for some way to fix anything but found nothing.

"Doctor." Amelia whimpered and climbed, blanket, Yumo and all to go to his side.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders comfortingly, "It'll be okay, Pond."

"Doctor, what's going on?" Mickey asked.

"Someone...Some_thing_ is overriding my controls.

A hologram shimmered and came into being at the top of the steps. The hologram was of a short portly, balding man. He was dressed in an overly exaggerated version of what the Doctor normally wore. His bow tie just a little too big, his shirt stripes just a little too wide.

"Well, that took a while." he smirked as he walked slowly down the steps. "Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm. Him in the bow tie."

"How did you get into my TARDIS? What are you?" the Doctor demanded, shoving Amelia behind him just in case."

"What shall we call me?" the man mused, "Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord."

"Nice look." Mickey commented, trying to come up with something better to say. He didn't realize he was standing protectively just in front of Martha, having acted on instinct.

"This? No, I'm not convinced. Really, bow ties?" 

The Doctor pulled a bouncy ball from his pocket and threw it at the Dream Lord. He didn't look very surprised when the item passed through him. Amelia, Mickey and Martha however jumped in surprise.

"Interesting."

"I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord - It's in the name, isn't it? Spooky, not quite there." He disappeared with no noise and reappeared on the opposite side of the room behind them. "And yet, very much here."

"I'll do the talking, thank you." the Doctor almost growled. "Martha, want to take a guess at what that is?"

"Dream Lord...He works with dreams?"

"He creates them." the Doctor corrected slightly, "Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks."

"What about the tag-along, does she get a guess?"

"I'm not a tag-along." Amelia said defensively, peeking out of the blanket more-so to glare at him.

"That's a delusion I'm not responsible for."

"I'm not! Am I, Doctor?"

"Oh, Doctor...You really have to sort your humans out. Choose, even."

"I have chosen. Of course I've chosen." the Doctor replied, "Pond isn't a tag-along."

"You can't fool me." the Dream Lord said smugly, "I've seen your dreams. Blimey, all that red...I know your fears, I've seen them."

"Where'd you pick up this cheap cabaret act?" said Martha, trying to draw attention away from the Doctor whose face had lost any emotion. She knew from experience that meant trouble was coming.

"Me? Oh, that's shaky ground. If he-" the Dream Lord poked at the Doctor, "- had any more tawdry quirks you could open a Tawdry Quirk shop! The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student. He's even got a little blue space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag he is! But you put up with him." the Dream Lord rolled his eyes. "Now, where was I?"

"You were..."

"I know where I was." the Dream Lord said as he disappeared and reappeared on the upper level again. "So, here's your challenge. Two worlds. Here in the time machine, and there in the place that time has forgotten. One is real, the other's fake. And, JUST to make it more interesting you're going to face in both worlds a deadly danger. But only one of the dangers is real. Tweet, Tweet. Time to sleep."  
>The quartet started to stagger and fall to the floor, "Oh, or are you waking up?" <p>

* * *

><p><strong>-Children's Home-<strong>

* * *

><p>Mickey woke up sprawled across the floor, arm protectively across Martha's stomach. Amy lay curled up next to the Doctor, Yumo snoring next to her.<p>

"Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad." the Dream Lord said strolling into the room dressed in a suit, holding an X-ray film. "Look at this X-ray, your brain is completely see-through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."

"Always? What do you mean, always?" Martha asked climbing to her feet with Mickeys help.

"Now then, the prognosis is this." the Dream Lord said as the Doctor sat back in the now vacated chair with a look of bored fake interest, "If you die in the dream you'll wake up in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality?"

"I'd assume you die." Mickey stated.

"Nice one. That is why it's called reality. Maybe you're not as big an idiot as everyone thinks."

"Have you met the Doctor before?" Amy asked him.

"Do you know him?" Martha looked between the two, "Doctor, does he?"

"Now don't get jealous. He's been around, our boy. Never mind that. You've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning." the Dream Lord smiled that evil smile and disappeared.

"Ok, I really don't like him." Mickey told the Doctor.

"Who is he?" Martha asked, arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

"I don't know. It's a big universe." the Doctor said flippantly.

"Why is he doing this?" Amy asked.

"Maybe it's because he has no physical form."

"Yeah, that might get you down after a while..." Mickey agreed.

"So he's what, taking it out on folk like us who can touch, eat and feel?" Martha said.

"Yup!" the Doctor bounced out of his seat, pulled the cap off and tossed it back into the chair.

"What does he mean though, a 'deadly danger'? Nothing deadly has happened here. A bit of natural wastage, obviously."

"They've gone." Amy said quietly looking around. True, the entire room was clear but for the four of them and Yumo. Everyone was gone.

"They've all gone.." the Doctor repeated looking around before he dashed outside.

* * *

><p>"Why would they leave?" Mickey asked the Doctor.<p>

There were children at a playground nearby, but none of them were the children from the home. Those were all school children out on their break.

"What do you mean about Carol's act?"

"One of my tawdry quirks - sniffing out things that aren't what they seem. So come on, let's think. The mechanics of this split we're stuck in..."

"Time asleep matches time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams." Martha said.

"We're dreaming the same dream at the same time." Mickey added.

"Yes, it's sort of a communal trance, very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway. But my mind isn't working because this VILLIAGE IS SO DULL!" He yelled the last, "I'm slowing down, like you two have." 

Martha inhaled deeply, gasping and grabbing her stomach, "Oh. OW. Really. OW!" She screamed, "It's coming."

Mickey paled, "Help her, you're a doctor!"

"You're a PC!"

The boys panicked trying to figure out what to do. Amy clamped both hands over her mouth to keep from laughing.

The Doctor winced, moving to a crouching position, "What do we do!"

Martha straightened up, stopped panicking and schooled her face back to normal. "OK, it's not coming."

"What?" the Doctor asked, standing up.

"This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet. So don't you ever call it dull again. OK?"

"Sorry." the Doctor said sheepishly.

"Yeah." Martha walked off, Mickey following still dueling with Yumo for leash control.

Amy giggled and grabbed the Doctor's hand, "C'mon."

Martha sat down in one of the swings, Mickey standing behind her holding the chains looking quite pale still.

The Doctor winked at Amy and stole the second swing.

"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room." he started.

"I have to be this size, I'm having a baby."

"No, no. The hormones seem real, but no. Is nobody going to mention Mickey's braids?" he smiled slowly as Martha went from sulking to grinning, "You hold him down, I'll shave him."

"This from the man in the bow tie."

"Bow ties are cool." the Doctor adjusted his and stood up to watch Carol watching the other children. "I don't know about you but I wouldn't let her have any play dates with Amy." Carol turned to watch the Doctor, staring at him quizzically.

"What's she doing? What does she want?" Amy asked him.

He couldn't answer. Birdsong filled the air.

"Oh, no, here we go." Martha muttered as they gave in to sleep. 

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor stared at the console trying to figure out how to start it again.<p>

"It's really cold." Martha complained, "We can't get to the wardrobe; have you got any warm clothing in here?"

"What does it matter if we're cold? We have to know what she is up to!" he yelled. Amelia tugged at his jacket lightly and he realized that even with the blanket she was shivering. "Sorry. Sorry." he rubbed his face, "There should be some stuff down there, have a look."

Martha went down the indicated path but Mickey paused, "Any idea what size jackets you need?" he asked Amelia, "Or do you get cold?"

"I'll handle Pond, just do yourselves." the Doctor told him.

Mickey nodded and followed his friend. 

"I don't know which one is real." Martha admitted to him as they dug through the boxes.

"Neither do I." Mickey said, "In one we're happy alien hunting co-workers making the world a safer place-"

"And in the other we're married, happy, settled with a little girl and a baby on the way."

"Don't you wonder, if that life is real why did we give all this up? Why would anyone?"

"Well, we're about to freeze to death." Martha laughed.

"The Doctor'll fix it." Mickey tossed Martha a blanket he found.

"I've got a better question for you." Martha said as she handed him another pile of blankets.

"What's that?"

"Who is Amy?"

Mickey looked confused, "Our-wait...We're all there because we're all here so..."

"Doctor!" Martha yelled, dashing up the stairs with Mickey behind her.

"Ah, Mickey, Wind!" the Doctor had created some sort of device out of what looked like an extension cord, an egg timer and a crank whisk.

He started winding automatically as the Doctor handed a wire to Martha, "Martha, could you attach this to the monitor, please."

"Doctor, I have a question for you."

"Two. What is this?" Mickey asked.

"It's a generator. Get winding."

"Doctor, who is Amy?" Martha asked him.

The Doctor froze. 

"Because if we're all there because we're all here and we're all having the same dream WHO is Amy?"

"Pond, of course." he replied, his back to her as he lifted something off the steps. "Well, the Dream Lord's manifestation of what/whom she'd be on Earth."

Martha nodded, accepting it, "So if she were human, that's what she'd look and act like?"

"Something like that." He turned around and Martha couldn't help but giggle.

The bright blue space dog was now in a scarf wrapped around him so many times it looked like a sweater, a hat and what appeared to be little booties.

"Pond! Yumo doesn't have to be this clothed."

Whatever the girl said was muffled by a giant scarf.

Martha laughed out loud, and then covered her mouth, "I'm sorry but..."

"You said it was cold." the Doctor warned Martha.

The little girl she'd seen earlier was now covered entirely head to toe. She wore several layers it seemed. The top two that covered her torso - and legs! - was a giant red jumper and a thick leather jacket that was zipped all the way up. On her head she wore a bright red cap that rested under the brim of a bigger grey cap.  
>Wrapped around her entire torso, neck and the bottom bit of her face was a sixteen-foot long scarf that wrapped in an X shape around her body several times still dangled near her feet.<p>

"Not cold anymore." Amelia repeated, her voice still muffled a little, "And Yumo was shivering."

"Well he's not anymore."

"You, why is the Dream Lord picking on you? Why us?" Mickey asked, winding the machine up. 

The Doctor didn't respond as the monitor screen beeped and flipped on feebly before shining to life. The view showed a bright starscape with hundreds of stars all surrounding one glowing blue star.

"Where are we?" Martha asked.

"We're in trouble." the Doctor replied.

"What is it?" Mickey asked, abandoning the winding device.

"A star. A cold star." the Doctor ran to the door and threw it open letting in a blinding light and a blast of cold air.

"That's why we're freezing. It's not a malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun. That's our danger for this version of reality." 

He slammed the door shut again and looked at a much larger monitor on the wall.

"This must be the dream." Mickey said, "There's no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn."

"So's this one. It's just burning cold." the Doctor said.

"Is that possible?" Martha asked.

"I can't know everything. Why does everyone expect me to, always?" he sat down on his captains chair dejectedly.

"Ok, this is something you haven't see before. So does that mean this is the dream?" Mickey tried again.

"I don't know, but there it is and I'd say we've got about 14 minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem."

"Because you know how to get us out of this?"

"We'll have froze to death by then." Amelia said calmly.

"Exactly." the Doctor pointed at Amelia and stuck on his stethoscope and pressing it against the console.

"Then what'll we do?" Martha asked.

"Stay calm. Don't get sucked in to it, because this just might be the battle we have to lose." 

"Oh...This is so you, isn't it?" Mickey said darkly.

"What?"

"What? A weird new star, 14 minutes left to live and only one man to save the day. I just wanted a nice life on earth!" Mickey ranted, "This starts all of it! You take Rose, I'm accused of murder. I'm taken across an entire universe -literally - and JUST as I start to get my life back on track I'm hauled off by you again. And I had a **_DATE _**tonight!"

"Oh, dear, Doctor. Dissent in the ranks." the Dream Lord appeared not far behind the Doctor with an amused look.

The Doctor glared at the Dream Lord, "It's not. Just...a disagreement." The Doctor secretly was smarting from Mickey's comment.

"Sure..." the Dream Lord smiled patronizingly, "There was an old Doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away, he let down his friends and..." he paused hearing birdsong, "Oh, no, we've run out of time. Don't spend too long there; you'll catch your death here."


	14. Psychotic children and loneliness

-Earth-

* * *

><p>"Where've they all gone?" the Doctor asked running up a set of stone steps to look around the children's play area.<p>

"Don't know."

"Play time's probably over." Amy told him.

"This has to be the real one." Mickey told Martha, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and placing one hand on her stomach to feel the baby, "It's so real. I just. I feel it. It's normal, we're happy."

"We're happy both places." Martha replied.

"It's so tranquil and relaxed." Mickey continued, ignoring the Doctor bouncing around with his sonic, "Nothing bad could ever happen here." 

"Not really us, though, is it? Would either of us be happy settling down in a place with a pub, two shops and a really bad amateur dramatics society? That's a perk of being pregnant, I don't have to see them doing 'Oklahoma'." Martha giggled and Mickey grinned.

"What are you doing with Sean's lunch bag?" Amy said curiously as the Doctor picked it up gingerly.

"Play time's definitely over." he turned it to show them glowing red goo that slid down one side.

"Oh, my God." Martha whispered.

"What happened?" Mickey asked.

The Doctor turned, looking into the town. Coming down the path was a group of the children from the home along with a few older teens and young adults.

"I think they did."

"They're just children." Martha told him.

"No. They're very old people." the Doctor replied heading down the steps. "Sorry, Mickey, I don't think you're what's been keeping the crime down."

The children lined up along the path facing the park across from the Doctor and his friends.

The Doctor, Martha, Mickey, Amy and Yumo didn't make it far down the path before the Dream Lord appeared.

"Hello, peasants! What's this, attack of the children? Oooh, Children of the corn! Oh, that's just ridiculous. This has got to be the dream, hasn't it? What do you think, Amy? Let's all jump under a bus and wake up in the TARDIS!" the Dream Lord shot the Doctor an amused look, "You first."

"Leave her alone!" the Doctor growled.

"Do that again. I love it when he does that. Tall dark hero, **'Leave her alone.**'"

"Just leave her!" Mickey yelled, stepping in front of his girls.

"Yeah, you're not quite so impressive. But you know what Doctor? I know where your hearts lie. I know how your hearts lie."

"Shut up!" Amy yelled, "Shut up and leave us alone!"

"Oooh, listen to you there. You know, he loves a redhead, our Doctor! Has he told you about Elizabeth the First? Well, she THOUGHT she was the first...oh, or Donna. Has he told you about what happened to dear old Donna?"

"Drop it." the Doctor demanded, so angry his voice was quiet, "Drop all of it. I know who you are."

"Course you don't." the Dream Lord stuttered a bit.

"Course I do. No idea how you can be here, but there's only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you do."

"Never mind me, " the Dream Lord waved his hand to dismiss the Doctors words, "Maybe you **should** worry about them.

The group began advancing on them slowly. The Doctor looked to the Dream Lord then back to the children.

"Hi?"

"Hello! We were wondering where you went. To get reinforcements! Are you all right? You look a bit tense?" the Doctor addressed the group with enthusiasm.

"Hello, Jacob." Mickey said to one of the boys.

"Mickey..." the Doctor said warningly.

"Jacob's older brother got into a bit of a mess a few years back, but I got him out of it."

Jacob walked forward, lifted Mickey up by his shirt front menacingly.

"Jacob, what-"

Jacob threw him backwards into the mud.

"How did he do that!" Mickey demanded scrambling to his feet and brushing mud off.

"I suspect he's not himself." the Doctor said calmly, "Don't get comfortable here. You may have to run. Fast."

"Can't we just talk to them?" Martha pleaded, really not wanting to do any running.

Suddenly the children's eyes began to glow a dark red colour, their hands clenched tight at their sides.

"What's wrong with their eyes?" Amy yelped.

"There's a whole creature inside of her." the Doctor said, scanning Carol with his sonic." Inside all of them. They've been there for years, living and waiting."

"That's disgusting." Mickey said before realizing the implications of that, "Wait, if they're inside, what happened to the children? The real children?"

Carol hissed and shot something violently red out of her mouth at them. Mickey pulled Martha backwards just in time to avoid it.

The Doctor leapt in front of them, "Run!"

Martha grabbed Amy's hand and the three of them ran leaving the Doctor behind; they knew from years of experience not to argue.

"OK, leave them. Talk to me. Talk to ME. You're Dygans aren't you?"

Carol nodded slightly.

"That's a proud, ancient race -you're better than this! Why are you hiding away here? Why aren't you at home?"

"You should know, Doctor. You drove us from our planet."

"What?" he whispered.

"You drove us from our planet. It was consumed by roaring flames." Jacob said.

"We've been living inside the bodies of these humans for...years."

"No wonder they live so long."

"We take them young and we shall live forever. We were humbled and destroyed. Now we will do the same to others!" Carol snarled.

"OK, makes sense, I suppose. Credible enough, could be real."

"Morning!" A man called out cheerfully, pushing his bike along the road, "Looks like a great d-"

Carol shot the red goo at him. As it impacted his chest he screamed as he started to dissolve before collapsing into nothing by a tiny bit of red goo.

"You need to leave this planet!" the Doctor yelled. 

* * *

><p>-Home-<p>

* * *

><p>Mickey raced along the path to their home, Martha at his side with their daughter running not far in front of them with her faithful corgi bouncing along with her.<p>

"Wait! Stop!" Martha gasped for air and rested against a fence post near the door.

Mickey glared back behind them at the children, "After all you've done for the children of this community."

Martha straightened up again and they went towards the door, only to find a little girl waiting.

"Ok, this is crazy! She loves me," Mickey said, "I gave her a ride on my motorcycle, she's just a little girl."

Martha tried it Mickey's way, "Laura, we don't understand."

Laura's eyes began to glow red prompting the adults to back up.

"I'll deal with this one, Chubs...now..."

Mickey drew her attention away letting Martha reach the door and their daughter.

He picked up a stout piece of wood, but hesitated and backed up. "I can't hit her!" Mickey said finally.

"Whack her!" Amy yelled.

Mickey hesitated, made a face and instead tripped her, planting a boot on her bum as he passed to send her sprawling. 

Mickey dashed into the house, slamming and bolting the door behind him.

"We just ran away." Martha said, fearful, "We just abandoned the Doctor. And don't you ever call me 'Chubs' again."

"We don't see him for years, and then he takes a bullet for us." Amy observed.

"Don't worry about the Doctor. He's 'Mr. Cool'." Mickey told his girls, barricading the door with a coffee table. 

* * *

><p>-Theta-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor ran down the street on wobbly legs. Stumbling over blocks, both real and imagined. He was being chased by the group of children, but as he ran he tried desperately to block out the birdsong and stay awake.<p>

He looked around trying to find anywhere to hide but could only locate a butcher shop. He dashed inside, slammed the door behind him and locked it, flipping the sign to 'closed' as an afterthought. He didn't think they'd listen, but on the off chance they might...

The Doctor looked around and quite nearly groaned aloud as he saw the Dream Lord behind the counter dressed as a butcher looking smug.

"Oh, I love a good butcher's don't you? We've got to use these places or they'll shut down. But you're probably a vegetarian, you big flop-haired wuss."

The Doctor scowled and grabbed a key from a nearby shelf, trying to unlock a door, "Oh pipe down. I'm busy."

"Maybe you need a little sleep?" he suggested innocently.

The Birdsong returned louder than before.

The Doctor slumped to the ground, eyes closing.

"Oh, wait a moment," the Dream Lord leaned over the counter and the Doctor stood up quickly, "If you fall asleep here, several dozen angry munchkins will destroy you with their horrid goo shooting thing-ys." the Doctor ignored him, going into a hall behind the counters while stuffing his fingers in his ears.

"Really, fingers in the ear? Brilliant."

The Doctor slid to the ground sleepily.

"What's next, shouting boo?"

The crowd arrived outside finally and the Dream Lord grinned in anticipation, "Come in. Come in! Yes we've got lots at 'steak' here this week. Lots at steak. Get it?" The Doctor got up with a sudden burst of energy as the children entered looking around for him. He gripped the door and made his way into the second freezer. He slammed the door, but slid to the ground again before he could lock it.

"Wait, stop!" the Doctor said, digging into his pockets as the Children tried to open the doors.

"Oh, I can't watch." the Dream Lord covered his eyes.

The Doctor stood with great effort and used the screwdriver to close the door completely and lock it shut finally.

As it clicked shut his eyes rolled up in to the back of his head and he fell over backwards in a dead sleep. 

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor awoke, with Amelia lying next to him, curled at his side, Yumo on his chest and Martha and Mickey sprawled next to him.<p>

Martha sat up, clutching her blanket closer. "Ah, it's colder."

"The four of us have to agree, NOW, which is the dream." the Doctor urged them as he buttoned his jacket up.

"This, here." Mickey said.

"He could be right; the science is all wrong here, burning ice?" Martha said.

"No, no, no! Ice can burn, sofas can read, Asteroids can get married; it's a BIG universe. WE have to agree which battle to lose. All of us, now."

"Okay, which world do you think is real?" Martha asked.

"This one." the Doctor said.

"The other one!" Mickey protested.

"Pond?" Martha asked.

Amelia frowned, not that they could see it through the scarf and mumbled something.

"Say that again with less scarf." Mickey said.

Amelia moved the scarf up some, "I said I feel it both places."

"What about you, Martha?" Mickey asked.

"I...don't know." Martha frowned, "I really...I think this one, but I don't know."

"Nine minutes till impact." the Doctor declared, checking his watch and leaping to his feet.

"What temperature is it?" Amelia asked.

"Outside? Brrrr. I think the thermometer broke… Inside? I don't know, but I can't feel my feet and ...other parts."

"I think all my parts are basically fine." Mickey told Martha.

"Oi, stop competing!" the Doctor scolded Mickey.

"Can't we call for help?" Amelia asked the Doctor, holding out the phone.

"Yeah," the Doctor took the phone, "The universe is really small - there's bound to be someone nearby!" he tapped her lightly on the head with it before hanging it back up.

"Put these on!" Martha tossed a blanket to the Doctor, one to Mickey and one to Amelia. Each blanket had a hole cut in it.

The Doctor looked at it interestedly and spun around in a circle to make it poof out.

"Oh, a poncho: the biggest crime against fashion since lederhosen." Mickey said sarcastically pulling it on anyway. "Just the sort of outfit Jack would love."

"Well, if we're going to die at least we'll go looking like a Peruvian folk band." Martha adjusted it and watched the screen, standing close to Mickey."And don't you dare suggest this as a style to Jack; he'd just wear it as a kilt."

"We're not going to die." Amelia told her.

"No, we're not." the Doctor checked his watch, "But our time's running out. If we fall asleep here, we're in trouble." he paced back and forth obviously upset, "If we could divide up, then we'd have an active presence in each world, but the Dream Lord is switching us between the worlds. Why, why, what's the logic?" 

The Dream Lord appeared suddenly in a poncho, pacing next to the Doctor matching his stride. "Good idea, veggie, let's divide you four up so we can have a little chance. I'll keep you and they can have the tag-along for all eternity, should you lot ever manage to clamber above some sort of reality."

Birdsong began to fill the TARDIS affecting Martha, Mickey and Amelia noticeably.

"Can you hear that?" Mickey asked the Doctor sleepily.

"What? No!"

"Doctor?" Amelia whimpered as she nearly crashed down in sleep.

The Doctor caught her and lowered her to the floor.

"No, not alone." the Doctor whispered as the three fell into a deep sleep, "Don't leave me alone..."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Good news, I have net back ; my partner in crime is away on a family reunion. I have free reign of the keyboard…I think I like this..I've no doubt I'll be whining later, but while I've got free reign and no one to say no…Let's have a look ahead, shall we?]<strong>

"Look, Martha, It's my choice who I want to spend my time with and what they- hold on." Tish's voice sounded further away from the phone, "Oi! Stay out of my trousers, I'm on the phone. You can have your shirt back in a minute."

"Tish!" Martha yelped.

"What? Oh come on, you've done worse I'm sure and -" Tish's voice sounded far away again, "Hey! Those are mine thanks, you wouldn't look good in them...No it wasn't a challenge! Can I please call you back? I've got one person trying to get into my trousers and another trying to figure out how to get the other out of them."

****

**[Just remember that everything you hear isn't always what it seems..."  
><strong>


	15. Old wounds and future consequences

**[AN: Forewarning, you might need some tissues with this one…**_**Hopefully you love it all the same.**_**]**

* * *

><p>-Home-<p>

* * *

><p>Mickey awoke on the stairs with his family. Crashing glass sounded as the children started breaking in the windows to get inside.<p>

"Right, upstairs go." Mickey told his girls, picking up the useless chubby Corgi as it refused to climb the stairs.

They dashed up the stairs and into the furthest room down the hall: The Nursery.

It was cheery and yellow, with big bay windows to let in all the light of the day. Peaceful and full already of baby things. The crib against one wall sat waiting for a baby to be placed in it.

"Mickey?" Martha looked at him and pointed out the windows.

Outside the children were trying to get through the windows and doors downstairs. Some were even trying to get through the TARDIS doors.

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>The inside of the TARDIS was coated in ice now. The Doctor sat against the stairs, Amelia resting with her head on his lap as he tried to keep her warm. Martha and Mickey were curled up next to one another. The Doctor stared down at her, trying to figure out just what to do.<p>

"Poor Doctor, " the Dream Lord said patronizingly as he appeared over him, "They always leave you, don't they? They'll always leave you alone in the darkness. They'll never apologize and they always break your hearts."

"They don't mean to." the Doctor said, standing up and placing Amelia on the ground. "And they don't need to apologize."

"That's good, because they won't stop. And now they've left you alone with me." the Dream lord sat down in a chair and grinned, "Spooky old, not-to-be-trusted me."

"I know who you are. But I don't know what you want." the Doctor said, staring at him, "What is it?"

"I want you to choose." the Dream Lord said simply.

"Choose what?"

The Dream Lord disappeared and reappeared, squatting down by Amelia. "Now, which one of these scenarios would you really choose? Look at her, so sweet so innocent. You ran away with the impressionable fairy tale princess to live in the magic box. Would you really give her up to a bumbling country PC who thinks all he needs to be interesting is a bike and braids? Even if his wife _is_ Martha Jones."

"Stop it!" the Doctor yelled.

"But maybe it's better than loving her just to lose her. Maybe if she stays with you she'll grow up to be the Executioner? But wait, maybe it's because an ALIEN dumped her on earth that she hates them and kills over 1000 of them."

"I'm warning you..." the Doctor started lowly.

"Pick a world." the Dream Lord said softly reaching out and brushing Amelia's hair back from her face, "Pick a world and this nightmare will end; it'll all be over." he stood up between the three bodies, "they'll listen to you. You're the almighty Time Lord. The man who has faced demons and saved them all. They trust you implicitly. The Doctor's humans, the Doctor's choice." the Dream Lord faded into nothingness.

The Doctor didn't say anything but knelt down, fixing the blankets around his friends to make sure they were warm before he moved to sit on the stairs again.

* * *

><p>-Home-<p>

* * *

><p>Martha gasped and placed a hand on the side of her stomach.<p>

"What's wrong?" Mickey asked. He'd taken to sitting on the chair that held the door shut. Amy was sitting against the closet Door while Martha was sitting near the crib.

"I think the baby's starting."

"Honestly?" Mickey's eyes widened.

"Would I make it up at a time like this!"

"Well you do have a history of..." Mickey gulped and changed directions as she glared, "Being very lovely."  
>Martha cried out in pain, holding her stomach, "Mickey!"<p>

* * *

><p>-Theta-<p>

* * *

><p>He awoke in the freezer again and listened at the door. Outside he could here the Children waiting and talking.<p>

"Ok, where is it?" he pulled the screwdriver out of his pocket and tested it before slinging open the door and shooting the light making it explode and make a high pitched noise. The children yelped and screeched in fear giving him time to run.

He dashed across a yard, hopping over a fence and found himself a van. Unfortunately his plans of saving the day directly was misled by several rescues of locals, a few stops and the fact that Martha and Mickey didn't have sense enough to live near the shops.

"Everybody, out, out, out! Into the church, that's right!" He called, sliding to a stop in front of the local church,

"And don't answer the door!"

He drove as fast as he could towards Martha and Mickey's home, hoping he wasn't too late.

* * *

><p>-Home-<p>

* * *

><p>Amy hid herself in the corner, face burrowed in Yumo's fur as her mum yelled and her dad tried to help.<p>

Something was wrong. She didn't know what, but something was wrong.

The Dream Lord appeared, dressed in scrubs with an 'I know something you don't' smile on his face. "It's make your mind up time in both worlds."

"Go away." Mickey snarled at him.

"The Doctor'll save us," Amy told him, "We're his friends."

"Friends?" the Dream Lord scoffed, "Is that really the right word for the people he acquires? Friends are people you stay in touch with. His friends never see him once they've grown up. He prefers the company of the young." the Dream Lord looked at Martha and Mickey, "Tick-tock." and disappeared again.

As he disappeared Martha screamed in pain again.

Amy covered her ears and burrowed her face back into Yumo again.

It wasn't but a few minutes later that there was a squeaking noise as the window was shoved up.

Mickey whirled looking for a weapon but only found the Doctor.

"It's all right, I had to stop off at the butcher's." he proclaimed wiggling in through the window and crashing to the floor.

"What are we going to do?" Mickey asked him.

"I don't know. I thought the freezing TARDIS was real, but now I'm not so sure." the Doctor replied. He made a face as he realized that being on the floor made him fair game as he was licked by a drooling Corgi. "Ugh, dogs." he hopped to his feet.

"Why are they so desperate to kill us?" Amy asked him.

"They're scared. Fear generates savagery." he paused and looked at Martha, "What's wrong with her?"

"The baby's coming." Mickey informed him.

The Doctor's eyes went wide, "Now?"

"Yes!" Martha hissed, "Why does no one believe me?"

"I believe you." Mickey said earnestly.

"Oh shut up and help me up."

"Are you sure you should be standing?" Mickey asked worriedly.

"Yes. Women should walk around a bit while they can. It speeds things along a bit." Martha told him trying to catch her breath as he helped her to her feet.

"Right..." the Doctor frowned making a mental note to read up on human females' reproductive history next time he had the chance just in case a situation like this ever reoccurred.

"So in each world there's a deadly danger." Mickey said, backing away as his wife slapped at his hands.

"Yes. In one a cold burning star by which we'll freeze to death and in the other a bunch of children who quite clearly need a lesson in manners." the Doctor said.

"But only one world is real." Martha chimed in.

"So how on earth do we tell which world is real?" Mickey said in exasperation, arms thrown wide and head tilted towards the ceiling as if searching the heavens for an answer.

All the sudden the window crashed, glass flying everywhere as one of Mickey's Garden Gnomes (The one that was mooning people that Martha hated) came flying through the window. Amy climbed to her feet and moved to look out the window curiously.

"Amy, no!" Martha yelled, and being closest went forward to grab Amy as Carol appeared in the window.

She wasn't fast enough. Amy was hit straight on with the red goo but Martha was only hit by a small splatter of it.

The two fell backwards landing hard on the ground.

Mickey let out a yell but before he could do anything Yumo growled and pounced on the person who'd hurt his girl sending both himself and Carol out the window and off the roof.

The Doctor slid on the carpet to the girls, "Amy? Martha?"

Amy whimpered realizing what was happening to her, "Dad? Mum...please?"

The Doctor moved Martha to a sitting position pulling her out of the way as Mickey knelt by his daughter's side.

"Shh, it's alright baby girl. You'll be fine." Mickey told her, tears in his eyes, "C'mon. This is nothing. Remember when you fell off your bike over by Mrs. Hodgins' rock garden? You were so brave! 20 stitches in your arm and you didn't yell once. This is less than that, isn't it?"

Martha reached out weakly and grabbed Amy's hand, "Amy, stay with us?"

Amy felt herself slipping away and managed a small, "Sorry." before she dissolved completely leaving them sitting next to nothing but a slight red stain on the carpet.

"You bring her back!" Mickey roared slamming his fist into the ground and whirling at the windows.

"Mickey-"

"NO! They have to fix this they'll bring her back!"

"Mickey!" the Doctor said sharply pulling him around to look.

Martha had gone quite pale and Mickey noticed quickly she was bleeding.

"Martha!" He ignored the windows and crossed back to kneel down by his wife, "Martha? Doctor what-"

"She was hit too." the Doctor said quietly, holding Martha's hand.

"No she wasn't! She'd have dissolved by now." Mickey said, he placed his hand on the side of Martha's face,

"Darling, look at me. Martha?"

"Mickey?" she asked, eyes unfocused, "Tired..."

"We'll get you safe." Mickey promised her, "You and the baby. I won't lose you too."

He started to feel quite sleepy all the sudden, birdsong filling his ears.

"No, no, no, no!" Mickey yelled, "Can you hear that, Doctor?"

"Hear what?" the Doctor asked. He realized a split second later and his eyes went wide, "No! Mickey, stay here. Stay with us."

"I...can't." Mickey said, falling over in sleep.

"Mickey?"

"Shh, it'll be okay, Martha. I'll take care of you." the Doctor told her calmly, trying to ignore the copious amounts of blood that seemed to be appearing.

* * *

><p><em>-Dream Lord-<em>

* * *

><p>Mickey awoke, but it wasn't in the TARDIS. He was surrounded in black. He wasn't sure if he was sitting or floating in nothingness.<p>

"DREAM LORD!" he screamed, "SHOW YOURSELF!"

His throat was hoarse when the Dream Lord finally appeared.

"Tsk, tsk, didn't your mother ever teach you not to scream?" the Dream Lord asked in mock disappointment, "No wait...She left you didn't you?"

"You shut up about that! Take me back to my wife, NOW!" Mickey lurched forward but seconds before he reached the Dream Lord the Dream Lord disappeared and reappeared behind him.

"But is she your wife?" the Dream Lord questioned, "Is she in love with you at all? Are those really your kids? Maybe it's all just a _dream._.. Or maybe this is the dream and I'm having you on."

"I don't care. Send me back there NOW! My wife needs me. My baby needs me."

"Nobody ever really needs you though, do they?" the Dream Lord said, his voice filling the void and echoing in the room.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your parents left. They didn't want or need you." the Dream Lord said waving his hands and images began to swirl the room of Mickey's mum and dad.

"Shut up!"

"Oh and then there was Rose! Your lovely, pretty little girlfriend. Oh wait, she left you didn't she?" images of Rose laughing with Jack and the Doctor mingled in.

"STOP IT!"

"Then you had Jackie! But she didn't need you, did she? Not once she had Pete back. Jake didn't need you either once he found a new love, one who didn't remind him every day of his dead lover who you replaced."

"I SAID STOP IT!"

"Then Sarah Jane didn't need you either, did she? You came back a hero and she had a son. A whole group of people other than you." the Dream Lord smirked and all the images swirled in a great mass of colour, "No one ever really needs you, Mickey Smith. In fact the only person who ever needed you died because you didn't do anything for her."

The Dream Lord disappeared with that last remark leaving Mickey behind, screaming at the images, tears running down his face...


	16. Choices and Deathor is it life?

[AN: **If last time you needed a tissue, today you may need the entire box. Sorry I** _- **She cried writing it.**_ **I did not!** _**Did too. Only one chapter left then we're onto a whole new adventure with new companions**._ **Dun dun dun...** **_Oh stow it. Hope you like it_**!]

* * *

><p>-Home-<p>

* * *

><p>Mickey awoke with a gasp as he fought his way back to consciousness.<p>

Almost instantly he regretted waking up. The Doctor was sitting with his back against the crib, knees drawn up to his chest, hands dug in his hair with his face burrowed into his knees. What caught attention was that the hands were covered in blood.

Mickey looked around and staggered to his feet. He spotted his wife lying on the floor, pale and still with the Doctor's jacket under her head. His heart stuttered and the blood in his veins turned to ice: the carpet around her was stained bright red with blood. Quite a lot of blood. "Martha!"

The Doctor jerked his head up and bolted to his feet, catching Mickey around his chest to keep him from running forward; "I'm sorry, Mickey. I couldn't! I couldn't help her."

"She's fine!" Mickey cried straining against the Doctor, "She has to be!"

"I'm sorry." the Doctor held him in place, "I couldn't save them."

_'Couldn't save __**them**__'  
><em>

"The baby!" Mickey said obviously distraught, "Where is he? Our son? He has to be okay. They'll both be okay!"

"Mickey, I couldn't save them." the Doctor repeated but his gaze lingered on the crib.

Mickey shoved off the Doctor with a burst of strength and ran to the crib. Inside it wrapped in a soft yellow blanket - splattered with blood - was a tiny infant. The baby was pale, way too pale and when Mickey reached a hand down to touch it he noted how cold he felt.

"Mickey, I tried but-"

"Was he...did he cry?" Mickey asked, trying not to himself.

"Only a little." the Doctor said quietly, "then he didn't, not at all."

"Robert." Mickey said a few tears slipping out, "Not 'him' or 'he', his name is Robert."

"Robert then." the Doctor repeated trying not to cry as well.

"Save them." Mickey demanded, "You save everyone. You always do, it's what you do!"

"Not always, I'm sorry."

"Then what is the point of you." Mickey said, but it was the sadness that choked the bitterness that hit the Doctor's hearts.

Mickey touched the baby one last time then turned shoving open the door and storming down the hallway. "This is the dream. Definitely, this one. Now, if we die here, we'll wake up."

"Unless we just die." the Doctor nodded.

"Either way, this is my only chance of seeing them again. This is the dream."

"How do you know?"

"Because if this is real life, I don't want it." Mickey said viciously, "I'd rather they be alive and not mine than...I don't want it."

The Doctor followed Mickey down the stairs, hoping desperately that Mickey was right.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Mickey yelled throwing the door open.

"Either because this is just a dream, or because they know what we're about to do."

Mickey examined his choices then walked over to the Doctors stolen van.

"Be very sure. This could be the real world." the Doctor said.

"It can't be. Martha and Amy they're...Robert..." Mickey's voice shuddered, "I didn't know. I tried but I wasn't...I honestly didn't know till now. I just want them to be alive. Even if she's Tom's."

The Doctor studied Mickeys eyes then handed him the keys to the van, "OK."

The Doctor and Mickey clasped hands for a minute, thousands of words passing between them unspoken, then Mickey walked to the driver's side and climbed in.

"Tick tock, Doc, looks like you lost another patient." the Dream Lord giggled quietly.

The Doctor ignored him and climbed into the car.

"I love Martha. I never knew, I never...She's gone. I'm not useless!" Mickey said, tears in his eyes he looked at the Doctor, "I'm not an useless idiot."

"No, you're not." the Doctor replied seriously, "You're heroic man who deserves more credit than we ever give."

Mickey revved the engine and didn't reply, speeding down the lane he took a sharp turn through the fence smashing it completely and sending the kids scurrying as he aimed for his home and crashed the van head on into the brick wall.

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>The inside of the TARDIS was covered in a thick layer of ice as it hung in space nearly dwarfed by the star.<p>

The four bodies were coated in ice as well. Mickey opened his eyes slowly as if painful and reached his hand out slowly to grab Martha's as she fought her way awake.

"So...you chose this world." the Dream Lord said dully, "Well done. You got it right, and with only seconds left. Fair's fair. Let's warm you up."

The TARDIS came back to life with a hum and all the lights flipped on.

"I hope you've enjoyed your little fictions. It all came out of your imagination, so I'll leave you to ponder on that. I have been defeated. I shall withdraw. Farewell." the Dream Lord gave a little wave and disappeared.

The Doctor sat up and stretched, producing Yumo from under his blanket. The puppy stared at him and he adjusted it's hat before helping Amelia to her feet.

"Something happened. I...What happened to me? I.." Martha was pulled into a tight hug by Mickey.

"Oh. OK? Mickey?"

"Sorry." he murmured then let her go as they heard the TARDIS starting up again.

"What are we doing now?" Amelia asked, her voice sleepy.

"Me, I'm going to blow up the TARDIS."

"What?" Mickey exclaimed.

"Notice how helpful the Dream Lord was? Okay, there was misinformation, red herrings, malice and I could have done without the limerick, but he was always very keen to make us choose between dream and reality." the Doctor laughed and pulled levers manically.

"What are you doing?" Martha demanded.

"Doctor! The Dream Lord conceded. This isn't the dream!" Mickey yelled.

"Yes, it is!" The Doctor pressed several buttons.

"Stop it!" Amelia cried.

"Star burning cold. Do me a favour! The Dream Lord has no power over the real world, Pond. He was offering us a choice between two dreams."

"How do you know that?" Amelia asked.

"Because I know who he is." With that the Doctor slammed a button on the TARDIS making it explode.

* * *

><p>The Doctor leaned against the console watching something in his hand. They were back in the real world. Mickey was sitting against the railing, Amelia was asleep in the med bay and Martha was coming to find him according to the TARDIS.<p>

"Any questions?" he asked as he heard Martha's boots click on the floor.

"What is that?" Martha said indicating his hand.

"A speck of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava. Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell into the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for all of us." He told her as he opened the TARDIS Doors and blew the specks into space.

"So that was the Dream Lord then, those little specks?" Mickey asked.

"No, no. No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious? The Dream Lord was me. Psychic pollen, it's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you. Gives it a voice, turns it against you. I'm 907; it had a lot to go on."

"Why didn't it feed on us, too?" Martha said, standing close to Mickey.

"I think it tried." the Doctor admitted, "I know it took from Mickey."

Mickey stared at his boots.

"But the darkness in you pair? It starved and had to change course! I choose my friends with great care. Otherwise I'm stuck with my own company and you know how that works out."

"We have darkness inside us, though." Martha said, "At least I know I do."

"Martha, there's a difference between having seen dark things and having done dark things." the Doctor said calmly. "You're no more dark than anyone else and the darkness in him would starve it."

"Doctor, but what-"

"Mickey, let's leave it for now. Okay? I think there's a thing of fish custard in the kitchen calling my name." he brushed past the pair causing several rolled eyes from the two as they followed.

"As long as there's ice cream as well."


	17. Reality and Searching

**-A few hours later-**

* * *

><p>He pressed the right combination of buttons, flicked switches and pulled levers to send them back to Cardiff. The touchdown was just as shaky as always; he nearly sent Mickey flying over the railing twice. The Doctor was quiet which scared Martha and Mickey as both had known him enough that they knew being quiet was not a good thing with the Time Lord.<p>

"Are you okay?" Mickey asked.

"Yeah, fine." the Doctor dismissed his worries.

"Fine is Time Lord for 'not good'." Martha pointed out.

"No it isn't." he said as the TARDIS landed with its whooshing noise.

"Doctor, I know you enough to know something's up. If it's about the Dream lord I forgive you." Martha said, hugging him.

"It's not about the Dream lord." he replied but hugged her back. He pulled away a few moments later and opened the TARDIS door, gesturing outside. Martha and Mickey left through the doors, making sure that the Doctor wasn't far behind them.

"If it isn't the Dream Lord, then what is it?" Mickey looked at him seriously, "I know you think I'm an idiot but I can be helpful."

"I..." the Doctor paused, cleared his throat and then tried speaking again, "If I were to come to you and tell you that your baby would grow up to be the Executioner, to be known by that name by several races – and over 13 planets; that the very mention of her name causes growls and threats of death because your baby would grow up to slaughter at least one-THOUSAND Aliens in one fell swoop, what would you do?"

"I.." Mickey frowned, "I think I would do my best to make sure my baby grew up knowing all the good things the universe could show them. Y'know? That sometimes aliens are bad, but they're good too and sometimes they just want to help us or they need help."

"I agree with Mickey." Martha said, nodding as he made his statement. "Trying to hide everything alien would just backfire. Look at mum and our travels. I'd teach my child everything I knew that was good about aliens. I'd tell them all the stories we know of all those fantastic planets. Tell them about everyone I've met. Why? Is that going to happen?"

The Doctor closed the TARDIS door to make sure Amelia couldn't hear them were she to wake up. "Pond...She...I was informed on the planet we were on when she got hurt that in a few years Pond will gain the nickname 'The Executioner of our kind' by murdering one-thousand Demanshi at one time an action which nearly obliterated an entire generation of Eight planets for no reason."

"Oh, God." Martha looked faintly ill. She'd just treated a future murderer? Not just a murder but a future mass murderer.

"Doctor, she's just a child." Mickey told him, his voice shaking slightly. That little girl couldn't grow up to become that. "I'm sure her family can teach her otherwise. I'm sure they'll save her. Children are innately good, aren't they?"

"My choice," the Doctor said after a measure, "is do I return her to her original planet and family with the hope they can keep this from happening; or do I take her to another family whom I know would teach her that aliens are fantastic and hope fate doesn't think it's a joke."

"I can't decide that for you, Doctor, but I'd take her home." Martha said honestly. "Not being with her family could be what causes it."

"Then again…" Mickey shook his head and sighed, "Yeah. Take her home, Doctor. Think of what Jackie went through that year and do the right thing."

The Doctor frowned at the pavement then brightened up a bit smiling at them. "Right well, you lot! Off to work at Torchwood. Have fun. Oh, and Mickey do me a favor, stick cinnamon in Jack's coffee." he winked and disappeared back into the TARDIS.

The two watched it disappear then started the walk towards the entry.

"I know I died." Martha told him, "I remember dying." She shivered and tried hard to get the next words out.

"What happened to the...to you and the Doctor."

"You died." Mickey said quietly after a moment, "_he_ died. The Doctor and I killed ourselves."

"How'd you know it was the dream?" Martha asked shocked at the statement said almost casually.

"...I didn't." Mickey admitted so softly that Martha barely caught it.

Martha was silent for a minute then she reached over, grabbed his hand and squeezed not saying a word.

Mickey smiled slightly and held on to her hand.

* * *

><p><strong>-TARDIS-<strong>

* * *

><p>The Doctor sent the TARDIS back into the Vortex about the time Amelia came wandering into the Console room,<p>

"Where are we going now, Doctor? Where are the others?"

"Ah, I dropped them back on Earth!"

"Oh...They had to go home?" She sounded upset.

"Yup. They had jobs." the Doctor pulled a face to make her smile. "Silly things, jobs, money isn't very useful most times."

"Right." Amelia noted that and picked up Yumo. Running the fingers of her spare hand over the console she repeated her first question: "Where are we going now?"

"We? We're off to find a nanny." the Doctor told her seriously, "I can't save the world and watch you 100% of the time!"

"Oh. Sorry..." she muttered, lowering her head to look at the floor.

"Don't be sorry!" he told her, lifting her head up again, "We'll have more fun with new friends like Luke."

Amelia smiled brightly, "Really?"

"Yup! Now go find some clothes. Demanshi wear – while very striking - is not everyday appropriate." he told her, tapping her lightly on her nose.

Amelia grinned brightly, put Yumo on the ground and took off running, the Uval dashing after her and yipping.

Once she was gone his face fell serious again. He leaned against the Console thinking. He had to keep her. No, he wasn't going to lie to himself. He WANTED to keep her. He didn't want to get rid of her. He could leave her on Earth no problem. Sarah Jane would make sure she knew that all aliens weren't bad. He wasn't sure about Torchwood though. He could take her to the Brigadier and find her a good proper home with him or his family. But he didn't want to. He wanted to keep her.

"What do you think darling, should we keep her with us?" he asked the TARDIS.

He felt her answer warm him and a cheerful song fill his mind.

"I thought so. Who should we find to babysit though? Someone who knows about aliens, doesn't mind getting messy, needs to know how to care for kids. Must not mind running. Past companion preferred...Hmm, think we could take out an advert in _Universe Weekly_?"

Slight disapproving noise mixed with what he knew to be amusement.

"Fine then! Let's make a list."

The Doctor sat down with a pad of paper and a pencil stub and went to work creating the perfect ad.  
>Amelia could stay, she'd be happy and they'd find a babysitter so he could still run around as he had always done which made him happy.<p>

He'd just have to teach her everything there was to know about how amazing the universe was. That was all there was to it. Really…Time isn't set in stone, the Angels had proven that so it wasn't completely certain that Amelia would become the Executioner. He could fix that. For now the they could go about exploring.

"We've got to find a new home for that Uval though..." He mused. 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: And so ends the 'Doctor's choice' section of this story. Hope you've liked it as much as we liked writing it. Starting the next section next friday in which new - <em>yet old!<em> - Companions are found.]**


	18. Harlots, Bars, and Exchange Students

The Doctor was getting desperate. He was so far down on his list he was contemplating just switching universes and making his duplicate babysit.

He hadn't been able to find Jo and had crossed her off because the Amazon was too vast.

Asking the Brigadier or Liz would result in his death and Amelia's quarantine.

Sarah Jane was probably mad at him.

Sylvia was scary.

Barbara and Ian had said no with extreme prejudice. He'd apologized about the ageing thing already.

Grace said she knew nothing about little kids and had a normal life now, thanks.

After his nineteenth attempt he grew a bit desperate and went to one person he knew had mothering experience.

Francine had beaten him upside the head and lectured him for a good 10 minutes on the irresponsible nature of his life and why on Earth would he have a child. When she'd finally calmed down he'd asked meekly if she'd come babysit for him.

She informed him in no uncertain terms what he could do with that idea and then Amelia had entered.

Francine had done a heel-face-turn and decided that yes, she'd help him, yes she'd teach him what he should know about children but no, she was NOT getting on that TARDIS and why didn't he find someone else.

She had given him an idea though...

"Where are we off to now?" Amelia asked him. She'd liked Francine. She had good sweets and tea that was just right and hugs and had said she'd get Amelia some new clothes.

"To a place full of debauchery, lechery, alcoholics, harlots and Time Agents."

"...I don't know what that means." Amelia admitted.

He peeked around the console at her, "We're off to find a friend of mine."

"Oh. What's a harlot?"

"Someone who hugs and kisses many people without ever dating or being in a relationship with them." the Doctor replied slinging back a lever and landing the TARDIS.

"Amelia, get your wellies; we're going bar hopping."

* * *

><p>UNKNOWN SPACE STATIONS: 2012<p>

* * *

><p>The first bar she was left standing by the entrance under a 'wait here' order after the Doctor said he spotted 'aliens of questionable moral values and dietary habits'. The Doctor flittered between tables bouncing and waving his arms trying to find his friend.<p>

She sighed and bounced in one spot watching. Everything was so interesting! There were aliens of different shapes and sizes. Across the room a giant Rhino was drinking something frothy and radioactive in colour sharing a table with a giant white blob that was slurping something red and steaming.

She tried not to listen in to other conversations, it was very naughty to eavesdrop Aunt Sharon said so, but she forgot a bit when she heard the table over mention Earth. The table was full of what looked like giant bats, only more human.

They had arms underneath giant wings that were folded up against their backs, hands long and brittle looking fingers with lethal nails. Long blue hair was styled in weird spikes, spirals and braids.

"—once you get to Earth you keep that white flag high!" the tallest and eldest looking bat-man warned the youngest.

"Unless you run into someone called 'Torchwood', they'll just use the flag to strangle you." Another snorted into his drink.

"Why are you staring at us?" the female spotted Amelia and watched her warily.

Amelia jumped with shock and blushed violet at getting caught. "I heard you mention Earth."

"Be nice Sasha," the eldest male tapped the woman and motioned Amelia forward, "You're from Earth, aren't you? You smell like a human."

"Uh-huh." She nodded, "I come from Leadworth. Who're you?"

"Hear that, Ezek? She asks 'who are you' not 'what are you'; not all humans are insensitive xenophobes like the Slitheen, Sontarans and Judoon say." He turned back to Amelia, "I'm Rayte Zant-Commans, these are my brothers: Ezek and Jucar and my sister Sasha. Who're you?"

"I'm Amelia Pond." She offered her hand awkwardly trying to figure out how to shake hands.

He eyed her hand and cocked his head.

"It's how humans greet each other."

"Ah. Study this too, Ezek." Rayte carefully extended his hand, careful of his nails, to shake her hand; he was quite amused at how his hand dwarfed hers.

Both grinned when they let go, feeling very accomplished.

Ezek's brow furrowed and he jotted a note down onto a bar napkin. "How do you say that you're not looking for trouble in Earthlian?"

"English." The Female corrected him.

"er…'I come in peace'." Amelia said trying to remember the few shows her aunt had let her see that had aliens.

"You're not going to take over the Earth?"

"No! I just want to study there. An exchange program of sorts." Ezek protested.

"Not even after you graduate?"

"No!" He yelped.

"Oh." Amelia processed that. "Go to London. That's where Luke lives. He's really nice. His mum knows aliens and helps people." Amelia eagerly offered. "She's been to space before and likes aliens. The Doctor says she's cool."  
>Ezek nodded and wrote that down as well. "I shall store this knowledge. Thank you."<p>

The Doctor reappeared looking annoyed, "He's not here. Let's go, Pond."

"Okay. Bye!" She waved to the group at the table.

Ezek mimicked her motion and looked like he was having a spasm.

"Who were they?"

"Rayte, Sasha, Jucar and Ezek. Ezek's going to study on Earth. I told him go to London where Luke and his mum are."

The Doctor choked and stared at Amelia before laughing, "Remind me not to answer any phone calls from her for the next few days!"

"Okay."

It was the fifth bar they tried that they found Jack. He was drunk as a skunk and yelling for more beer when the Doctor spotted him.

"Hey, want a drink?" Jack asked him, attempting his usually dashing 'charm the pants off of anyone' smile. It failed.

"Jack, you drunken idiot, what are you doing?"

"Do I know you?" Jack closed one eye then the other trying to focus on him.

"I thought you said he was your friend, Doctor?" Amelia asked.

Jack turned to look at the new voice.

Amelia had her hair done back in a braid once again and was wearing some clothing he'd sto—borrowed from Francine's; it's not like Tish or Martha needed them anymore, they'd outgrown them . She had on a pair of red wellies that fit just under a tan coloured dress with a white knit jacket over it.

"I've died haven't I? I've died and this is my punishment for all eternity; The Doctor bringing me a Scottish child."

Jack moaned and downed a shot of whatever he'd been drinking, "This is hell."

"No, this is 'the Burning Jugular'; 'Hell' is down the street. C'mon." the Doctor hauled Jack to his feet.

"Dun wanna go! I wanna stay here and drink." Jack complained.

"Too bad. Amelia, get the door." the Doctor said, holding Jack up with one arm slung over his shoulders and the other around his waist.

"What are we doing?"

"We're sobering up the good Captain." the Doctor told her.

* * *

><p>Jack complained as he stumbled along the TARDIS corridors down an unfamiliar path. "I don't want to be here! Let me go drink myself to death again!"<p>

"No can do, Jacky-boy." the Doctor said easily, "Amelia, go get some tea on."

"Okay." Amelia frowned watching the two leave but took the left turn and not the right.

The Doctor carried Jack through three or four turns, two doors and finally one door marked caution tape.

"Where we goin'?" Jack whined.

"To sober you up of course." the Doctor said, hauling him past carpet and onto tile.

"Why's it smell like a pool?" he complained.

"Because we're in the library." the Doctor replied. He quickly tripped Jack's feet back and shoved the front of him forward into the pool.

Jack yelped and spluttered but as he reached the surface again he felt his head being dunked under.

The Doctor lay on his stomach, one hand out holding Jack under periodically. After the 5th up and down he hauled Jack up by his hair, "You sober yet?"

"FUC-"

"Nope." He dunked him under again.

10th try.

"Sober yet?"

"Damn it, stop-"

15th try.

"OKAY! OKAY! Let me out." Jack yelped.

The Doctor hopped to his feet and rolled his sleeve back down.

"Get cleaned up Jack; we're in the kitchen once you're sober again. There's no alcohol on the TARDIS that's unlocked – only I have the key - and she won't let you out so…" he examined his watch, "See you within the hour."

Jack coughed up water and glared at the Doctors retreating back. He'd wanted to stay drunk!

He wobbled to his feet and steadied himself.

"My bedroom still where it was?" he asked aloud and received slightly warm air.

"You're mad at me?"

A blast of cold air.

"Join the club!" Jack snapped and stomped off towards his room, boots squelching as he walked.

He found his room easily enough, but the thin layer of dust over everything showed him the TARDIS was still annoyed about something.

Jack showered quickly and dug through his dresser.

"No military clothing, nothing good…" Jack made a face but pulled on some of his older clothing. The loose jeans and t-shirt felt strange, but he didn't feel like pulling on his normal long sleeved button up shirt or braces.

Slamming the door behind him for effect he stormed down the hallways to find the Doctor. He was still buzzed, but drowning had left him with a massive headache.

It took him 25 minutes to find his way to the kitchen in the newly remodelled TARDIS, mainly because he actually listened to the sticky notes and dry erase drawings.

He wandered into the right kitchen and blinked at the scene. The Doctor and the girl from earlier were seated at the table with two large mugs of tea, a giant oddly shaped tea pot and several plates of cakes, fish fingers, custard, toast and a jar of marmalade.

Jack decided to play along, "Is this Tea or just snack time?"

The two shared a puzzled look.

"Not sure. Amelia, what'd you last eat?"

She thought for several moments, "Banana bread at Mrs. Jones house."

"Tea then." the Doctor decided. He turned back to Jack, "We're having Tea."

Jack sighed and dug through the fridge and cupboards.

"I told you, no alcohol." the Doctor said around a mouthful of fish fingers and custard.

"Not looking for alcohol." Jack muttered in annoyance as he filled a clear glass with milk and grabbed an apple.

"Hungry?" the Doctor asked, "We've got plenty here."

Jack glared at him and placed both items in front of Amelia, "Kids need protein, fruits, dairy, and all that good stuff. Not just sweets."

"There's protein and dairy in fish custard AND fruit in marmalade." the Doctor said with a pout.

"Not enough." Jack said, letting his head thunk down onto the table to rest in his arms.

"Hung-over?"

"Yes."

"Regretting drinking?"

"Regretting being forced to sober up."

"Ah." the Doctor tapped Amelia on the forehead then tapped Jack's head, dodging the slap Jack aimed at him.

"This is why you never drink. Save on Christmas. Or special occasions."

Amelia nodded. "Okay. What's your name?"

Jack looked at her blearily. This truly was hell. He was being besieged by a Scottish child and the Doctor.

"Jack."

"Are you staying with us now?"

"Staying with you?" Jack looked up incredulously between the Doctor and Amelia. "Doctor, you didn't!"

"Didn't what?"

"You said you weren't a couple!"

"What?"

"You and Donna! You had a child."

"What!" the Doctor yelped, spilt his tea and nearly fell out of his seat, "No, no, no, no, NO!"

"You can't deny the truth! You've been caught red-handed, er haired..."

"She isn't Donnas!"

"I suppose you just conveniently picked up another red-haired woman to spawn a child for you?" Jack scoffed.

"She isn't mine either!" the Doctor protested. He mopped up his spilt tea. "I swear!"

"A likely story." Jack looked quite annoyed. "And what, I'm here to mop up the mess?"

"The Doctor wants you to babysit." Amelia said quietly.

"Babysit! Oh that's RICH! I'm supposed to believe that you just randomly chose to show up, now of all times with a SCOTTISH CHILD for me to BABYSIT! And it's not even **your** child?"

"She isn't..."

"Right, sure, I believe you." Jack curled his lip and nearly vibrated with rage.

"Amelia, introduce yourself to the...Captain."

"Earth style or Demanshi style?"

"Earth."

Amelia wiped her hands on her napkin and offered it to the fuming Captain, "Hi, I'm Amelia Jessica Pond."  
>Jack blinked at her; looked back and forth between the two before throwing his head back and roaring with laughter<p>

"What's so funny?" Amelia asked crossly as she lowered her hand.

"You're Amelia POND!" Jack managed to say breathlessly.

"So—"

"Amelia, take your food and go wait for me in the games room, please." the Doctor said calmly as Jack laughed and beat his fists against his thighs.

"But—"

"Just, go. Please." He added once again as an afterthought, "The good Captain here has gone a bit mad and I think I need to fix him."

Amelia looked between the two men and sighed. She grabbed her milk and apple and left.

Once she was safely out of sight the Doctor and out of ear shot he turned to glare at Jack.

"Do you mind telling me exactly what's so funny.

"You've got Amelia Pond!" Jack gasped in laugher.

"So?"

"THE Amelia Pond. The girl everyone has spent fourteen YEARS looking for! The girl that disappeared into thin air! You kidnapped her?"

"Least I only kidnapped one." the Doctor muttered crossly.

"What does that mean?"

"It's 1965 and I'm running as fast as I can with Barbara and Ian, we've got the antidote, no one needs to get hurt, no hostages need given up but when we get there, know what we learn?"

"Doc-"

"That 10 minutes, **TEN minutes** earlier some idiot working for a government organization has kidnapped 13 children to give as a 'gift' to the aliens without ever knowing what they wanted with them. Now, I know it wasn't UNIT because I worked with them so that just leaves Torchwood and don't you know if you look in files you'll find names of those who are associated at that time?"

Jack glared at the Doctor, "You mean you could have stopped them?"

"I tried; I would have succeeded if you hadn't been stupid enough to kidnap 13 children! Of all the stupid—"

**CRACK!  
><strong>

The Doctor reeled backwards clutching his face and staggering, but prided himself on not having fallen.

"You should have saved them all then! You and your stupid meddling Time Lord 'better than human philosophies—'"

**CRACK!  
><strong>

Jack actually did tumble backwards onto his arse clutching his face.

The two glowered at each other for a minute before the Doctor rolled his eyes and showed a small smile, "Now then, we're both idiots. Can we get on with Tea and babysitting discussions?"

He offered his hand to Jack to help him up.

Jack kept the angry look for a minute then took the proffered hand and was hauled upright. "Fine by me." Jack took a seat at the table and grabbed a seemingly clean cup. "Were you serious about no alcohol?" 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Watched 'Let's kill Hitler' went "Omfg!" Several times, squee-d insanely and then realized : "HOW THE HELL DO WE WRITE THIS IN!" <em>Looking forward to this greatly<em> (_We've got like 10 attempts at it_ - Oi! - _Shush you_) _but we started thinking, any ideas on your parts on how the 'Melody' plot line should go? We'd be happy to hear them.]_**


	19. Frogger, Bedtimes and a Return to Earth

-Amelia-

* * *

><p>Amelia sat in the Games room with Yumo playing with some weird toy that seemed to change colour every time she moved it.<p>

"What do you think?" she asked Yumo. Amelia showed him the circular toy and giggled when Yumo licked it. The Uval made a face but watched curiously as it went from green to blue.

"I think it's just a distraction for smaller children." Amelia decided and placed it aside. Yumo nudged it with his nose and sent it rolling across the room. He chased after it making Amelia laugh as every time he yipped it flashed red then blue.  
>She found a waste basket and got rid of her apple core then started browsing through some of the neater games. They were shiny and really cool looking; the Doctor said they were from 'a ways outside your time' which made them even cooler.<p>

"'Doom'" she read the title and frowned, "Sounds bad. Sel..Zel..Selda? Ugh." Amelia gave up on the game titles and moved away from the boxes.

One game shown that she couldn't resist though. It was a giant Arcade machine, like the one that was in the shop in Leadworth, she'd never really gotten to play it.

"Too short." She frowned. "Yumo, I either need boots with heels, stuff that'll make me grow or a box."

Yumo looked up from chewing on the colour changing sphere and barked as if in agreement.  
>She dragged a chair away from the chess set to the front of the Game so she could actually see what she was doing.<p>

"'Frog-ger?'" Amelia attempted to read it. The top 10 scores had two names competing back and forth: SJS and TDR. She recognized SJS from her still un-ruined girly shoes but she wasn't sure who "TDR" was.

She got so absorbed in trying to help the little frog cross the street that she didn't notice the Doctor or Jack enter.

"Boo." the Doctor said from right behind her, making Amelia jump.

"Doctor!" Amelia sent him an annoyed look as her last frog got squished, "I almost had them all."

The Doctor looked innocent, "Don't blame me. You lost track of your surroundings."

Amelia stuck her tongue out at him childishly gaining her a laugh.

"Is the Captain staying with us?" Amelia climbed down off her chair. She giggled as Yumo dashed over and started sniffing all of Jack that he could reach – which wasn't much more than ankle high!

"For now." the Doctor told her. "I think he has some things he needs to work out on Earth."

"Do not." Jack muttered petulantly. He brightened up and offered his hand to Amelia, "Captain Jack Harkness. Sorry for the earlier greeting."

"Amelia Pond." She shook his hand. "What are you a Captain of?"

"If you ask Mickey, it's of the Innuendo squad." the Doctor chuckled.

"What's that?"

"Nothing. He's just being silly; I think it's a Time Lord thing. I'm Captain of many things, but mostly I'm an Army Captain." He winked and grinned roguishly. "I've fought in no less than 2 world wars and 5 minor skirmishes."

"Wow." Amelia whispered in awe.

"Yeah. I'm pretty cool." Jack went to buff his jacket automatically before realizing he didn't have it. "Doc, what did you do with my coat?"

"You didn't have it when I found you." the Doctor replied examining the Frogger Machine  
>Jack's face resembled a two year old being told he couldn't have a biscuit, "Really?"<p>

"Yup."

"Damn, and I don't have a spare."

"Grab one on Earth."

"I told you I'm not going to Earth!"

Amelia studied the boys. "Captain Jack, why've you got a bruise?"

Jack felt his face and winced, "He hit me!"

"Doctor!"

"He hit me first!" the Doctor whined.

"You're not supposed to hit." She scolded them.

"Yes, but we had tea afterwards and I shared cake so that means it's all okay." the Doctor assured her.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Doc, when's bedtime?" Jack asked curiously. He'd checked his Vortex manipulator and realized he'd been on board at least 6 hours now and they'd been having 'tea' when he got on board. He supposed that meant it should be somewhere near midnight.<p>

"Whenever you get sleepy." the Doctor said patronizingly.

He was flipping through some obscure book that Jack couldn't even read the title of but that had drawings of pregnant women on it. He assumed it was about pre-natal stuff and the look the Doctor gained on occasion added more into that pile. They'd been lying around what Jack supposed was the TARDIS attempt at a sitting room for a little while now. Amelia was lying on the ground colouring in a child's sketch book. Jack had been alternately snoozing away a hangover, glaring at his boots and flipping through comics.

"Not for me; for Amelia." Jack balled up a nearby newspaper and threw it. It bounced off the Doctor's head and landed on the carpet.

The Doctor looked up at Jack. "Whenever she goes to bed."

"You don't have a time set?"

"We're in the vortex. There isn't a time." the Doctor shot Jack a 'you should know this' look.

"Well, she's half asleep on the floor. I think this counts." Jack replied. "Go do bedtime things."

"Like what?"

"Like teeth brushed, jammies on, tucked into bed with a story or a song bedtime routine!"

The Doctor made a face and shut his book.

"Please tell me she at least has a bedroom." Jack sighed.

"'Course she does." the Doctor made a face at Jack and hopped off the couch. "You think I'd just let a companion sleep on the couch?"

"You made me the first night." Jack countered.

"That was the TARDIS. I told you to stop flirting." the Doctor walked over to Amelia and tugged at her dress sleeve lightly, "Come along, Pond. Bedtime."

"' m 'wake." She murmured sleepily.

"Not really. C'mon. I bet Jack would even read you a bedtime story."

Jack's attempts at protesting were largely ignored as the Doctor led Amelia out of the room.  
>Jack stayed put, scowling at his boots and cursing in every language he knew.<p>

He wasn't sure if the Doctor knew exactly what had happened on Earth yet with the 456. But the Doctor did know what had happened the first time. Jack wasn't sure he wanted the Doctor to know what he'd done. He didn't want the Doctor knowing he'd killed his own grandson, shoved away his daughter, all but killed Ianto himself and left Gwen alone and pregnant to clean up his mess. He felt lukewarm air swirl around him.

"Are you approving or disapproving?"

Cold air.

"Is this about the 456?"

Lukewarm.

"My actions in it?"

Warm air.

"Blame the Doctor. He never came." Jack said bitterly. "I called, I begged, I pleaded. But he never came. I never even got to talk to him, only to a recorder."

Blasted cold air that made him shiver.

"You too! You could have helped! You could have taken him to Earth anyway."

Colder air still.

"Jack, come here." the Doctor's voice carried on the air, but Jack knew he was a ways away.

"Coming. Dealing with a child right now is preferable to dealing with this obviously menopausal machine."

Cold air that blasted and knocked him over.

"NOT FAIR!" Jack yelled.

* * *

><p>Jack found a door fairly quickly that he assumed had to be Amelia's. It was white with pink and purple flowers decorating it along with a few children's drawings of different alien creatures. Some he recognized but others he didn't.<p>

He pushed the door open and looked surprised. White carpet – a bad choice for a child's room – with white walls with flower patterns along the top; the walls were covered with more drawings of alien creatures, planets and of the TARDIS taped up; a small shelf held a teddy bear that was orange with 5 eyes, a small worn doll and a box of crayons; a dresser stood against one wall, the drawers all closed oddly enough with a pair of shoes perched on top; and there against the wall across from the door directly were bunk-beds. White and wicker, the bottom bunk held Amelia who was curled up under a light pink comforter, the Doctor sitting beside her.

"And then when they thought there was nothing they could do anymore, just when they thought all hope was gone the man came through. He put in everything they needed and reversed everything making all the bad guys go away." the Doctor talked quietly, soothingly. "When they had all gone away and everything was still going very bad for the people inside he staged a daring rescue; he plucked them right off of the very top of the roof with a Zeppelin."

"Saved 'em?" Amelia asked sleepily.

"Saved them all. They all lived." the Doctor agreed. "The man made sure everyone was okay and took them all to safety."

Amelia made a sleepy approving noise.

The Doctor motioned for Jack to grab the bear off the shelf. Jack made a face but crossed the threshold, grabbed the bear and threw it at the Doctor. The Doctor made a face at Jack but tucked the bear in with Amelia.

"Ni-night, Pond." He whispered, kissing her lightly on the forehead before sneaking out of the room, tugging Jack with him.

"Telling her stories of how heroic you are?" Jack muttered clearly annoyed as he followed the Doctor through the corridors.

"Nope. That was a Mickey story. See, she met him recently and wanted to know more about him so I've been telling her how he saved Rose, the other Pete and myself from Cybus Industries Cybermen." the Doctor waved his hands as he spoke in a way that made Jack think of those weird Broadway performers and 'Jazz hands'.

"Why'd she meet him?"

"Picked him up because Amelia needed a few stitches – which I don't have the knowledge to do – and he was with Martha who I was taking. He just tagged along."

Jack stopped and stared at the Doctor's back before muttering, "So you were the reason they went to therapy."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Jack followed him through the last door and found they were in the Console room again.

"I'm going to impart a bit of knowledge to you, Jack." the Doctor said as he stood at the controls.

"Is it how to get your ship off my back? I'd like to know that." Jack sniped, even as he felt the cold air bristle around him.

"No, if I knew that I'd actually find what I wanted more often. Though I have found grovelling on your knees works...Anyway..." the Doctor flipped switches, pressed buttons and sent the pinball machine dinging. "I've learned that as often as you can you have to fix your mistakes. If not for yourself then for your friends, your family and those you've affected."

"Says the man who always runs away."

"Yes well, do as I say and not as I do." the Doctor waved it off and continued. "You see I've tried to fix what I can through time and what I can't fix I've tried to help. I can never go back and save my friends, my family or my companions. As much as I wish I could go back to when I was with Harry and Sarah and press those two strands together I can't. But you still have time. You haven't crossed your path and you can help straighten up what fell from your actions."  
>the Doctor pressed a button on the console and Jack heard the noise of the TARDIS landing.<p>

"Where are we? Where've you taken me?" Jack demanded.

"September 12th 2009, 1:15 pm." the Doctor turned to face Jack, his face looking like it was carved from stone. "I'm giving you the chance I wish I had."

"What chance? The chance to be blamed? The chance to be forced to see every day what I've done?" Jack roared and surged towards the Doctor and grabbed him by his lapels, "You wish you could see the accusing looks on everyone's faces every day; the looks that blame you even when you had no other choice?"

"Yes." the Doctor said, not bothering to pull himself free. "I'd face those looks for eternity if it meant I had the chance to make things right for my people; to help fix things instead of breaking them."

Jack let out a scream of anger and shook the Doctor. "Why would you do this to me?"

"I think you mean; 'Do this for me'." the Doctor pulled himself out of Jack's hands this time. "And it's purely selfish if you think about it. I want you to fix things in a way I couldn't. I want you to help clean up the aftermath of your deeds, and I want you to sober up already and quit sulking over events from 3 years ago from your Point of view. Oh and I want you to be sober by Christmas." the Doctor added as an afterthought. "I really do need a babysitter, and an immortal one without depression and drinking issues would be great."

"You-!" Jack tried to leap at the Doctor again but he side-stepped and hauled Jack towards the door by Jack's shirt back.

"It's the chance of a lifetime Jack! How many people can go back in time and fix their failings? " He asked, opening the doors. "Oh, and if you run again I'll just bring you back." With those words he booted Jack out of the doors. The Doctor looked out after him and winced. He shut the doors and looked at the Console in annoyed affection. "Did you have to land 10 feet from the ground?"

He chuckled softly as he received confirmation psychically. "Oh, you are a bit peeved at him aren't you? I suppose I'll know why soon?"

Warm air and humming filled the TARDIS.

"Thought so. Keep an eye on our girl, will you?"

The humming turned to singing quite nearly, a soft calm whirl that made the Doctor's insides warm. "Thanks, dear."

* * *

><p>Author's Note:<p>

_**Hah! I've kidnapped the account, I've got power I've got power! Show her I can update...**_ **Please you just spent 20 minutes complaining it's too hard to do**. _**Hush you, Ahem on to the important stuff** **Jack's back, but he left again. **_**He'll be back you know, and NO this is not going to be a slash story. _You're just happy that you finally get to bring in the next companion. That is the only reason you let me update. _You like the next companion too, and I'm never letting you do this again you know. _Yes you will, next time you decide to not use the computer and I beg you to update, which I truly apologize to our readers for...I don't do this a lot. Well I do just I'm nowhere near as picky. Anyway now that my co author...hush you...is gone I hope you all enjoy the story. I'm going to enjoy my power trip Muahahaha. _Do you see why she doesn't update often...**


	20. Parental rights and Phone fights

-Interlude on Earth -

* * *

><p>Sarah Jane blinked and watched her son. Something was different. He was pouring two bowls of cereal...and his hair... "Luke?"<p>

"Yes, Mum?"

"Why've you got two bowls?"

"Just habit I guess-Er...I mean I forgot I'd poured one already." He rambled out.

"Your hair is longer than it was last night, and you've got a tan." She pointed out, an inkling of what happened started.

"What was that? COMING, CLYDE!" He yelled and took off out the back door.

She watched him closely for the rest of the day when he was around, but though tired he didn't really let anything slip. She knew he was trying to cover up when later that day he arrived in the attic with freshly cut hair. Rani informed her when she asked that Luke had enticed her to cut it for him.

She was about to give up on the discreet front of trying to find out how he'd time traveled and just outright ask – bless that boys inability to lie well, especially to his mum - when she awoke in the middle of the night to a scared yell from Luke. She dashed down the hall immediately towards his room; "Luke, what's wrong?"

Luke stood in the middle of the hallway clad only in sleep trousers, a cricket bat in one hand raised in defense and a panicked look on his face; "I can't find her!"

"Can't find who? Luke, look at me." She placed her hands on his forearms trying to get him to put down the cricket bat.

"Amelia, I can't find her. They took her. I was supposed to keep her safe. They're not allowed to take her and I've lost her!" He was near tears and frantic.

"Luke, calm down." Sarah Jane tried to look him in the eye but he kept trying to move away as if to run back to search again, or fight. It was like a night terror, but Luke didn't dream!

"Amelia, I'm supposed to keep her safe. I promised! I swore and she's GONE!"

"Luke...Who's Amelia?"

"Amelia...she's gone."Luke dropped the bat, and just seemed to crumple, sinking to the ground with a look of utter despair, "they've got her in her mind."

Sarah Jane moved the bat to the side and hugged her son that was it; she was calling the rest of the companions, getting hold of the Doctor and finding out exactly what was going on.

The next morning, of course Luke denied everything, pretending not to know what he'd done last night but the tired look in his eyes betrayed him. As he stumbled sleepily off to school Sarah Jane started the phone tree.

"Martha? Have you heard anything from or about the Doctor lately?"

"No, I haven't oddly enough. Not since he borrowed Mickey and I early this year. Why?"

Sarah Jane told her about the episode the night before and Martha frowned, "Sounds like a panic attack or maybe a night terror. You really think the Doctor has something to do with this?"

"Martha, Luke doesn't dream, and when I left the night before last his hair was short, in the morning it was around his ears."

"...I'll get Jack." Martha sighed, "We'll find him and figure out what's going on, don't worry."

* * *

><p>A few hours later the others had finally arrived and were just settling in around her living room to figure this situation out when her phone rang.<p>

"Smith residence." Jack answered being the closest to the phone, "Uh huh, we'll get someone there in a few minutes. Thank you."

"What was that?"

"Someone needs to pick up Luke." Jack said getting out of his chair.

"What? Why? What happened?" Sarah Jane demanded.

"Apparently they went on a field trip and he had a panic attack and wouldn't take his eyes off of a statue of an angel."

"An angel?" Martha whispered, "I hope he's not seeing what I think he thinks he's seeing."

"What does that mean?" Mickey asked in concern.

"Weeping angels; the deadliest, kindest killers in the universe."

"Weeping angels?" Jack was baffled too. "What are weeping angels?"

"Statues. Well, they're statues when you see them. But when you turn your back they come alive and attack. They steal your life force and send you back in time. The only way to keep them from killing you is by staring at them. Blink and you're dead." Martha told them, "I spent a few months in 1969 because of them."

It took Sarah Jane only 15 minutes to get Luke home from school. Well 15 minutes and several flashes of Jack's official badge but still.

"Okay what's going on Luke?" Jack said looking at the pale 15 year old who was held hostage on the couch in-between his mother and Martha.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Luke replied, "Just tired."

Martha sent him a look that clearly said 'pull the other one', "I don't believe that. You've had two panic attacks in less than 24 hours. That's not 'nothing'."

"It wasn't a panic attack I was just...It wasn't a panic attack. I swear."

"Then what was it."

"Nothing, just…Just...Leave me alone, I'm fine!" Luke tried to jump up from the couch and was hauled back down again.

"Congratulations, you've officially got a teenager." Jack told Sarah Jane with a smile.

"Luke Smith, tell us what's going on right now." Martha told him in a deadly calm voice, "You're scaring your mother."

"Right now? I'm being held hostage on my own couch, "Luke groused sinking back and closing his eyes.

"If he's making smart ass remarks he's got to be feeling better, "Mickey said.

"Luke, what's going on?"

He didn't get a response.

"Luke?"

"He's asleep?" Mickey asked, "How's someone fall asleep that fast?"

"He's obviously worn out."

Sarah Jane and Martha managed to get him laid down on the couch and covered with a blanket without waking him.

"Okay, how do we get in touch with the Doctor?"

It took three phone calls from three different cell phones to get a hold of him.

"What?"

It was a males voice, unfamiliar but not entirely unexpected.

"What did you do to Luke?"

"Luke? I didn't do anything. I swear. You can't prove anything." the Doctor said defensively.

"Doctor!"

"I -" the Doctor's voice got distant like he was speaking away from the phone, _"What'd I tell you about doing that?"_

"Doctor? Doctor, are you there?"

"Where else would I be? Hold on." His voice went distant again, _"Yes, I know they're smiling. They're sentient. No, don't feed one to Yumo!"_

"Doctor-"

"_Sit there and don't move_, Hold on Sarah Jane_! Yumo spit it out. It's not nice to eat our neighbors. Right, thank you! _Okay, now what do you want, Sarah Jane?" the Doctors voice was the "_I'm upset but totally calm, see?_" Tone he'd perfected over the years.

"Doctor what's going on and WHAT have you done to my son?"

"I did-_OI! I SAID NO EATING IT!"_

"Doctor it is 3:00pm exactly Monday the 5th of October, 2009. You have 5 minutes to be here or else."Sarah Jane said sternly.

"What? You can't-_ARGH, YUMO!_"

"Time starts now."

"Wha-"

"Goodbye."

Sarah Jane clicked the phone shut and watched her watch.

They didn't hear the TARDIS appear, but Sarah Jane's phone DID start ringing at 3:05 exactly.

"What do you need?"

"I thought I told you to come here." Sarah Jane said warningly.

"Can't. Busy, more important things, life or death, kind of. Well, Life AND death. And more than a little apple juice, sort of a gush really… Ruined a perfectly good bow tie and –"

"What did you do to my son?" Sarah Jane interrupted him.

"Nothing! I haven't touched him I swear. It wasn't me I didn't do anything."

"Doctor what have-" Sarah Jane's secondary bout of yelling was interrupted by what sounded like crying in the background followed by shuffling noises and the phone being bumped.

"Who's with you?"

"No one, I haven't done anything. Stop accusing me of things." The Doctor sounded a bit winded and offended.

"Who's 'Yumo' then?"

"Stupid puppy I accidentally picked up. I'm pawning him off as soon as I can. Like DC. Speaking of, would you like another dog, Sarah Jane?"

"I've known you through 4 regenerations now; I can tell when you're lying and when you're trying to distract me." Sarah Jane warned him.

"I didn't do anything I…"the Doctor sighed and seemed to consider things before starting again, "What do you need to know. NEED, not want."

"Where did you take Luke?"

"Everywhere and every-when." He replied.

"Why? I told you, you couldn't take him as a companion!" Sarah Jane yelled.

"Hey, I just extended parental rights." the Doctor offered.

Sarah Jane's cursing was covered by Martha; "Why did Luke freak out about a statue?" Martha grabbed the phone for a moment to flip it on speaker phone.  
><em>'Parental rights?<em>' Mickey mouthed the words and made a face.

"Cause weeping angels are very terrifying and having one in your mind is worse..." was the quiet reply followed by a small squeak of fear that was quickly shushed.

"My son had an ANGEL in his mind?" Sarah Jane looked murderous.

"It wasn't his mind! It was Am—Not Luke's! Luke just sort of got caught in the cross fire so to speak and well being surrounded by about a hundred or so angels and facing down them all would terrify anyone."

"Doctor—"

"He'll be fine, just keep him away from Statues, Pepper pots and leave a nightlight on for him." The Doctor said dismissively.

"Doctor what did you do to my son?" Sarah Jane asked quietly. Everyone present shrunk back a bit, knowing the angriest you'd ever see the Doctor or Sarah Jane was when they went quiet.

"I didn't do anything. Not technically. Really, it wasn't my fault. I swear. Just a byproduct of the situation. What brought this on?"

"My son had a panic attack last night and started yelling about someone named Amelia being taken away and how he was supposed to have watched her."

There was silence save the occasional bark on the other line.

"Doctor?"

"Tell Luke…" The Doctor sighed as if thinking it over, "Tell Luke: The statues are dealt with and the girl is safe. Oh, and ask him if he wants a puppy."

"Doctor I—"

"Got to go, more pressing matters at hand. Like the fact I now need a new bowtie. Apple juice is not good cologne."

Sarah Jane was left staring at the silent cell phone more confused than when she'd started.

"Okay, if everyone else is going to avoid it, I'll ask." Mickey said after minutes of silence, "What the bloody hell does he mean, 'Parental rights'?"

"He's convinced Luke is his son due to Luke's brilliant mind and how he acts." Sarah Jane sounded aggravated, "Never mind how many times I say that Luke's adopted, I still found about 140 presents all wrapped for Luke and waiting in his room days after I adopted him."

The group suddenly seemed to find their shoes or the ceiling interesting.

"I know you lot helped with that too; I severely doubt the Doctor would pick up '**Alien Devastation 3; **_**Final solution**_' for his hypothetical child."  
>Mickey blushed deeply.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: For those of you who are confused – <strong>_**like me!**_** – and need that timing sorted out: This chapter takes place October 5, 2009; about six months since he dropped off Martha and Mickey; near a month since he dropped Jack off(Ergo a month after 456), two days after he left Luke and 15 days before he kidnap—borrows his next babysitter. Basically? The Doctor is treating 2009 (since 10 was off on other planets mostly) like a ball of string and he's a time traveling kitten!**_** What?**_** Okay, bad analogy, but still.]**


	21. New companions and infamous names

The Doctor tapped his hands against his legs and stared.

Yumo wagged his tail so it thumped lightly against the floor and stared.

The Doctor curled his lip slightly and let out a quiet growl.

Yumo exposed his fangs and growled back.

"What are you doing?" Amelia asked as she stumbled upon the two on the floor in the kitchen.

"Showing him who is boss." the Doctor replied still staring at Yumo.

Amelia watched the two then gave up trying to figure them out. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard, filled it with the last of the juice in the fridge and put bread into the toaster. As she climbed up onto a stool at the island counter with her breakfast the duo were still mirroring each other's actions.

Yumo yipped lightly.

The Doctor made an annoyed noise.

Yumo growled back.

The Doctor scowled and bared his teeth.

Yumo nibbled the air showing off his fangs again.

The Doctor paused, raised his hands and wiggled his thumbs.

Yumo looked at him in disgust and trotted off to his food dish.

"Hah! See that?" the Doctor leapt to his feet, nearly overbalancing and sending himself to the ground again.

"I saw you trying to win a staring contest with a dog and loosing." She offered him a piece of toast in condolence.

"No! Amelia, that wasn't a staring contest." He took a big bite of the toast. Speaking with his mouth full he dug through the fridge. "That was me showing who was boss! If you don't sit them down and have a frank discussion with them the first few days then you lose everything and they think they can walk all over you. No thanks, I learned that lesson with Lancelot and Canine thanks. Yumo knows who's boss."

"How'd you win?"

The Doctor pulled the milk carton out, opened it and drank directly from the carton. Amelia giggled at him as he emptied it and threw it in the vicinity of the bin. "Opposable thumbs." He wiggled his thumbs like he'd done with Yumo. "Remember, opposable thumbs win any argument with an animal. Well, any dominance argument."

"I'll remember." Amelia said solemnly. "Where are we going today?"

He looked at the bin in distaste then at the mostly empty fridge before finally landing on her too big sleep shirt (Well, it WAS a sleep shirt on Tegan, but on Amelia it was a nightgown).

"Earth."

"Oh."

"Why 'Oh'?"

"Earth's boring."

"Earth shopping. And maybe abducting. Well, anyway we have to go to a sweet store first." He said, leaving the room and heading for the Console room.

"Why?" Amelia looked curious and followed him.

"Because, Amelia, no sane person would get into an unidentified vehicle with a man who has rubbish sweets!"

* * *

><p>-The stalked-<p>

* * *

><p>Tish should have known something was up when she awoke to the man across the hall from her flat blasting <em>'Trust me, I'm a Doctor'<em>. She should have chocked it up to more than coincidence when the newspaper was missing the comics section. And she most definitely should have realized something was going on when she found that she was mysteriously ½quart shorter in milk than she had been the day before. But Tish was Tish and so use to Martha and Leo's antics that she just wrote it off as one of their pranks.

But she couldn't dismiss the feeling she was being watched as she walked down the street. She was heading to the shops to pick up shopping: milk, bread and other every day things.

The man was doing a horrible job at hiding anyway. She saw him every few seconds, he looked like a child trying to play secret agent. He'd roll across the sidewalk and hide behind a mail box, then scurry forward and hide behind a light pole;the fact that he was wearing a bowtie, braces and what appeared to be a party hat on his head didn't lend to his 'stealth' skills.

After he barrow rolled into a car she gave up and waited for him to catch up to her.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" She asked exasperation in her tone.

"Tish! I'm shocked you don't remember me. All those times we shared.." he looked wistful for a moment, "Your mum slapping me, running from Lazarus, bursting a church with rock music on a pipe organ and of course the accidental arrest and subsequent year." He looked a bit apologetic for the last bit.

"Doctor?" Tish asked sceptically.

"Yup! Sorry, look different. Time Lords cheat death." He steered her off the street and into an alleyway. "See, when I die I don't die I just regenerate. Thing is, that always leaves me with a new face then before. This is the 11th face." He pulled several faces showing off. "I like it so far. It's strange though. Apparently I'm a picky eater. Never been one of those before."

"Doctor, what do you want?" Tish found this version of him quite funny, but a bit long winded.

"Right! I need a person I can employ for a varying amount of time – between 2 weeks and 11 years – who won't disappear randomly and has no issues working with aliens."

"Have you got an urge to get a secretary now?"

"Nope." the Doctor dug through his pockets as they reached the end of the alley where the TARDIS stood.

"Come inside? I've got mars bars, Jelly babies, lemon drops, aero bars, Jelly beans, lollies, gum and near 5 pounds of boiled sweets from a pick & mix." He looked quite hopeful as he pulled out the key.

"Well, my mum told me never to get into a car with a strange man who offers me candy." Tish told him, seemingly agonizing over the decision.

"It's not a car, it's a TARDIS and I'm not...well...There's lots of candy plus." He waved his hands at the TARDIS' now open door like Vanna White, "Shiny..."

Tish rolled her eyes but went into the TARDIS anyway.

"Oh, and for the record for future bribes: I'm not much of a candy person, more of a crisps and cakes person."  
>The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at her, "Good to know! Now, I need a bit of help from you for several things."<p>

"What things?"

The Doctor didn't have time to answer as a yelp, a splash, a crash and a howl came echoing through the TARDIS.

Yumo came flailing in minutes later, spinning in circles with a bowl over his head and neck.

Tish didn't even think – it could have been some evil human eating alien for all she knew! – she reached down and plucked the bowl away from the little beast.

"Amelia?" the Doctor said loudly.

A girl around age 7 came running in moments later.

"Hi!"

"What happened?"

"I was trying to put dishes up and he got in the way and I tripped. The bowl dumped on him, but I didn't hurt him. I tried to clean up the water but the air kept pushing me away and when I asked if I should clean I got cold air and I think that-"

"Means to leave it and the TARDIS will care for it. Yup."

"I know you take young people on your journeys," Tish chose her words carefully, "But isn't she a bit too young?"

"Who're you?" Amelia asked not recognizing the woman, "Are you my new babysitter?"

Tish's eyes went wide, "You didn't!"

"Didn't what?"

"You had a child!"

"What? Why does everyone keep asking that? First Luke, then Jack and now you! She's not Donna's or mine."

"I didn't say Donna. I'm not sure who that is, but it sounds like suspicious denial to me." Tish teased him. She winked at Amelia and got a conspiring giggle in reply.

The Doctor spluttered for a few minutes, frowned and glared half-heartedly at the two girls. "I changed my mind. We're finding a baby sitter who isn't a girl or related to anyone who knows me."

"Too late!" Amelia held her hand out to Tish, "I'm Amelia Pond. Who're you?"

Tish's eyes went wide with shock as she looked between the girl and the Doctor. "Seriously?"

"Yes."

The Doctor studied his shoes innocently.

Tish shook the offered hand, "I'm Leticia Jones. You can call me Tish. Why am I babysitting?"

It took ages to explain it properly to her and even longer before she stopped giggling at some of the stories Amelia told of Luke and a drunk Jack.

"Right, where were we?" the Doctor interrupted the laughter again. "Secondary reason for you being here: Shopping."

"Shopping?" Tish raised her eyebrows and watched him.

"Yes! What Amelia is wearing is the best fitting clothing in the wardrobe, and it's a sleep shirt! I've got one dress I stole—er, borrowed from your mum's attic, but that won't work for everyday."

"Which dress?" Tish asked Amelia curiously.

"Tan one, it's long with darker brown markings."

"Oh, I loved that one. It's soft and flowy, isn't it?"

"Yeah!"

"ALSO!" the Doctor raised his voice, "I need food."

"You need food?"

"I need food." He agreed.

"You want me to go shopping for you not just for kids things but for food as well? Doctor, they don't pay secretaries that well."

"We'll go with you. And I have this." the Doctor held up his psychic paper in one hand and a credit card in the other.

"Who gave YOU a credit card?" Tish looked scandalized, "What'd you put on the application? Location; 1967, 1850, 2008 take 1, take 2?"

"It's not mine. I took it from Jack while he was drowning. He won't need it, he's on Earth. I think. Is he on Earth, Tish?"

"Uh...What time do you think I'm from?" she hesitated, trying to recall rules of time travel from any movies or books she'd seen.

"You're November 18th 2010." He stated easily as if it were no big deal.

"Er, no. It's October 21st 2009."

The Doctor tried not to blush or look embarrassed as Amelia giggled and Tish tried politely not to laugh.

"I knew that. I was testing you. Anyway, Jack!"

"Last I heard from Jack he was up in Cardiff rebuilding Torchwood with the others and visiting his 'Not-a-girlfriend' in England once a week."

"He's got a girlfriend?" the Doctor rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised? Give a letch an inch, he'll take a mile. Give him a second chance and he'll use a sob story to get girls in be—to hug girls."

"The Doctor says Jack's a harlot." Amelia told Tish seriously.

Tish gave in to giggles.

"First things first." Tish said as they prepared to go out shopping. "Amelia needs a disguise."

"Why?" Amelia asked as she tried to do up the shirt.

She'd gone digging through the wardrobe again and came out with a skirt that fell near her knees – and lower if the belt slipped—a way to big tank top that Tish tied back with a man's dress shirt over top of it, the arms folded up 5 times and still baggy around her hands. The only thing that did fit was her shoes, white and shiny with the initials showing happily on the back.

"Rule 2."

"Don't as stupid questions." Amelia repeated at the Doctor's prompting. She frowned. "That wasn't a stupid question."

"Yes it was. Where are we?"

"Earth, London, 2009."

"Where are you from?"

"Earth, Leadworth, 1996."

"That's 13 years of difference there. You've been missing a long time. You're probably infamous and what would happen if someone found out about time travel?"

"Everything would go belly up." Amelia sighed.

"Right!" the Doctor dug through a box under the console and produced a bright purple fluffy hat that looked like a circular hat box with a wide floppy brim.

Tish clutched a hand over her mouth to not laugh.

The Doctor then pulled out a pair of star shaped sunglasses that were red framed with blue lenses and she gave up the fight.

Once she composed herself again she started the second half of the 'hide Amelia' plan.

"And we can't call her Amelia, or Pond. At least not together." Tish told him, "That's a famous name."

"Really?" the two said in unison.

"Wow." Amelia whispered.

"Well, Infamous." Tish admitted.

The Doctor frowned, puzzling over it for several moments before deciding.

"Smith."

"Sorry?"

"I go by Smith on Earth when I have to. John Smith."

"Okay then." Tish offered Amelia her hand, "John and Amy Smith."

Amelia tilted her head considering the name, "I like it."

They split off once they entered the street the shops were on. Tish had gone with Amelia to get clothes while the Doctor had disappeared into the nearest food shop. He'd left them the credit card and told them to come locate him when they were done; he had work to do.

"So how many pairs of clothes do you have?" Tish asked her as they searched for the children's department.

"Um..."

"Pyjamas, shirts, trousers, pants, shoes?" Tish prompted.

"Oh! I've got the nightgown I wore when the-John took me." Amelia fumbled but tried to keep with the names they'd been given for public, just in case. "I've got the tunic Dex loaned me and the trousers as well. I have my wellies, these shoes, Dex's boots and another pair, but the other pair is caked in mud."

"That's it?"

"I borrow from the wardrobe?" Amelia offered trying to keep her from getting upset.

Tish dragged Amelia to the nearest clothing rack for children and looked at the credit card. "Think this thing has a limit?"

"I dunno."

"Let's find out!"

* * *

><p>Amelia's head was spinning by time they were through clothes shopping. She'd gotten 15 new T-shirts, 15 pairs of jean or Khaki trousers. 10 new skirts, 10 new dress shirts, 5 new dresses, a plethora of undershirts and pants, several pyjama sets and THREE pairs of shoes; a basic set of tennis shoes, a pair of hiking boots and a dressy pair that was black to match the white Mary-Jane's she wore currently.<p>

The cashier's eyes had gone wide as footballs when she'd rung them up. Tish had found it all very funny and was planning on calling Jack later to tease him.

They ditched the clothing inside the TARDIS on the console room floor and stayed long enough for Amelia to change. Clad in a pair of khaki trousers, pink light up tennis shoes, a bright pink button up dress shirt and her previous hat and sunglass combo she looked normal...relatively.

"If anyone asks why you're wearing that tell them you dressed yourself and isn't it cool." Tish told her as they left again.

They located the Doctor in the fruit isle of the other shop and had to wonder at what he'd been doing; the only things in the cart were bananas, fish fingers and custard.

Then again, the cart was filled near the brim.

"I'm done." the Doctor told Tish easily.

"You're nowhere near done." Tish sent him her best mum glare. It must have worked as the Doctor did shiver slightly. "Go get another cart."_  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong><em>[AN: <em>We're now onto my personal FAVORITE companion to write about now. Yes, she's not quite a companion in canon, but she still kicks arse! _Excuse her, she's excitable and well, Tish is pretty neat._ Yeah, hope you like her like I do!]**


	22. New planets, rules and bizarre bazaar's

"I am never shopping with you again." the Doctor declared as he shoved the milk in the fridge.

"Cry baby." Tish scoffed. "You've never had to go shopping with mum. She makes today's trip seem like you were just in to pick up milk."

The Doctor looked at her, eyes wide and terrified, "Please never make me shop with her? You can go alone next time, can't you?"

"If I'm here next time, yes." Tish promised.

"Look on the bright side." Amelia consoled the Doctor, "We don't have to buy me any new clothes till I'm not miniaturized."

"If you're careful with them." Tish added.

The Doctor brightened up a bit. "True. I can just send people. Or mail order. People do mail order, don't they?"

"Send clothing to P.O. Box TARDIS?" Tish said sarcastically.

"Don't knock it, I bet I could manage it." the Doctor tried to look mighty and powerful. "I am the oncoming storm."

"Fine, Mr. Oncoming storm, for a girl's room is a duvet or a comforter more fitting?"

The Doctor opened his mouth closed it and scowled like a petulant toddler. "Fine. You guys shop."

They wait on Earth long enough for Tish to grab a few things from her flat. It's only temporary, she kept reminding him. He kept swearing on 'scouts' honour' that he'll get her returned the moment she asks. Of course when she asked if he ever was a Scout he went mysteriously deaf.

She trusts him, mostly. It's not like he has a reason to be off time wise. Plus, Tish is certain he's too scared of her mum to kidnap her for too long Earth time.

Just in case Tish leaves a note on her fridge: _"Gone travelling with Doctor, be back...Call cell if needed. Sorry if date missed. XoXo Tish."_ Unknown to her, as she shut the door to her flat, the note slipped off the fridge and underneath it.

"Done with trivial earth things?" the Doctor asked as she pulled her suitcase onboard.

"Yes."

"Good! Anywhere in particular you want to go? 1890? That was a good year. Oh! How about Heotz 4? We could catch the stellar shower of 8115 from the sapphire cliffs of Junbar!"

"Drivers choice." Tish said amiably.

The Doctor looked at Amelia, "Any preference?"

"Somewhere warm."

"Junbar it is!"

* * *

><p>-Junbar-<p>

* * *

><p>They arrived a full day early for the 'stellar shower' but the Doctor wasn't too upset about that. It meant they got to explore a bit, talk with the natives and possibly find foods that could rival fish fingers and custard!<p>

"Remember rule number 1 subsection A!" the Doctor warned Amelia as they stepped out onto the planet. He had to twirl in place to keep Yumo from tripping him on the leash.

Amelia sighed, very put upon, but reached over and grabbed Tish's hand. Tish laughed at the two.

"Doctor, why don't you just keep your eyes on her?"

"Tell her, Amelia."

"Demanshi planet 6, he looked away for 5 seconds and the minders took me." Amelia sounded embarrassed. "So I have to either keep in sight or keep in contact."

"Rule number 1, what's that?"

"Don't wander off." Amelia and the Doctor replied.

"Ah. Sounds like mums rule." Tish nodded, squeezed Amelia's hand lightly and followed the Doctor down a winding stone path. "When Martha and I were little we had a whole group of rules that we had to follow, or else."

"Like what?"

"No wandering off, for one. We had to hold hands in public; the buddy system. We were told never to go anywhere alone; not even to the stores. Oh, and of course we were never allowed to take candy from a stranger."

The Doctor smirked looking like he'd broken a system. "You got an ice lollie, that's different then candy."

"Yes, and now we know for next time what goes on the list of 'Stranger things'."

"Why'd you have so many rules?" Amelia quickened her pace to keep up.

Tish noticed and slowed her pace a bit. "Well, when I was young, about 12, this little girl disappeared." She noticed the Doctor's shoulders stiffen a bit and his head tilt in her direction minutely to listen in. "She was younger than me or my sister by a bit, She and Leo were 10 and 9 at the time, but my mum got really worried and made us always stay together."

"Where'd she go?" Amelia asked Tish in concern.

Tish allowed herself a grin but tried to hide it for Amelia, "No one knows. She just disappeared into thin air. No one saw her go anywhere, no one saw her get taken by anyone; she vanished. They've been searching for her for 13 years now. They have done several TV documentaries, magazine and newspaper articles and even an entire book about it. It's a shame no one knows where she is."

Tish snuck a glance at the Doctor whose face was burning red.

"Maybe the minders took her." Amelia suggested.

Tish choked back a laugh, "Yeah, I bet that's probably it. I think you just solved the mystery."

Amelia giggled and tugged at Tish's hand, "Look, they've got a lot of tents set up."

"Stellar shower." the Doctor cleared his throat and forced himself to stop blushing. "They treat it as a big event.

They happen every 500 years and each one lasts a few hours. This one will be special though."

"Why?"

"This one will last 3 days." the Doctor winked conspiringly and tapped a finger to his lips. "They take it as a sign from their Goddess that good things shall come of it and blessing shall be upon them."

"Do good things happen because of it?" Tish hadn't seen so many tents set up like this and was goggling as she passed a stall that had eyeballs spinning in a jar.

"Of course. Though it's more because they think good things will happen so they believe in themselves than anything, but still." the Doctor twirled around in place looking at all the stalls with a giddy look on his face barely avoiding tripping over Yumo who was just as excitable. "This is wicked!"

"Wicked?" Tish quoted him, a look of disbelief on her face. "What are you, 12?"

"Hey, that's a cool word." the Doctor pouted until he spotted a booth that sold clothing. He scampered over and spotted something that made his hearts speed up: "They have bow ties!"

Tish rolled her eyes and Amelia giggled but the two walked over to him.

"I think that's just a normal bow for hair." Tish commented.

"It's a bow tie and bow ties are cool." He replied twirling it in his fingers. It was a garish lime green with neon yellow swirls and bright red stars on it; he was suitably happy.

"Bow ties are not cool." Tish picked up a shirt from the table quite impressed with the patterns and colours even if the bow tie was really blinding.

"Are too!"

"Are not."

"Are-, if you don't agree with me I'm not buying you a t-shirt."

"You're not buying anything, Jack is."

"Fine then. I'm not stealing Jack's money to buy a t-shirt." the Doctor sulked and pointed a finger at her accusatorily; "Don't undermine my attempts at being childish."

Tish threw her hands up in the air palms out giving up, then went back to browsing through the clothing.

"What exactly is all this anyway, a bazaar?"

"Sort of." the Doctor pulled off his bow tie and shoved it at Amelia before putting on the new one. "It's a giant party of sorts. Oh what did they call them…Block parties? These stellar showers happen on a regular set pattern, people and planets work out what they'll bring and sell or trade for years in advance! Think about that, Tish! Think about if Russia, China, Japan, Canada, America, México, France, Italy and the UK all got together in the Arctic and set up tents where they sold the best things that represented their countries interests, talents and top craftsmen."

"Ah." Tish was impressed. She held up a shirt against Amelia and tossed it at the Doctor to make him pay for the tunic that swirled – quite literally in front of their eyes – in pinks, blues and greens. "Which planet is represented by tie-dye clothing?" Tish had vague images of a planet populated by 1960's 'free love' beings.

"The Reazers from Reazar-Betoz 4. Believe it or not they're Colour blind." He grinned happily and tossed grabbed another item from the table.

"I see."

Tish smirked and threw a pair of boxer shorts at him that were a dazzling shade of neon pink with purple swirls.

The Doctor looked between Tish and the boxers repeatedly; eyes wide and eyebrows raised high before exclaiming. "Those are cool!"

Amelia giggled at him. "They are!"

Tish shook her head, "Great, intend to embarrass Mickey, Dad or Leo and I get a bouncing alien instead."

The Doctor hugged the boxers to his chest and looked like a stubborn child, "mine!"

"Fine, fine," Tish grabbed a second pair and tossed them at him. "Now, can we find something more interesting?"

The Doctor looked at Tish interested, "Nearly all of the Females I've had travel with me have always held me hostage at anything clothing like. Especially shoes."

"I'm not most females, though I'll admit if we find anything that's Tech I will force you to stay." Tish grabbed Amelia's hand again and walked ahead of the Doctor browsing the stalls.

The Doctor watched her walk away and grinned stupidly; he had a companion that could hold her own, tease him, took his offer for what it was, wasn't falling in love and was a tech geek!

"I wonder if this is how they all feel when dealing with me." He shook his head to clear it and dug through his pockets. He produced a folded scrap of cloth that he proceeded to unfold till it was the size of a reusable shopping bag.

He stuffed the newly purchased – thank you Captain Harkness! – clothing into it and dashed to catch up to the girls. Yumo didn't run nearly as fast as he liked and he resorted to picking him up and getting licked. He really needed to get rid of that Uval...

"What's the rule of pet's on the TARDIS?" Tish said as the Doctor approached her.

He peered over her shoulder to look at the wares this tent was selling.

Several long tables were set up in rows in the middle of the room with more lining the walls. A giant stack of empty cages and fish tanks and goldfish bowls sat behind the counter near a bouncy girl with dark hair stood.

Dozens of cages and fish tanks lined the tables as well, but these ones were full of different animals; mammal and amphibian. In one cage that Tish and Amelia were watching a group of miniaturized Panda Bears frolicked, none bigger than a normal sized hamster.

Next to them tiny Bunnies about an inch long bounced around a tank full of grass and lush greenery.

"I don't think there is a rule." Amelia told her, "I've got Yumo and the Doctor has Arthur."

"Arthur?"

"He's a horse. He lives in the garden."

The Doctor stuck Yumo on the ground, handed the leash to Tish and nearly pressed his face up against a tank filled with tiny Sharks and whales.

"I think you might get a pet." Amelia told Tish as the Doctor teased the sharks with one finger against the glass.

He grinned happily as the shark tried to bite his finger and bumped into the glass instead.

"Doctor, why are you teasing the animals? I thought you liked all creatures?" Tish still laughed as the shark bumped against the glass repeatedly.

"Yes." the Doctor traced his finger across the surface watching it follow him still. "But I do have a bit of a sore spot when it comes to sharks."

"Why?"

"Ask your sister." the Doctor scowled, "Beaches are bad luck. She wanted to keep the tooth as a necklace but as it had to be extracted from me I got final say..."

Amelia gasped eyes wide. "You got bit by a shark?"

He scowled and tapped the glass, "Yes." He straightened up again and shot Tish his newly found 'Still in Beta-testing' look of 'obey me, I'm a Time Lord'; "No pets."

"None?" Tish arched an eyebrow and responded to his glare with her patented look of 'are you sure that's what you want to go with?' that she'd perfected with her last boss who had a habit of making stupid decisions

He tried to hold his ground but the glare was rapidly cutting into his resolve. "Um...er...nothing bigger than Amelia's hand that can't be kept in a cage at all times!"

Tish laughed at him and turned back to the tiny animals. A little tiger was stalking around the confines of his cage roaring loudly as people watched it.

"We'll come back to this later. I really don't want to cart a bunch of animals around with us for an entire trip."

The Doctor bounced in place; "Finally, a sensible human female!"

Amelia just looked at the Doctor.

"You don't count yet."

"I don't?"

"No. To count as a human female you have to be over the age of twelve."

"I will be!"

Tish shook her head at their antics and grabbed Amelia's hand walking along to the other tents.

The Doctor began reconsidering the logic of taking Tish with him once they did find a booth that sold computers and phones. But then again, Tish reconsidered her agreement when she went with the two to a tent that sold only toys.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Just a light filler chapter this week; more Yumo! Whom apparently people like for some reason...<em>You created him.<em> Shush. Hope you're enjoying Tish!]**


	23. Sisters, Phone calls and famous thieves

"Doctor, I'm hungry." Amelia tugged at his sleeve. They'd been weaving in and out of tents and booths for hours now.

He frowned in thought then grinned. "Well then, let's go explore the foods! I bet they have Kyreberry sweets."

Amelia stuck her tongue out at him.

"What's the deal with Kyreberry sweets?" Tish asked them.

"He laughed at me 'cause I couldn't eat them!"

"Deadly?"

"Too big."

"Nothing here will kill us, will it?" Tish looked through the different tents at all the strange foods.

"Shouldn't." the Doctor picked up a weirdly shaped fruit, sniffed it and made a face. "We just stay away from any Harung booths."

"Why?"

"They're...Humanitarians." he told Tish, phrasing it delicately for Amelia.

Tish made a face, "Ewww."

Amelia frowned trying to place the word, but all that was coming to mind was those weird clothed people on TV that held signs.

"What's a huma-tarian?" Amelia asked Tish.

Tish looked at the Doctor who was humming innocently then back at Amelia. "Don't worry about it. It's just something silly."

Amelia decided to try and look it up when she could spell it. "Think they have fish fingers here?"

"Oh, I bet they have better!" the Doctor declared.

"Do they have any human food here?" Tish asked him.

He rolled his eyes at her. "If you want boring Earth foods I'm sure you could find one or two booths from the different stations or the new planets."

Tish shook her head, "Will the rest of the food kill me?"

"Probably not. Doubt it. Maybe. Possibilities are low."

"I feel so reassured." Tish said dryly.

He looked around distractedly and dashed off leaving the two alone.

"Think we should stay here, find a seat or go find him?" Tish asked Amelia.

Amelia was looking longingly at a nearby booth.

Tish patted her pocket, found she still had Jack's card and grinned. "Let's go find food."

They found a vender selling what they were pretty sure was fruit. Tiny bright orange spheres covered in spikes.

What looked like miniature watermelons on a vine like grapes; a bunch of peach coloured things shaped like apples.

The girls shared a look and disappeared with a bag containing a few of everything. They found the Doctor halfway towards finding a table. He was carrying a giant tray covered in different dishes.

Sitting down at the table Tish stared in shock at some of the things the Doctor had gotten.

A giant orange blob shivered and quivered on one tray. A bowl held a group of green things with the consistency of seaweed and the look of okra that vibrated in place.

Several skewers on another plate held chunks of meat slathered in some sauce that dripped a lethal looking rust-red colour. A giant bowl held rounds of something dark covered in a deep red sauce with tiny things swimming around in it.

"Oh, and I didn't forget." the Doctor reached into one of his pockets and produced a wax paper bag filled with giant round boiled sweets.

"Not Kyreberry sweets." Amelia's eyes went wide.

"Yup. We'll try them again. See if we can eat them without dying in some horrible way."

"Doctor, why are things swimming in that?" Tish poked at the bowl hesitantly.

"That's Chokar cake. Demanshi favourite. Couldn't bear telling him no minnows, he looked so delighted a 'human' was willing to try it."

"It's good." Amelia reassured Tish. "I ate it with Kali and Tybre! It was less swim-y then though."

"Okay." She poked at the skewers questioningly. "Do I want to know where the meat comes from?"

The Doctor pulled a piece off and chewed it then spoke with his mouth full making Amelia laugh.

Tish tossed a napkin at him. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

He rolled his eyes, muttered a "Yeff, muver" then swallowed and tried again. "It's from Brahmin."

"What?"

"They're like two headed cows. But not at all like that. Don't think of that." the Doctor waved off the previous analogy. "They've got two heads and they moo, sort of. With 2 utters, but only four legs sadly. They _**do **_have blue milk though! It tastes just like fruit punch." He grinned and wiped his face when Tish made a motion at her own face.

"Sounds...strange."

"Nah, they're the most Earth like creature on that planet."

Amelia pulled a piece off one of the skewers and tried it with all the enthusiasm of a young child – or the Doctor.  
>"It's good!" She declared.<p>

Tish pulled off a tiny piece and nibbled at it cautiously, eyes mostly closed anticipating something horrible. Her eyes popped open moments later and she stared at the Doctor in shock.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"How in the world is it you can manage to find a **meat** that tastes just like cherry soda?"

"It's a gift!" He declared the shoved the shivering jelly at her. "Try this one. I swear it brings a whole new meaning to the flavour 'orange'."

* * *

><p>It dawned on Tish sometime later in the evening as they watched fireworks dazzle in the night sky that she had no idea where they were sleeping at or even where the TARDIS was.<p>

"Doctor?"

"Hmm?" He looked quite content relaxing in the grass watching the lights overhead. He had Amelia laying against him and Yumo snoring on his feet.

"Where are we sleeping tonight?"

"I've got a tent. Why sleep in a TARDIS when you can mingle with the natives?" the Doctor questioned her with a grin. "Why?"

"She needs bed soon." Tish brushed a strand of hair back off of Amelia's face. The girl stirred briefly and turned her face into the Doctor's chest.

The Doctor scowled lightly, "Jack said she needed a bedtime too."

"As much as it pains me to say – and believe me, it does pain me – Jack's right. Well, at least for normal days." Tish added when the Doctor's face fell. "Say, days when nothing interesting happens, day's you are in the TARDIS at bedtime. Normal days; which I know are few and far between with you, but still. As a general rule try for the same time."

"Time is relative in a TARDIS." the Doctor tried sulkily.

"Yeah, I know." Tish patted his shoulder companionably, "But you understand what I mean."

"Yes. I do." He shook his head and smoothed Amelia's hair like Tish had. "It's dull, boring and not very adventure-y though."

"Parenthood is a different adventure."

"It's not parenthood." He protested. "It is an illegal temporary guardianship…Of sorts."

"Sure it is." Tish giggled. "Anyway; Tent?"

He scooted out from under Amelia and Yumo and dug through his pockets producing a small box like object. The Doctor then placed it on a clear spot of ground.

"I hope you don't expect us to sleep in that."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, sending her a smug look, as he pulled out his Sonic and pointed it at the small box.

Instantly as the Sonic whirled it grew in size and didn't stop till it was the size of a normal camping tent. Of course, it still didn't look like it would fit the three of them and an Uval easily.

"Doctor, I don't think we'll fit into that." Tish applauded his attempt but was sceptical.

"Oh just go in already." He stuck the sonic back in his pocket and tucked his hands in, grinning an 'I know something you don't'' grin.

Tish crouched, pushed the tent flaps aside and stepped in. Instantly she stood up and looked shocked.

It wasn't a tiny tent inside like she'd expected; it was about as big inside as her bedroom at her flat and a small door to the side indicated there was another room attached. In the centre of the room a small blown up mattress sat covered in various blankets and pillows.

She ducked back out again and looked at the Doctor, shock written on her face; "It's—!"

"Small? I know." He shook his head and tried to look sad. "I use to have a bigger one, but Jo stole it."

"Jo! Jo as in-?"

"Grant, actually. But she pocketed it after a very unfortunate misadventure with a woman who shared her nick-name, a misbehaving TARDIS and some very grumpy natives." He looked sulky now. "The two ganged up on me and then my Jo took the tent when she went off to get married. Well, at least I did get a copy of the other Jo's book."

Tish watched him for a few seconds, just staring in awe.

"What?" He wiped at his face self-consciously.

"You know J.K.R?"

"Well enough that she insulted my capes for an entire weekend, yes."

"Please! Next thing you'll be saying you know Douglas Adams." Tish scoffed.

The Doctor studied his feet and went back to where they'd been resting on the grass; "He over hyped that restaurant."

Tish stumbled and stared at him, but he offered no other insights.

"Is there anyone you don't know?"

"Ask your sister about Shakespeare." He smirked then knelt to nudge Amelia. "Wakey, wakey Pond."

"' m 'wake." She mumbled and sleepily rubbed at her eyes.

"No you're not. And here I thought we were going to be watching fireworks." He made his voice sound deliberately sulky.

"' m sorry." Amelia yawned and sat up. "I'm awake."

He laughed at her and helped her to her feet. "Just in time for bed, yes, you're awake."

"I don't have a bedtime anymore. Do I, Doctor?" She wobbled a bit, unsteady on her feet still.

"Yup. Now we do. That's Tish's job. She gets to take care of us." the Doctor led Amelia into the tent and bounced in place, laughing at her reaction.

"It's like the TARDIS!" She said in awe.

"It's more like my pockets, but yup."

"What's through there?" she touched the door surprised one was inside a tent. Davy Wilkes didn't have a tent this cool, and he was always bragging about camping.

"Bathroom. It only has a shower though, no bathtub." He looked upset by that fact.

"Bedtime." Tish tapped Amelia on the shoulder. "Did anyone think to bring bedtime things?"

"Like what?"

"Pyjamas, toothbrush, shampoo, story book." Tish listed.

He dug through his pockets, depositing handfuls of odds and ends onto the floor before he produced a tourist size bottle of mouthwash and a miniature book covered in strange symbols.

"This will have to work," Tish grabbed the mouthwash but hesitated over the book. "What is that?"

"This is the first book of the church of the Saint Monica handed out by her followers on Wollozarm. No, we can't go there."

"Why not?"

"They sort of want to sacrifice me for being a heathen."

"What is she the saint of?"

"I…" he paused, thinking. "I don't know. Ace wouldn't let me listen to their spiel. She muttered about cults and stupid people and next thing I knew the two of us were running for our lives so we wouldn't be dipped in a vat of radioactive material!"

"I'm just going to nod and smile until you make sense." Tish commented.

He smiled innocently, "I think I've had companions before with that mindset. They general end up dizzy and with facial cramps."

Tish ignored that bit. "What do we do about pyjamas?"

"What's wrong with sleeping in your pants?"

"Doctor, I'm not sharing a bed with you unless you have trousers on." He wasn't sure if she was angry or just messing with him, but decided not to risk it either way.

"T-shirt's and pants?"

Tish shook her head and disappeared into the bathroom, looking into the closet.

"How young of companions have you had?" She yelled a minute later.

"Why?"

She reappeared with a nightshirt that was rather short. "How young or how…free of a companion did you have?"

"She wasn't free – well, not THAT free, we weren't the only two here -, or young. Well, at least not Amelia-young. She was just short." He said with a blush. "And don't ever call her short or she'll hurt you."

* * *

><p>Later that night...<p>

* * *

><p>Tish awoke to that familiar annoying ringtone that signified Martha was calling. The moment she'd heard it Tish had stuck it in her phone and Mickey's; <em>'Calling Dr. Jones'<em> was just too great a song not to apply to Martha.

She withdrew an arm from under Amelia, dislodged the sleeping Yumo and shuffled the Doctor aside to grab her phone from her nearby trousers. She'd given up trying to find sleeping gear, stuck Amelia in the nightshirt and stole the Doctor's button up shirt for bed.

He was currently snoring in his undershirt, trousers and bowtie.

"Hello?" She answered, clearing her throat to sound coherent but low enough not to wake the others.

_"Tish? Where are you?"  
><em>

"Martha?" Tish blinked and looked at the time on her mobile it said 9am. The lack of light outside disagreed.

"What's wrong?"

_"I can't find you anywhere; no one's seen you at work. You've got Vince calling me desperate because his secretary __hasn't shown up!"  
><em>

"Oops." Tish winced. "I forgot to call in. I'm home sick."

_"You are not!" _Martha snapped._ "I'm standing in your kitchen!"  
><em>

"Er…I can explain that." Tish thought quickly trying to come up with an excuse. Unfortunately for her the Doctor chose that moment to roll over and use her as a pillow.

She gasped as he knocked the air out of her with his movement and hissed down at him. "Do you mind? I'm on the phone!"

_"Who are you talking to? What are you up to?" _Martha's worry was evident in her tone. _"Where are you?"  
><em>

Tish scowled and decided to have a bit of fun with her sister. "If you must know I'm currently in bed – half naked - with a very attractive half naked man, a very pretty girl and another boy who can't seem to keep his paws off of me."

Martha gasped in shock. _"Leticia Jones!"  
><em>

"What? You asked. More specifically? I'm in a bed in a tent in a field somewhere. No, I'm not being vague; I'm not sure on the where. He drove."

_"Tish, are you in trouble? Are—"  
><em>

"I'm FINE. I was asleep, and then you called. Late night, I guess." Amelia started to stir and make noises. Tish smoothed her hair back and hushed her quietly. "Can I call you back in a little while when we're all awake?"

_"Tish, mum's upset and worried something horrible has happened!"  
><em>

"Nothing horrible has happened. Well, I do have to apologize to Jack, but… I'll call you back!"

Before Martha could protest Tish turned her phone off and tossed it back onto her trousers.

"She's not going to be happy about that." the Doctor commented softly.

Tish giggled. "Yes, but after all the mystery and intrigue she puts us through I think I'm allowed a little bit of mind screwing."

The two were quiet for a little while before Tish spoke again.

"How long are the days here?"

He was quiet and she thought maybe he'd fallen back asleep but after a few moments he answered. "Thirty-six hours. I guess I should have mentioned that."

Tish laughed quietly. "That explains why Amelia and I were tired and why Martha's calling."

"I'd apologize, but my hearts wouldn't be in it."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Sorry, yet another slower paced chapter that I'm told has character development which is 'important'...<em>IT is!<em> Yeah well...If all goes to plan We'll have another chapter up this weekend. _Things will speed up again soon I hope! _Oh and for those of you curious Martha's ringtone on Tish's phone is: "Doctor Jones" by Aqua]**


	24. Bonus Chapter

**[AN: You know, we're not those people who beg for reviews, but we really love them when we get them. Because a while back when we were just getting started I told my partner that I'd post two - _one extra long_ - on the day we got 50 reviews I'm obliged to do that. Hope you like it!]**

* * *

><p>A whining noise awoke Tish. Why was anything whining? She didn't have any pets; her niece hadn't spent the night.<p>

The next thought that occurred to Tish was that one part of her was extremely hot while another part was very cold.

Opening her eyes she blinked to clear the blurriness. Amelia was snuggled up on her left side, arm flung across her middle. Well, being her pillow accounted for being too warm but…

She sat up just a bit craning her neck to look and found what was making her cold; the Doctor was curled up, sprawled across the covers with his upper body using her stomach as a cushion.

"Do you mind?" Tish tried to sit up and dislodge him "Wake up, sleepyhead."

"Not sleeping." He replied easily. "I'm just comfy."

"Well go be comfy somewhere else." Tish shoved him lightly, untangling herself from Amelia and pushing Yumo aside.

He hopped to his feet with near Gymnast precision, she would have been impressed if he hadn't overbalanced, and tripped on the clothing they'd placed aside before falling onto his butt.

"Way to go." Tish fake applauded him then climbed to her feet, giggling as Yumo hit the floor with a thump and kept snoring.

"I meant to do that." He straightened himself as she passed him heading for the restroom.

"Uh huh, sure you did. Wake up Amelia."

He grinned, opened his mouth wide and inhaled deeply before-

"Nicely!"

He deflated, let out a breath and looked sulky for a few moments. Nice was all a matter of perspective, wasn't it?

He grinned and with a running start leapt onto the bed like a child.

* * *

><p><em>She ran, feet pounding against the metal, terrified. Her breath came in short gasps as she fumbled down hall after hall. She was surrounded by cold steel, nothing to lead her but harsh bright lights over head.<em>

_She was lost, running with no fixed destination, dizzy and alone; so terribly alone._

_She didn't know what was chasing her, but she heard screams in the distance and that spurred her to run faster. The screams sent cold chills through her burning muscles. She didn't know who was screaming or why but she felt she had to help them._

_She stopped, tears streaming down her face, desperately out of breath, legs and stomach on fire. She couldn't stop for now, why couldn't she stop? She spun in circles trying to orientate herself but all it did was make her dizzier than before._

_A hand reached out of nowhere, grabbed hers tight._

_"This way!" A voice said urgently._

_As she went to look at the owner of the hand she was jolted awake._

The Doctor grinned bouncing on the bed tossing her into the air a bit, "Wakey-wakey!"

She frowned and rubbed her eyes once she'd stopped bouncing, "Doctor?"

"Who else would I be?"

"I dunno." She yawned, vestiges of the dream fading from her mind. "Why'm I scared?"

"I don't know." He pressed a hand against her forehead, "Probably just a nightmare. Know what the best fix for a nightmare is?"

"What?"

"Custard for breakfast."

* * *

><p>Tish exited the restroom feeling more human, but in desperate need of a coffee. Her hair was brushed, teeth...needed a toothbrush but mouthwash had worked temporarily.<p>

She discovered the main room empty and frowned.

A note was stuck on the bed messily done in crayon.

"_'Gone to acquire breakfast through probable highly questionable means, be back soon.'_" She laughed at the note.

She was in the midst of fixing the bed and digging through their shopping bags for clothes when her phone rang.

_'Doctor Jones, Jones, calling Doctor Jones' _it sang annoyingly cheerful.

Tish sighed, closed her eyes, counted to five and answered.

"Hello, Martha."

_"Tish, where are you?"  
><em>

"Same place I was when you last called." Said Tish simply.

_"That doesn't answer anything!"_ Martha said anger in her tone. _"You're 'in a tent in a field somewhere'. That really doesn't spark any confidence!"  
><em>

"I'm definitely almost certain that we're in a campground of sorts." Tish thought about the tents that were pitched up all around.

_"That doesn't help either!"  
><em>  
>Tish was temporarily distracted by the Doctor and Amelia entering again, arms full and Yumo at their heels.<p>

"Where've you two been?"

_"What?"  
><em>

"Not you. Hold on."

"Getting breakfast." the Doctor replied dropping the bags down onto a small table off to the side of the room.

Tish eyed the bags and watched Amelia pull out a tub of frozen custard. "That's not breakfast."

"Yes it is." He protested.

_"Tish!"  
><em>

"Sorry, sorry, distracted. Apparently their idea of breakfast is frozen custards and chips." Tish muttered.

_"I don't know if I trust who you're with, Tish. They don't sound...You don't even know where you are!"  
><em>

"Look, Martha, It's my choice who I want to spend my time with and what they- hold on." Tish moved the phone away a bit and yelled at the Doctor who seemed to be trying to fit her trousers over his own. "Oi! Stay out of my trousers, I'm on the phone. You can have your shirt back in a minute."

_"Tish!"_ Martha yelped.

"What? Oh come on, you've done worse I'm sure and -Hey! Those are mine thanks, you wouldn't look good in them...No it wasn't a challenge! Can I please call you back? I've got one person trying to get into my trousers and another trying to figure out how to get the other out of them."

She listened to Martha's yells and watched Amelia and the Doctor topple to the ground in laughter and decided on a plan.

"Martha, I've got things to do, people to see – not necessarily in that order or word placement. I'll call you back later, I promise! I'm nearly certain nothing bad will happen to me."

Amelia and the Doctor both started yelling overtop of one another trying to be heard. She heard something about 'angels', 'Luke' and 'Demanshi' among denials.

_"I told you that mum's worried sick!"_

"Tell her I'm fine but have no desire to talk on the phone, half naked while two people fight with my trousers."  
>Martha's yell was cut off as she shut the phone.<p>

"Must you two do that while I'm on the phone?" she asked the laughing two, both a bit red laughing on the bed.

"Yes. Yes, we must!" the Doctor declared.

Tish sighed, snagged her trousers from the floor and pulled them on. "Did you two actually go out dressed like that?"

"What's wrong with how we're dressed?" he climbed to his feet and went to dig through the bags.

They were both still in what they'd slept in the night before; the Doctor in crumpled trousers, an undershirt, a sideways bowtie and flipped braces; Amelia in the borrowed nightgown; both of their feet muddy from the lack of shoes.

"You look like hippies." She shook her head, "Or maybe vagrants."

"What's that?" Amelia asked curiously. She'd followed the Doctor and was looking in the bags as well.

"A hippy is a…Unconventional person who dresses weirdly and lives outside. A vagrant is…about the same, but they're mostly unwilling."

Amelia frowned, "Like those people on TV that hold signs?"

"Sort of." Tish agreed with her assessment. She stared at the cartons the Doctor was pulling out of the bags.

"Oh, no…"

"What?" he looked at her over a carton of frozen custard, a sweet and innocent expression on his face.

"That's not breakfast."

"I got veggies too." He protested.

Tish grabbed the take out container from Amelia, opened it and sighed, "Chips aren't veggies."

"When doused in vinegar and ketchup they are." He argued.

"Did you get anything else?"

"Milk," Amelia reached into the bag –so far that it couldn't be a normal bag – and produced a small container of milk and another carton, "And something I can't pronounce."

The Doctor tried to tell her what it was, but his mouth stuck shut with Custard.

Tish didn't think she wanted to know. The carton contained small skewers of multi-coloured items of various size and shape.

"Is that…No, I don't want to know." Tish shook her head and tugged Amelia to sit down on the bedding with the Doctor and herself, "For future reference, Doctor? Breakfast is…Eggs, toast, sausage, oatmeal, weetabix or any other cereal."

"Humph, I've tried oatmeal. It's disgusting and all lumps and bland and…" he made a face.

* * *

><p>On Earth they would have made quite a sight walking around; Amelia in her bright multi-coloured ever changing tunic of pinks and blues, yesterday's trousers and shoes; The Doctor in his usual wear – slightly more rumpled – and his neon bowtie, he'd refused to wear socks because they were 'loose!'; Tish in her badly wrinkled jeans and another tie-dye shirt that swirled in nearly every colour of the rainbow; a strange bright blue prancing dog-impersonator who was sporting a bright attempt at a ribbon as well, though he looked less dashing in neon-pink.<p>

To Tish's amusement and amazement when she'd done Amelia's hair back into a braid the Doctor had requested she do his hair to. Whether he was being serious or not he was now sporting partially braided hair that lay tight to his scalp. He looked utterly ridiculous with tuffs standing up here and there amongst the attempted French braid; then again everything 'ridiculous' he loved so…

"This has got to be the weirdest group I've been in since that fancy dress party back when I was 16." Tish commented as they walked along, Amelia in between the two of them holding onto Tish's hand.

"There's nothing wrong with this group." the Doctor sniffled quite clearly offended. "Really."

"Doctor, we blind passersby, we've got a bright blue space dog, you're wearing braids and I'm pretty sure we all need ironed." Tish tugged one of his tuffs of hair that stuck up.

He ducked away from her hand and scowled as he nearly tripped over the Uval.

Amelia giggled and tugged at Tish's hand, "I want to go see the games."

"Ah, over priced games at which you have next to no hope of winning anything because they're usually rigged in some way or another. Then again, Leo did once win a giant bear because he shot it with an arrow…" Tish said nostalgically while ignoring the tugs.

The Doctor and Amelia both sent her pleading looks, the Doctor had his lower lip stuck out and eyes widened.

Tish cocked her head and considered Amelia's pouting face – like she'd say no to carnival games. "Amelia, widen your eyes about 3%, lower lip in about 5% farther, furrow your eyebrows together a bit…there you go, better pouting face. Use that next time you want anything from the Doctor." She paused looking at the Doctor, "You're on your own. Let's go then. The Doctor here can win me a teddy bear."

* * *

><p>The Doctor reflected that it was probably a good thing he had expandable bags after he did indeed succeed at winning a rather big stuffed adipose toy – Near Amelia in height – along with several other things the girls had won.<p>

"You know, I'm a little surprised." Tish told him.

"By me being good at carnival games?"

"No. By Martha's stories."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, to hear her tell it we'd usually be under attack or running for our lives by now."

Amelia giggled, "She's right. I'm surprised too."

"Hey, not everyone in the universe wants to kill me." the Doctor whined as he kicked dirt with his shoes.

"I don't and Amelia doesn't, so I think that's a good portion of the universe." Tish said.

"Oi!"

"Oh, look!" Amelia pointed to a flower stall nearby and drug Tish to it. There were flowers of every shape, size and colour all bursting in bloom in neatly arranged bundles. Some looked like those found on Earth, others Tish couldn't have dreamed up.

"Beautiful." Tish agreed tracing a petal of a big pink flower.

The Doctor made a face like a cat smelling something bad and stuck his tongue out. "No. Too many fragrances. Not pretty."

"You're such a boy." Laughed Tish.

"So?"

Amelia followed the Doctor and sniffed one of the flowers: a giant blue flower that looked like an Iris. Her face got red near instantly and she sneezed loudly and violently.

Faces all over nearby turned to face them, looks of horror on their faces.

"Uh oh…" Tish said slowly, moving to grab Amelia as they watched a few advance.

* * *

><p>"Look, how was I supposed to know that those blue flowery things were apparently sacred?" the Doctor whined.<p>

Tish scoffed, "You're the Universe travelling expert!"

"I'm cold…And itchy." Amelia stated.

Due to their sacrilegious actions they'd been sent to "think about their sin" in the local jail. While it was perfectly normal temperature wise for a Junbarian it was NOT suitable for a human at about 40f.

The three were all handcuffed in front of them sitting on various benches with their feet cuffed to the floor "Just in case". Apparently an allergic reaction to flowers counted as a horrid sin. Yumo curled up next to Amelia with a small woof earlier and hadn't moved.

"This is your fault." the Doctor told Tish.

"How is it my fault?" She demanded.

"You said 'usually by now something bad would have happened' and something bad happened. Law of logic states it's your fault."

Tish glared at him. "You keep talking like that and I won't unlock you."

"How do you propose to do that? My Sonic was put in the bags which are outside our reach, if you hadn't noticed."

"I became a bit more Genre-savvy after that year." Tish said smartly.

She reached up as best she could and grabbed her cross necklace.

"Sure, religion will save us. Is that in this genre?" He said sarcastically.

Tish ignored him, twisted the bottom of the cross and pulled producing a 3 inch long blade. "No, but this will."

He looked utterly shocked, "How'd you do that? Why would you have that?"

"Well, it's good for picking locks if nothing else." She mimicked her earlier sarcasm as she bent double to work on the cuffs that held her feet to the floor. "I told you, I learned a lesson that year. I've never hurt anyone but I have let myself into Martha and Leo's on occasion."

It took a few moments and some cursing but Tish did get her feet undone.

"Well done, but how are you going to do your hands?" the Doctor – though loathe to admit it – was quite curious.

"I'm not. Well, not with this thing anyway and not my hands."

She stood and walked over to Amelia, kneeling in front of her. "Hands?"

Amelia sniffed, face still red and still feeling dizzy and a bit sick but held out her hands.

Tish set to work on her cuffs with less cursing and more care. Having done it once before she sort of knew what she was doing. When they came off with a clank Amelia and Tish both smiled.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Amelia, sonic me please." Tish said cheekily, holding out her hands.

Amelia dug through her pocket and produced her tiny pink sonic.

"Oh…That's cheating." the Doctor proclaimed, "That's way beyond cheating and into 'not fair' category."

"You're just upset you didn't think of it first." Tish rubbed her wrists where the cuffs had been.

Amelia undid her feet then opened the Doctor's.

"Not true." Okay, so it was true; she didn't need to know that, did she? He leapt to his feet and grinned his manic grin, "Ready Pond, Jones?"

"Depends." Tish's voice was calm with a hint of 'you're forgetting something..

"On what?"

"Are you actually going out there without your sonic and with no plan?"

"No, I'm getting those any-argh!"

"Oh, and with your feet still done up?"

"My body may be wounded, "he said into the stone floor, "But my pride is still intact."

"Ego maybe." Both girls laughed at him.

The sneaking out of the jail didn't work near as well as it could – or should – have. To start with the cell doors opened quite loudly and with shrieking noises that signified they needed oil.

Then when presented with a cold floor to run on Yumo had howled his protest. Of course the Doctor then felt the need to hush him – quite loudly. Between that and the sonic setting off the lights in a bright explosion it was no wonder the local PC's had caught on to them escaping.

"We've got to go!" Tish urged him.

"I'm working on it." His sonic was indeed buzzing as he worked on the door alarm system while muttering to himself.

"River'd have us out by now." Amelia said; her statement was made a bit less than goading by the fact she was sniffling and lisping.

"Oi!" he glared at her half-heartedly, "Shush that! I'm more skilled than River would ever be even in her wildest dreams!"

"I want to meet this 'River'." Tish decided.

"No, you don't…hah! Gotcha." The door opened without any noise exposing another long hallway.

"Oh, fun." Tish figured there would be lots of running involved, but still!

"GET BACK HERE!" one of the PC's yelled chasing them, her partner not far behind.

"I'd rather not." the Doctor's tone was innocent as he slammed the door behind him and locked it.

"How long will that stop them?" Tish asked as they ran.

"Oh, only until they remember they have the pass codes." He said, grabbing Amelia's hand.

The doors made a noise signifying they were unlocking and slid open behind them as they rounded a corner.

"So about a minute then?" Tish tried to keep pace with Yumo wriggling in her arms, but it was quite difficult.

"Actually it was 45 seconds."

"Don't be literal."

"I'm a Time Lord! I can't help it when it comes to times." He found himself facing three doors, "Well, any guesses which ones lead to certain death?"

"Tish, don't be grumpy." He scolded her opening all three and taking a rough guess. "Well, I see bunk beds, bathroom stalls and a hallway. I say we go the hallway route."

"Brilliant deduction, Einstein." She muttered running after him again.

"You know, you'd think they'd not build these like a maze." He said conversationally.

"How do you talk while running?" Amelia demanded of the two, clearly running out of breath.

"Practice!"

Tish's phone started ringing as they tried to find the way out of the maze like building.

"What, no song?" the Doctor asked.

"That'd be Leo." Tish dug through her pocket one handed and produced her old mobile, "What?"

_"Tish, where are you?" _Leo demanded.

"What? Why do you need to know?" Tish's voice was breathy as she ran. People were so not designed to run, talk and breathe at the same time.

_"What are you doing? You sound out of breath."  
><em>

"I am out of breath!"

"Argh, Tish!" the Doctor stumbled over a cleaner's cart and grabbed her to pull himself up. Tish yelped and helped him to his feet again.

_"The hell is that?" _

"Nothing! Leo, I've got to go." Tish told him.

_"Tish, are you-?" _Leo sounded aghast.

"Going to have to call you back!" she clicked the phone shut muttering, "Pervert."

God, how did he run and talk at the same time?

They hit a second dead end; it felt like they were running in circles but instead of stone they were now running on wood they had to be getting somewhere.

The halls around them were now painted yet clearly still held the grain of wood and were stained a different colour like how Aunt Sharon's fiancée made his tables. The walls looked wet still and there were buckets everywhere.

"Ah…One way out…" he spun in circles looking around trying to find another route besides the door that led to what appeared to be an office.

The PC's approached, huffing heavily trying to catch their breath.

They looked strange to Amelia. They were a royal purple colour with four arms – which wasn't the strange bit – the odd bit was they were only about her height and the Doctor said they were full grown adults. They had one eye – like the Cyclops she saw on TV! – and carried what looked like squirt guns; the kind Rory had!

"Stop, now!" the woman said, trying hard to keep standing. Apparently Junbar's residents weren't made for running.

"We did stop." the Doctor said, still looking around. Tish was getting dizzy watching him spin.

"You will submit to punishment!" The man said, gun pointing at the Doctor.

Amelia was wracking her mind trying to remember why the shiny wet walls were important with guns, but she couldn't remember! The fumes were making her head even more swimmy then it already was.

"No, I don't think so." the Doctor grinned at them backing up to the door pulling Amelia and Tish with him. He shoved Amelia behind him into the office and tugged Tish back as well.

"You WILL submit." The man growled and armed his gun.

"No…" the Doctor pointed his sonic at the gun.

Amelia remembered what it was, "Doctor, NO!"

But she was a few seconds to late. The Doctor pressed the Sonic and sent something at the man's gun. The two hit and like usual when an electric appliance was messed with sparks flew. Sparks from the gun hit the liquid from the buckets and the hallway became consumed in flames.

The Doctor looked shocked as he jumped backwards. He slammed the door to the hallway and looked at the two of them in shock. Tish tried not to laugh when she noticed he looked like a character in the cartoons who had something explode; complete with missing eyebrows.

"Didn't mean that to happen. You tried to stop me." He poked Amelia and went to examining the walls, "How'd you know not to do that?"

"Aunt Sharon's fianceé Henry has a shop where he and his dad make things. He made a really nice table that had stuff carved on it." Amelia told him. Her words were a bit slurred and lisping, but her point was gotten. "They rub stuff on the wood that makes heads go weird but the wood becomes shiny and dark."

"Varnish." Tish told her.

"Uh huh. It makes lots of flames. His dad told me so."

"Amelia, say 'ah'." Tish told her, crouching down to examine her.

"Ah?" Amelia opened her mouth confused.

"Huh…Doctor?"

Amelia's nose and face were red and blotchy; hives were forming. Her tongue was a bit better, but both it and her lips were far too red.

"Yeah, I know. Allergy." He dismissed her as he pried open a window with a grunt. "I've got some Blue Goo on the TARDIS that'll fix that right up."

Amelia frowned, "Like the pox?"

"No, hives are an allergic reaction. Chicken Pox is a onetime thing." Tish hugged her.

"Right, over here." the Doctor gestured them over.

Tish looked out the window and hissed in a breath. "You sure?"

"Sure of what?"

"Sure there's no other way out?"

It wasn't too far a drop, around 10 feet at best, but the drop was straight into what looked like a rather lush garden with plants and flowers.

"Well, if you want to go through flames or stay here in a slowly smokier room then yes."

"What about Amelia and Yumo?"

Tish knew she could leap but the other two…

He looked at Yumo considering something then started waving his hands in the air as if calculating. He licked his finger, held it in the air then nodded to himself.

He plucked Yumo from Tish's arms, held him out the window and dropped him.

With a loud splash and a yelp Yumo landed in the pond down below and swam to the side to shake himself off.

"Doctor!"

"DOCTOR!"

"You're next." the Doctor told Amelia.

Her eyes went wide in fear, "Nuh uh! I can't!"

"You're with me anyway." He said easily, "Take a deep breath and plug your nose."

He climbed out onto the small ledge, pulled Amelia into his arms.

"Geronimo!" He cried, with a push of his legs he sent the two falling through the air to splash down into the pond.

Amelia yelled in fright as he hauled her with him to the edge and shoved her out onto dry land.

"C'mon Jones! Water's fine." He laughed, "Deep enough to jump."

"You didn't know that before?" Amelia yelped in shock as she shook her hair to dry it a bit.

"It was an educated guess."

Tish climbed out to sit on the windowsill. Anxiously she looked between the water and the smoke.

"You can do it; it's only a 10 foot drop." She muttered to herself trying to gain the nerve to leap.

She'd never been good with heights; that was Leo's thing.

"Come on! I'm regenerating from old age down here." the Doctor goaded her.

"I'm going to thump you as soon as we're clear!" Tish yelled at him. She took a deep breath, covered her nose and jumped.

She splashed down into warm water and was covered completely. She felt her feet brush the bottom and launched herself upwards to the surface.

She gasped in air and glared at him as he laughed on the side. "Not funny."

"It's funny. Just a little." He held his fingers close together to indicate the level of funny.

"Help me out."

The Doctor reached out his hand and pulled her out of the pond onto the grass. She made a face and pulled at her shirt. The Doctor innocently reached out, reached into her shirt and produced a koi fish.

"Still not funny." Tish said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Can we keep him? We could call him Bob." the Doctor teased her.

"No. Put him back." Tish mock growled at him.

"Sorry, Bob." He tossed the fish back into the pond. "I don't think they'll chase us anymore."

They watched the fires consuming the jail and people dashing back and forth to put out the flames and let people out of the building.

"No, don't think so." Tish agreed.

"I'm wet." Amelia protested pulling at her top, "And itchy. And cold."

"Don't worry, we'll go soon." Tish told her.

"We have to see the Stellar shower first!" the Doctor complained.

"Fine, fine." Tish waved him off and held onto Amelia's hand leaving him to grab Yumo, "But we need something hot to drink and somewhere to hide and watch it.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN2: Okay, extra-long updates are fun, but don't expect them TOO often, I'm only about 5-10 chapters ahead at any given time so I have to make sure we have enough to post. But again, have fun! <em>This means you get more writing and we get closer to letting River in.<em>]**


	25. Legends, Meteor Showers and Francine

"I'm going to change." the Doctor declared as his boots squelched the whole way down the hall to what Tish supposed was his room.

"I'm cold." Amelia stated again, a hint of a whine in her voice.

"C'mon and show me where your bedroom is. I can't find anything here."

Amelia led her down several corridors to her room.

It was still a very neat and sparse room, but the drawers and closet now had lots of clothing.

"Here." Tish dug through a closet and produced a towel, "Dry off first. I'll get Yumo."

Yumo disliked the towel it seemed and spent his time howling in protest. Once dry he looked a bit like a sheep put through a perm.

"New clothes…" Tish pulled Amelia's drawers out and selected a warm pair of trousers, a normal shirt and a thick purple jumper.

"Put these on with CLEAN socks and find a pair of shoes. Dirty and wet stuff goes in your hamper, okay?"

"Okay." Amelia nodded. "Thank you."

"Come find me once you're done, I'll re-do your hair and get you some medicine. I've got to change clothes too though."

Tish left Amelia's room and had to laugh when a door appeared not 10 feet down the hall with her name on it.

"Are you helping me or leading me to a death trap?" Tish laughed.

Warm air swirled around her.

"Hey, do that again. I might dry off faster."

She got the distinct feeling the ship was laughing at her but the warm air did surround her again.

"Oh lord, I'm teasing a spaceship." Tish shook her head and located a towel in her room. "Thank you." She placed the now snoozing furball that was Yumo on her bed.

As she was drying off her phone rang again. "Oh for the love of…"

Wait…that ringtone…She cringed, "Mum…"

She hesitantly opened it; "Hello?"

_"Where are you?"_

"Currently? I'm getting dressed after an incident involving a fire, a pond and prison with the Doctor. Sorry got to put you on speaker phone while I pull a shirt on."

"_You're in your knickers in front of him!"_

"No, I'm in my room alone...Well bar Yumo, but he's just a puppy and he's snoring on the bed."

_"I don't believe that! How could you share a bed with him?"_

"Well, either you've taken to the drink or someone's listening on your end. Mum, say something loudly if it's yes and just laugh if no one's there."

_"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"_

Tish snickered, "Leo or Martha!"

_"Your sister never gave me this much trouble even when she was travelling with that man!"_

"Oooh, Martha." Tish pulled on her jeans and buttoned them up. "I've been messing with her, sorry. I should have told you first. Don't worry; I'm not in trouble or anything."

_"Yes, I have heard you were sharing a bed with THREE people!" _Tish could hear the question in Francine's tone.

"Yeah, well we were in a tent that's WAY bigger on the inside but there was only one mattress so the Doctor, Amelia, Yumo and I ended up in a big pile. There are no pyjamas in the tent so I stole his shirt, he slept in trousers and an undershirt and Amelia had someone's nightshirt."

_"I have no words! What would possess you to do this? Honestly, Leticia!"_

Oooh, full name...But was that laughter?

"Hey, she was running around in too big of clothes, hand me down sneakers and they were out of food. Honestly, mum," Tish mimicked her, "the last proper meal before I got there was fish fingers, custard and an apple; they were living off of marmalade and toast."

_"I don't want to hear about the marmalade!"_

Tish snickered as she heard Martha yell in the background. Pulling on her trousers she looked for a pair of shoes.

"Really? The Doctor dumped some on Yumo."

_"Please! I don't want to know where he put it."_

Tish was really laughing now. "Mum! You make me sound like a scarlet woman! Though he DID teach Amelia the word 'harlot' so..."

_"Tish! Not that word, please, spare your mum."  
><em>  
>Tish caught her breath as she tied her shoes. "Don't worry, I'm just babysitting. I'm not anywhere near romantically interested in him in anyway shape or form nor do I plan – or think he's planning – to fall in lust with him and think his bed is a nice place to be. I'm safe; I'll call in and check. I couldn't leave the two of them to flounder on their own. Plus, he bribed me into his car with sweets."<p>

_"I can't believe you." _There was definitely amusement in Francine's tone now.

"Oh, and get this. The girl he has? She isn't his daughter, he accidentally kidnapped her."

_"What!"  
><em>

"Yeah. Her birth name? Amelia Jessica Pond."

_"…I think I need to sit down. How could you tell me that?"  
><em>

"I thought you'd find it interesting. Don't tell anyone else though." Tish pulled on her jumper and was feeling a lot warmer now.

_"I have no words."  
><em>

"That's a first." Tish laughed, "We're getting ready to go see a 'Stellar Shower' which is apparently Diamonds trapped in an elliptical gravitational orbit around this planet. The falls that most people watch them from are sapphire. I'll send you a video!"

_"You've got WHAT on video?"  
><em>

"Man, if I were Martha I'd be a bit worried." Tish was interrupted when the door was opened slightly and Amelia stuck her head in. "Alright, I've got to fix Amelia's hair so we can go. Bye mum; Love you."

_"I love you too, Leticia. We'll talk about this more next time."  
><em>

Tish laughed, "Bye!"

"Who was that?"

"My mum. She wanted to check on me." Tish tucked her phone into the pocket on her jumper and patted the bed. "Let's get that hair fixed.

"What's it like?" Amelia asked after a little while.

"What's what like?" Tish replied combing out her hair.

"Having a mum."

Tish paused. Out of all the questions she hadn't expected that one. "Well..." She said slowly, setting the brush aside. "It's...Wow, you have to pick the hard questions."

"Sorry." Amelia said quietly.

"It's fine." Tish assured her as she started braiding her hair, weaving several strands back and forth to incorporate all her hair. "Having a mum is like sunshine."

"Sunshine?"

"Don't laugh at my analogies." Tish tapped her. She was trying to phrase it in a way that Amelia wouldn't feel upset or jealous. "A mum makes you feel warm like sunshine, but as protected as a baby with a blanket. Sometimes they can make you feel so cross you can't stand it and sometimes you just want to hug them and never let go. A mum can make a skinned knee feel better with just a kiss. When it's raining and the thunder is scaring you then your mum makes it to where you're no longer afraid."

Amelia was quiet and Tish began to fear she'd upset the girl. She tied her hair back with a hair band and waited.

"So...Like Aunt Sharon or you?"

Tish paused trying to not feel sad or flustered. "I suppose."

"The Doctor is like that too."

Tish laughed, "Yeah, he is. Alright, turn around."

As Amelia swung her feet to sit on the side of the bed Tish dug through her purse producing a small bag from within she pulled out a bottle and a small tube.

"What's that?

"This would be hydrocortisone cream and an allergy tablet." Tish held both up to show her. She opened the bottle producing a small pill and looked around for a glass. Spotting an older glass of water she held out both the pill and the cup. "Open."

Amelia held out her hand and obediently swallowed the pill.

"Right, next up." Tish rolled up her sleeves and opened the tube.

* * *

><p>The Doctor paced around the console room alternately rubbing his hands through his drying hair and pressing buttons on the main console without any real intent. One thing he hated –well, maybe not hate...disliked - about female companions – and Jack - was the fact that if they had to change they took HOURS.<p>

Okay, so it'd been 45 minutes but still! He'd changed in that time hadn't he? Changed, tinkered, found a dust pocket under the console AND changed again.

It's not like it took that long to change, there weren't that many details...wait...girls...Earth girls...

He looked up at the ceiling contemplating trying to figure out why changing would take that long.

The more he thought about it the more he was confounded.

"I might have to do a study on this." He said.

"On what?" Tish asked coming down the stairs to where he sat.

He jolted and his feet fell off the console as he sat up quickly. He spun to face Tish, "A study on why females take so long to get dressed. I'd say it was human females but Nyssa took ages as well. What've you done?" he poked Amelia's face, which was covered in parts by a thin pale white cream.

She moved out of reach and frowned, "Tish put stuff on my face to stop it itching."

"Well, I suppose it will do until the shower is over and we can use the Blue Goo. Let's go!"

Amelia and Yumo were first out the TARDIS, Tish and the Doctor not far behind.

"What conclusion did your scientific mind come to about why females take so long to get dressed?" Tish queried as they left.

The Doctor tried to look innocent. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Tish laughed, "Purely scientific without any consequences of me hitting you, for now."

"Ah." He thought it over then nodded, "Currently I believe it has to do with corsets."

"Hmm." Tish nodded, "I'd say I agree, but that theory's wrong for 21st females, sorry."

"What?" His face fell.

"Mhm, a majority of Earth Females don't wear corsets anymore. Form a new hypothesis, study some more and try again." Tish patted his back consolingly.

* * *

><p>They ended up drinking giant mugs of hot chocolate sitting just outside the TARDIS on a Cliffside. The PC's it appeared weren't going to let a burned down jail deter them from arresting the sacrilegious menaces.<p>

So here, safely ensconced on a Cliffside a few hundred feet in the air they relaxed in the evening breeze as the sun set.

"How long until it starts?" Amelia asked, sitting cross-legged on a blanket, Yumo sleeping on her feet.

"About half a hour." the Doctor said, "Give or take."

"I should have brought a magazine." Tish mused. She pulled out her new phone – purchased at the tech booth—and began figuring out how it worked.

"Doctor," Amelia said a few minutes later, "What causes the Stellar showers?"

He grinned brightly, "Yes! I knew there was a reason I liked you, Pond. The Stellar showers are caused by a giant explosion – an asteroid and the space station built into it – a few thousand years ago. The resulting debris burned at such a high heat that the glass and steal that made up the station crystallized when combined with a local storm surge. Those particles were sent whirling out into space and were caught up in an elliptical orbit around this planet and a blank stretch of empty space."

"Oh." Amelia took a drink of her hot chocolate and filed the information away, "Why does this one last so long?"

"Because it's the last one. The diamonds have been swirling for so long they've gotten spread just a bit adding other debris and they'll swirl for days above the planet this time and will – thanks to time and decay – completely disappear at the end."

"Won't they see that as a bad sign?" Tish asked, looking up from programming her phone.

"On the contrary, many will break down weeping with joy, scholars will rejoice, their priests will celebrate!" he had so much enthusiasm in his voice the girls couldn't help but laugh with his glee.

"Okay, you've told the scientific reason, so now tell us local legend, including why they rejoice." Tish prodded him.

"What makes you think there's another legend?"

"Because there always is. Volcano's erupt due to lava build up under the crust, yet locals use to believe it was divine intervention by Gods to punish them."

"I rescind my wish to leave you behind." the Doctor stated.

"Thanks?"

"Okay," the Doctor settled back on the blanket getting comfortable, "Gather round friends – and Yumo – and I'll tell you of the Diamonds in the sky of Junbar."

Tish moved from her spot so she was closer to the others now, sitting with Amelia leaning against her.

"Once, very long ago a family lived. There was the Father – a brave soldier; the mother, a beloved teacher; the Child, a confused warrior; and the Good Wizard, the family's protector. Now, they travelled for a long time taking care of worlds, saving planets, toppling dictatorships and fixing wrongs. But the evil Empress of the asteroid decided she didn't like them because they could stop their evil plans. She hatched a, well, evil plan to not only protect herself, but to defeat all the family once and for all.

"She kidnapped the Mother, envious of the child that grew inside her and imprisoned her inside the asteroid. The Father, who once had laid down his sword, picked up the sword and donned his armour once again in defence. The Good Wizard formed an army to go save his friend – some reports say she's his sister, some say his best friend, others still say mother."

"Why would she steal a baby?" Amelia worried.

"Listen." the Doctor chided her lightly.

"Sorry."

"Anyway...The Child, such a confused little warrior – some reports say she was a literal child not yet in her teens, others say it was metaphorical and she like the others was hundreds of years old – took up the sword and brought a second army to war. They arrived at the asteroid only to find the infant was already born. The Good Wizard in anger realized he could kill everyone there, but instead he tricked all the soldiers into giving up their lives to his warriors.

"But, there were more than soldiers there that day. The legend is a bit fuzzy on the next bit with dozens of accounts, but what's generally agreed upon is that the Mother was rescued, a great battle was fought against the Empress's most evil monsters and the Infant was taken."

"Oh no." said Tish, "You didn't say it was a sad story!"

"Keep listening!" the Doctor rolled his eyes, "Now, where was I..."

"The Infant got taken." Amelia prompted him.

"Right! The Infant was taken away by the evil Empress and she called it 'Hope', no I don't know if it was male or female, no one does. The Mother wept mothers' tears of sorrow. The Father wept soldiers' tears, unable to protect his family. The Child cried for the Infant, for the Mother, for the Father and for the army who fought.

"The Good Wizard with his magic fastened all their tears into diamonds and the Father used his sword to send them into space so that they may search amongst the stars and plants for their lost baby. They hold a father's strength and hope and the a mothers prayers so that they bless everyone they pass over. Any child born during the shower is considered blessed.

"For thousands of years those diamonds have searched for the Infant throughout the universe and this week is the last shower ever. This week the diamonds stop searching," the Doctor lowered his voice trying to sound mysterious, "This week, under the Diamond Stellar Showers on the Sapphire cliffs of Junbar the Mother, the Father, the Child, the Good Wizard and the Infant are all reunited, together for the first time in 4000 years in the glow of the Diamonds."

Tish sniffled back tears, "That's beautiful!"

"It's a fairy tale." the Doctor said, arms wrapped around the sniffling Amelia.

"We all are." Amelia told him, "River said so."

"Don't take her side." the Doctor warned her putting on a serious face.

"Well, every fairytale has a grain of truth." Tish said as she wiped her eyes.

"True." the Doctor admitted. "Look, it's starting."

Tish grabbed her phone and pressed record, pointing it towards the sky for her mother.

"Oh, wow." Amelia said breathlessly.

In the sky lights swirled. The indigo sky had before been cloudless with just a few stars showing but now it was a dazzling array of colours.

Bright yellow streaks mingled with purple clouds of mist; Blinding white lights whizzed by, leaving bright pink lights sparkling in their wake. Bursts of colour seemingly exploded in the sky in blues and whites so brilliant it was like watching a firework display.

They were so entranced by the lights overhead that none of them noticed the crack that pulsed menacingly in the cliff below them.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>We forgot to update, oops.<em> Well, I was ambushed by monkeys last night -_ she means nieces and nephews_ - yeah... So I got distracted. _Anywho, new story!_ I love fairy tales. They're just brilliant."**


	26. Royal weddings and childhood friends

Tish rolled over and snuggled into the warm bed the TARDIS had provided her, trying her hardest not to allow her eyes to open. Her bed was so much more comfortable than her one at home, soft mattress and pillow, the bedding was a down comforter she had picked up while helping Amy shop for her room. It wrapped around her like a cocoon, nice and comfy and she was warm and did not want to move, but past experience had taught her that if she wasn't up to make the Doctor and Amelia breakfast they'd try to cook on their own. Tish shuddered a bit, the last time she hadn't gotten up in time the two had experimented and succeeded in breaking the laws of physics to create a peanut butter abomination.

The Doctor had insisted that it was not from the 5th dimension, but merely a stroke of genius. Said abomination had protested at being eaten on crackers and Tish had to deal with a rampaging glob of peanut butter and figure out how to get the two children to eat.

The past few weeks had been interesting to say the least. They hadn't been off of Junbar but maybe five minutes before the TARDIS phone started ringing. Tish ignored it trying to make sure that Amelia was okay. The girl was nearly falling asleep as she stood, sniffling and splotchy from her allergic reaction to those flowers on Junbar. Tish had attempted to help, but the pill was really meant for adults, and it had added to the girls sleepiness.

The cream she had found seemed to be helping to stop the itching, and reduce the redness but the splotches were still large and pronounced on the small child. Tish had been so busy making sure Amy was well that she almost missed the Doctor's words.

"Yes, your majesty, we'll be right there." the Doctor promised whoever was on the phone before hanging it up and bouncing around the console hitting buttons and dials as he went. Tish looked at Amy who was now sitting on the ground dozing.

"We can't go anywhere when Amelia is sick!" Tish objected, picking the small girl off the ground, the little girls arms wrapping tight around Tish's neck.

"She'll be fine for a few hours, anyway we can't say no to the Queen."the Doctor whined looking at her with puppy dog eyes.

Amelia's head popped up at those magic words "The Queen!" she exclaimed almost bouncing in Tish's arms. Tish just stared at the Doctor in amazed horror. The Doctor smiled taking her stares as a yes and ran to find a suit; They had a wedding to attend.

Tish had imagined it being some Victorian queen they went to help, or maybe some futuristic one like Amelia had mentioned; She was somewhat right on the future.

"2011? What's interesting in 2011?" Tish asked curiously as the Doctor forced her and Amelia into rather fancy and ruffled dresses.

"A royal wedding." Tish just stared in shock.

A few things soon became apparent:

**1)** The Royal family really knew the Doctor

**2)** They were prepared for him arriving

**3)** They had really cool manacles.

"C'mon, Lizzy; let me out!" the Doctor whined as he pounded on the closet door. "I'll be good!"

"That's not my name." The Queen said calmly sipping her tea and smiling at the two companions of the doctor who were sitting nearby.

"Is he in trouble?" Tish asked quietly. She and Amelia were free, but the Doctor had been quickly cuffed and stuffed in a closet labelled 'The Doctor's Room'. Amelia was clinging to Tish sniffling and silently looking at the closet where the Doctor was being held prisoner.

"No. This is just traditional greeting thanks to our ancestor's lessons." Phillip told her smiling at the two, clearly amused, "Henry XII set out orders to greet him with brandy; Queen Victoria requested we greet him with a cup of tea at sword point; Queen Elizabeth I put forth that we greet him with a slap. We compromise by shoving him in the closet till he's useful or he escapes."

"You just shove him in there?" Tish asked gently rubbing circles on Amelia's back to calm the young girl down.

"We use to give him a snack, but then he proved he could pick a lock with a banana. Tea?"

He made it out of the closet several hours later, only after bargaining with them.

"Let me out!" the Doctor whined from inside the cupboard.

"Why?" the Queen asked, obviously amused by his discomfort.

"I'll tell you about the monarchy!" the Doctor begged the pout they all could hear in his voice made all of them, even Amelia smile.

"We've already got books on our ancestors." Phillip said enjoying this as well.

"Your decedents!" he yelped as he hurt himself on something.

The royal family, Tish and Amelia exchanged looks.

"Decedents?" Came the unanimous response from all the royal family.

"Yes!"

"I met Liz Ten." Amelia said helpfully as if to bolster his side of the bargain.

Her eyes went a bit wide, "Liz ten?"

"Yes! Let me out and I'll tell you as far into the future as I know you've got to."

With a reserved air she unlocked the door and he came tumbling out, manacles around his neck like a scarf. After a few minutes of dancing around too many spoilers the Doctor finally remembered proper Earth manners.

"Oh, introductions. Horrid things. I always forget them. Of course I'm also prone to forgetting names, though I never forget a face."

"I remember the names issue." Queen Elizabeth sent the Doctor an amused look, "You called William 'Alfred' the first two times."

"Well, he looked like an Alfred. Anyhow, this is Tish, Tish meet the Queen, Lizzy meet Tish."

"Call me Lizzy one more time and you're going in the closet again." The queen glared at the Doctor.

"It's Leticia, actually. Leticia Jones, I just go by Tish." Tish said awkwardly as she extended her hand.

"I'm sure you already know who I am." She shook the offered hand, "And I see you've started your own legacy." she said examining Amelia.

"She's not my child or Donnas!" he said quickly.

"See, that sounds suspiciously specific denial." the Queen mused, a smile on her face. "Would she not be the child of the Donna I met as a child?"

"Yes." The Doctor said pouting.

"Alright." she nodded.

"We're not late are we?" Harry yelled as he ran into the room out of breath.

"We didn't miss him, did we?" William asked, obviously excited.

Tish was starting to feel very surreal, "I'm in the palace with the Royal family. I think I'm dreaming." Amelia nodded, sniffling softly and rubbing her arms.

Turned out they were needed thanks to a present sent by a neighbouring planet who's idea of wedding fare was a bit…different. "Are you SURE you don't want a self cleaning hybridized Gradaulfa? They're very cute!"

When the cream Tish had used on Amelia started wearing off it got…well, worse was a matter of opinion. Amelia being grumpy and whining caused Yumo to go off which set off the resident corgis which in turn caused a chase which set the Doctor off running which in turn caused a security scare and so on; the resulting mess would go down in royal history and result in a new greeting rule.

After the reception they were for—asked politely to meet the newest family member and tell if she could possibly be some sort of alien.

* * *

><p>"Hi, I'm Kate." Kate bent down a bit and offered Amelia her hand.<p>

Amelia looked grumpy and about to protest but Tish wrapped an arm around her comfortingly and whispered something. Amelia looked at Tish in awe and extended her hand to shake Kate's. "I'm Amelia Pond."

The room went silent in shock.

William looked between his new wife and the child and promptly started laughing.

Harry looked deeply confused before it dawned and he joined in the laughter.

"Doctor..." the Queen sent him an annoyed look that was nearly betrayed by her smirk, "I think we need to have a talk."

* * *

><p>When the Doctor suggested that they give away Yumo as a wedding gift it set Amelia off in a tantrum of epic proportions. The gist of her yelling and crying basically translated to "I'm sick, I'm itchy, I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm cranky and Yumo is mine!" of course it was nowhere near that articulate or that detailed.<p>

When the Queen found out that not only did Amelia have an allergic reaction, but a small cold starting AND she'd been up for far longer than was proper for a young child she hauled the Doctor off to a spare room. He returned looking chastened a little while later and after a round of goodbyes they left to go back to the TARDIS.

In all the running about no one realized just how badly Amelia's untreated reaction was getting. That was until she nearly collapsed as they reached the TARDIS med bay. The Doctor caught her as she fell and rushed to set her down on one of the beds. He dug through the cupboards and produced a blue substance he proclaimed to cure anything.

Being the all knowing and brilliant man he was he forgot that it was partially distilled from the same plant that caused the first reaction.

Tish had slapped him for that one but after the right stuff was found – "Hah! Pink Cream, I told you I'd fix her!" – And she finally got to sleep; Amelia was fine within a few hours, albeit a bit cranky still.

As Amelia slept that night Tish tried to get some rest as well. Of course the law of sleep dictated that the more tired you are the more likely someone will call as soon as you've drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>"What?" She snapped into the phone.<p>

_"Leticia Jones, you have some explaining to do!" _Jack yelled into the phone.

Tish gave him an idea of what he could do with himself and any questions at this hour that just gained a mostly sarcastic laugh in reply.

_"Oh yeah, REAL funny. Want to tell me why I've got a bill in the mail for £1897.25?"_

"The Doctor nicked your card; Amelia needed clothes; they were down to toast and jam; Blame him. 'M going to sleep now. Night." Tish told him.

_"Wait! You're with the Doctor?"_ Jack sounded shocked.

"Yes. Tell anyone and I hurt you severely or use your card to fund an abstinence based youth group."

_"Why're you hiding it?"_

"It's funny. Martha's having an aneurism, Leo's having a heart attack; Mum thinks it's funny. The Doctor needs a nanny; for him or for Amelia I haven't figured it out yet. If they knew he has a child they'd throw a fit. Especially if it's known WHO she is."

_"You figured that one out already?"_

"I'm not an idiot. Amelia says he took Luke too."

_"Yeah, Luke's smart enough not to mention WHO Amelia is though. Same here. I don't want to be dragged down with him if he gets in trouble."_

"Can I go back to sleep now?"

_"Yeah…Just don't use my card for such big things!"_

"Baby. I know you have enough to cover it. Just look out for a bill in 81st century."

_"What!"_

* * *

><p>A tiny roar from the side of the room prompted another reason to get up. The Doctor –feeling bad about Amelia's increased reaction and acting on an earlier idea – had stopped by the animal tent they'd been caught up with.<p>

When the girls awoke the next morning they both had presents sitting on the table.  
>Amelia was smitten and instantly forgave the Doctor when she looked into a large hamster cage and discovered two panda bears crawling about and exploring their environment.<p>

Tish was going to hold out a bit longer, but the roaring had attracted her attention and the Doctor was given a temporary pass as she watched the white Bengal tigers chase each other.  
>"I'm up." Tish gave in, as good as sleep and lounging around was, things did need to be done. "Hold your horses, George."<br>She pulled on her slippers and pulled on her robe, belting it at the waist.

Tish grabbed a box off of the shelf and opened the lid to the tigers' cage. The tiny beasts were only about six inches long, but either of them escaping could still be bad. Opening the box she pulled out two tiny chunks of what looked like dog treats; the Doctor said they worked in place of raw-meat for now. Tish dropped them in a nice clear spot and watched as the duo pounced.

George and Stanley…Amelia named George and being funny the Doctor declared one looked like a Stanley; Tish had gained a bit of revenge as now Amelia's bears were being called Bob and Flower.

She was pleasantly surprised to find Yumo wasn't underfoot, but that was halted when she found him in the hallway hiding with what appeared to be pancake mix on his head.

"Oh, Yumo…" Tish sighed and picked him up, resting him under her arm like a package as she examined his head, "I'm too late, aren't I? They're cooking."

Yumo made a whining noise at her.

"Yeah, I'll feed you too. Come on then."

Tish carried the lazy beast with her and nudged the kitchen door open.

Inside the Doctor was flipping pancakes in the air with triumph, but the mess showed that this was not his first try. There were at least three pancakes stuck to the ceiling and batter everywhere.

Amelia sat at the table egging him on and giggling as she chewed on an apple happily.

"Tish! Look what I can do!" the Doctor proclaimed as he flipped a pancake off of the skillet and onto a big pan of pancakes of…various levels of 'appetizing'.

"I see." She said slowly taking it all in. She grabbed a wet cloth off the sink and wiped Yumo. The grateful Uval gave her a lick, wiggled to get down and went to hide under the table. She grabbed Yumo's dish and filled it with dry food, sliding it to him in his hiding spot.

"We made coffee too." Amelia assured her showing her a very large cup that sat on the table.

"Thanks." Tish sat down, making sure the seats were clear first and examined the cup. "Who made it?"

"I did just like you showed me to." Amelia said earnestly, "I put two scoops into the filter thingy and then water and pressed the button. Cup got 3 spoons of sugar." She ticked the list off on her fingers. "Right?"

Tish took a deep drink and sighed happily. "Perfect."

Damn her boss for getting her hooked on American coffee in the mornings. Or, make that past boss.  
>Apparently not showing up for work for several days was cause for firing, or quitting as the case may be.<p>

He'd called up whining at her for not showing up, complaining he couldn't work the coffee pot, didn't know how to get the time on his phone and how he couldn't locate any files.

Tish was having a particularly bad moment as the Doctor had decided to cannonball into the pool from the E section and had soaked her as she tried to read and she'd responded less than nicely.

Amelia learned a new word, the Doctor informed her of the medical implications of what she said and how they wouldn't work and Tish's boss found a new secretary.

"How many of those are you planning on making?" Tish asked the Doctor as he flipped another off the skillet and onto the stack.

"A few more." The Doctor said cheerily.

"Do I want to know why you've made so many?"Tish asked staring at the large pile of pancakes nearby.

He looked embarrassed for a moment then answered cagily, "That's for me to know and you to find out er that is NEVER find out."

"He measured wrong, didn't he?" Tish said looking over to the pancake batter covered Amelia sitting on the counter nearby.

"Uh huh." The little girl nodded.

Tish grabbed one of the more appealing pancakes on a plate for her and one for Amelia. He could eat the weird looking ones.

The girls were nearly done eating and the Doctor was still trying to figure out how many he had left to go.

Amelia leaned closer to Tish and asked quietly, "Did you ask him?"

"No. Not yet." Tish whispered back, knowing full well that whispering was in vain. Damn Time Lord ears.

"Why not?" Amelia whispered her eyes darting over to the Doctor.

"I've been busy." Tish responded taking the candy bar Amelia had pulled from her pocket and replacing it with an apple.

"Have not!" Amelia glared looking at the apple sadly.

"I-"

"Why are you asking me what she won't ask me which says that she thinks puppy dog eyes won't work and therefore needs backup in asking the- what was I saying?" the Doctor grabbed a plate stacked full of pancakes and proceeded to smother them in marmalade, butter and syrup.

"Amelia wants to know if we could go see someone on Earth." Tish said carefully.

"Depends on that someone." He replied, trying to fit what looked like half of a pancake in his mouth at one time.

"An old friend of hers named Rory." Tish said smiling at the Doctor innocently.

"Nuh uh! No way." He choked down his pancake and cleared his throat, "That'll mess with timelines as she wasn't seen so she CAN'T go back."

Amelia looked upset as she scraped her fork on her plate making it squeak, "Please? Rory wouldn't ever tell anyone anything. Rory's my best friend! He'll keep it secret. Please?"

"Amelia, why don't you go and get dressed. I'll do your hair up in a minute; let me talk to the grumpy meanie alone." Tish asked.

Amelia sighed, but nodded. Placing her plate in the sink she left, calling for Yumo. The Uval looked between his mistress and the possibility of human food, let out a huff and waddled after her.

"The consequences to the time line won't change just because she's not in hearing distance." the Doctor warned Tish as he soaked his pancakes to where they were doubled in weight nearly.

"No, but my proposition will."

He froze, fork halfway to his mouth. "I'm not sure if that phrasing should terrify me or not."

"Not! You lecher, stay away from Jack." Tish shoved him and gave an annoyed huff before starting again. "I know Rory."

"You do?" The Doctor said startled.

"Hmm. He was at Royal Hope last year." Tish had to grin as the Doctor stared in shock before frowning,

"Really? I don't remember him." He said firmly.

"He was helping in paediatrics. He's not a proper Doctor yet; he's three years behind Martha actually, so he's still doing nursing tasks and a LOT of studying. Rory wants to finish school and become a full time paediatrician." Tish smiled softly as she talked about Rory causing the Doctor to roll his eyes.

"Alright Alright, What did you say his name was again?"

"Rory Williams. He's...he was the same age as Amelia. He's still at Royal Hope though." Tish emphasised continuing to smile.

"Are you friends with him, or something?" The Doctor smirked seeing the slight blush that appeared on his new companions face.

"Or something." Tish nodded, "I use to talk with him when waiting for Martha; he brought me coffee on occasion and vice versa. He's really a nice person. A lot of people laugh at him or get real distant when they realize who he is."

"Why?" the Doctor asked curiously around a mouthful of pancake.

"Because," Tish looked at him seriously, a hint of disproval on her face and in her tone, "He's that strange little boy who was best friends with 'The girl who disappeared'; he's been to 4 psychiatrists and thinks an Army man is behind it. He's got to be weird."

The Doctor frowned, "Army man?"

"Yeah, something about a WWII soldier. Anyway, that's not the point." Tish poked him. "The point is that it's Halloween."

"You can tell in the vortex?" He teased mockingly impressed.

Tish rolled her eyes, "On Earth it'd be in November or December actually, but for the sake of this argument… last time I was on Earth it was 10 days to Halloween. We can go back and let her see Rory while in fancy dress. She can wear a mask and no one will connect Amy Smith to Amelia Pond. No one will recognize her and she'll get to see her friend."

He looked contemplative as he shovelled in the last of his pancakes. "No talking to him?"

"I'll talk with him to get him to where we are and you can make sure she sees him and then we can go." Tish agreed.

He nodded, "Deal."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Sorry, a bit late today! But that's because my partner took FOUR HOURS just to look it over and tweak bits...<em>I'm not that bad! <em>Yes, you are...Now, on to the fun parts!]**


	27. Earth Invasions and Halloween plans

Amelia stared down at the letters in her workbook trying to remember what Tish had told her about the different letters, a frown came onto her face as she pointed to one of the many words she didn't know.

"Okay, what's that word?" Amelia said quietly looking over to Tish who was watching her work.

Tish looked at the word she was pointing at and smiled "Sound it out, just like we practiced." Tish said wanting the girl to read it herself.

"Ha-hu-la-"Amelia started as she tried to remember the different letter sounds.

"Hal-"Tish helped her out, smiling as the girl attempted the new word.

"Hal-ow-wen?" Amelia puzzled for a moment over the sounds, and then she said them again, and again. She kept repeated the sounds to herself for a moment before stopping suddenly, "Oh! Halloween!"

"Good job." Tish praised her and tapped the next word, "Keep going."

"Sh-oh-w. Show. Tu-tuh ma-ar-ow. Tomorrow." She kept her pen copying the words underneath on the other line as she went.

Tish found it fun teaching Amelia different things. She covered English, Reading and Writing mostly. The doctor covered all things Science and alien. Social Studies were split between them depending on the subject matter being described, and Math was taught by whoever felt like it. It was an unconventional type of school but it worked. Just after a few weeks of this system Amelia was now up to full sentences, but big words were still hard. If you let her sound them out with a little help she got them though.

"Good." Tish said as she straightened the paper out. "All together?"

"W-we are guh-Going to the Ha-Halloween show tomorrow?" Amelia guessed.

"Great job!" Tish high-fived her, "You're getting great at that."

Amelia flushed with praise, then the words she had read sank in "Are we really?"

"Yup! The Doctor agreed. We're going to Earth we're gonna get tons of sweets, visit my mum—she has something special she said -, get all done up in fancy dress, watch scary movies AND, "Tish indicated for Amelia to move closer and said conspiringly, "see Rory."

"Really!" Amelia squealed as she grabbed Tish into a tight hug.

"Really." Tish laughed, hugging her back. "There are a few rules though."

Amelia sat back and nodded enthusiastically still bouncing from the news. "What rules?"

"Rule 1: No telling anyone who you are. Rule 2: If it can be helped you're not really supposed to talk to anyone too much."

"But—" Amelia started to protest, before Tish placed a finger on the girl's lips.

"Listen." Tish said hoping the girl would abide by the rules, "Rule 3: it can't be little Rory. We're going to go see big Rory."

"Big Rory?" Amelia said confused as she looked at her nanny.

"Big Rory." Tish nodded, "As an adult."

"Wow." Amelia's eyes went wide. "I get to see him all grown up?"

"Yes."

Amelia grinned, "I got to see if he became a super hero like Spider Man!"

Tish laughed at the image of that; 'Might have to convince him to wear tights!'

* * *

><p>The Doctor dug through the wardrobe looking for a costume of sorts. Tish said if they were going to Earth on Halloween they needed to be in costume. A weird idea but why would he pass up the excuse to dress up?<p>

Tish browed another section and held out a bright patchwork coat to the Doctor, "Clown?"

"Erm, I actually wore that as the 6th me." He admitted blushing.

Tish giggled and put it back to continue looking.

Amelia rolled her eyes at the two adults, they'd been laughing at each other for ages now. Everything in here was too big for her anyway which was sort of sad. They had really cool clothes! Some looked really old and some looked like they were REALLY far into the future. She'd come across a neat white dress that looked like it was from Shakespeare's time but it was at least two feet too long.

As she dug through the racks she only halfway listened to the adults talking.

"Why do you have that?" Tish yelled holding out what looked like an old style maid costume.

Looked cool, Amelia thought.

"I don't know! I don't know why half this stuff is in here." He shrugged and took it from her. He looked it over and grinned, "Right! Martha's! You could wear it for—"

Tish whacked him across the back of his head and scowled.

He rubbed his head, turned red then pale and started rapidly apologizing.

Amelia tuned them out and disappeared further into all the clothing. Tish must not like maids, she decided.

A little later Tish found her examining a kilt, "What'd you find?"

Amelia held up the kilt, "Think we could get the Doctor into it?"

Tish laughed, "I don't think so. He's found an outfit." She said looking at the plaid item in Amelia's hands.

"Aww." Amelia hung it back up, "Did you find one?"

"Yup. I've got a French renaissance dress. I'll do my hair up and everything." Tish helped Amelia down off of the level she was on. "Laces up the back and it's very pretty."

"A dress?" Amelia thought it over and shook her head. Halfway down the aisle she voiced her concern, "Isn't that a bit girly?"

"I am a girl!" Tish followed her through the rows. "I'm allowed to be girly."

"Oh. Right."

"Did you find anything?"

"No…" Amelia left the room and went back to hers, Tish following close behind. "Everything is too big."

"That's okay. I think mum had a costume for you and if not we'll find one." Tish assured her. She had to roll her eyes at Amelia's room. The beds were made with hospital corners, the carpet perfectly clean; all the toys – she had a few more now thanks to the Doctor's find on Junbar – lined up neatly on a shelf or placed perfectly inside or on top of the toy box; any books were placed alphabetically on a small table by her bed. Clothing was kept in closets, the dresser drawers closed.

"You know, I really doubt you're this neat. How do you get her to clean up for you?" Tish inquired and patted the wall absently. She'd grown to actually believe the ship was sentient over her time.

Amelia stroked the wall as she reached up to grab a toy off her shelf, "She likes me."

"I like to think she likes me too, but I still have to clean up my clothes and counters." Tish tried to pout but couldn't help the grin as she could have sworn the ship giggled as the air warmed.

"She really likes me?" Amelia offered. "When are we going to see your mum?"

"As soon as you're dressed and ready, the Doctor's currently timing us. He's still trying to figure out exactly why girls take so long to get dressed."

"Earth?"

"Earth, 2009." Tish said.

"Normal clothes, not any from Junbar?" Amelia looked disappointed.

"Nope. Go with normal. At least for now." Tish amended, "We are going to dress up soon anyway."

Amelia pulled open one of her dresser drawers and looked contemplative, "I'll be ready in five minutes."

"Fine, but five HUMAN minutes, missy! Not five Time Lord Minutes." Tish left the room leaving a laughing Amelia behind.

"Yes, human minutes." She said to herself as she pulled out a pair of cargo trousers and held them to her chest to look in the mirror…Tish said normal for Earth, she could do normal.

* * *

><p>"Have you figured it out yet?" Tish nudged him as he messed with the console.<p>

"I have a new hypothesis." He replied pressing buttons and flicking switches.

"Oh? Am I allowed to know it?"

He looked up at her seriously through the fringe of his hair. "Garters." he said seriously. His face set in decision.

"Garters?" she repeated.

"Yes. They hold up socks and stockings. From what I recall girls use them as do very rich men." He crossed his arms and relaxed against the railing.

"I know what they are." She stifled a laugh and reclined as well. "Is that your final answer?"

"Yes." He nodded and crossed his feet.

"What are you doing?" Amelia hopped down the last few steps onto the glass platform and moved to the side as Yumo skidded down them as well, his nails making ear cringing noises on the glass as he slid to a stop.

Tish had to wonder who was doing more influencing on Amelia's clothing tastes at this point. The girl had gone "Earth style" at least. She wore cargo trousers that were dark brown, a bright red t-shirt; normal enough but for the tie-dye hair band made of different bright greens and pinks, the dirt streaked boys sneakers that were untied, her neon green wrist watch and the bright purple zip up hoodie all topped off with a man's tie - one Tish recognized - tied sloppily around her neck.

"Amelia, prove a point for me?" Tish ignored the clothing for now.

"What point?"

The Doctor scooted forwards in anticipation of his theory being proved.

"Do you wear garters?"

"What's a garter?"

Those three words caused him to deflate slightly, face falling.

"Sorry, Doctor. Try again." Tish patted him on his back.

"I've still got theories!"

"Sure, now let's get going. Mum's promised food, so don't make that face."

"Food?" He said hopefully.

"Yes, food. I believe there will be juice boxes and jell-o cups."

His face lit up once more. "Onwards to the snacks then!"

The TARDIS shook and wobble as they were sent spiraling through space and time once more.

"Come along Pond, Jones." He grabbed Amelia's hand and strolled out so full of himself that Tish had to take a moment to calm herself from laughing before she followed.

"I'm impressed." Tish smoothed her blouse down as she looked around. They'd landed in her mum's backyard; really good aim for him. Now, to hope they'd hit the right time or else her mum might hit him!

He bounded across the grass, happily crunching the fallen leaves. Amelia laughed and mimicked his movements making more noise.

Yumo made a noise and pranced at the doorway, obviously wanting to run out after them.

"Is she holding you in?" Tish questioned the Uval.

He whined at her and shifted his weight.

Tish laughed at him and hooked his leash to his sparkling green harness.

"Happy now?" she patted the wall and Yumo inched forwards. Gleeful at his newly found freedom he bounced as far as his leash and Tish's speed would let him go.

"Oh, calm down! You'd think you didn't run around all day with Amelia." Tish moved as fast as she could in her heels - which thanks to the Doctor was pretty fast - to let him roam.

"Tish!" Amelia waved her over, "You didn't tell me you lived in a big house?"

"I don't. This is my mum's house. I live in a flat across town."

"Cool."

Amelia yelped as the Doctor dumped leaves over her head as he laughed.

Soon the two were engaged in a leaf war crunching them with their hands and their boots.

Tish let Yumo off his leash and headed towards the house. The three could run around and get rid of some energy. She climbed the steps and entered the back door, "Mum? I'm here."

There was a clang of dishes in the kitchen and Francine appeared in the hall drying her hands.

"Tish!" She proclaimed holding her arms out and rushing forward.

"Mum!" Tish said with as much enthusiasm as she hugged her mum. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you. I thought you were bringing the Doctor?" Francine pulled away.

"He brought me. I promised juice boxes and jell-o cups. They're running around the backyard, trust me, them getting energy out is a smart thing." Tish looked through the windows at the group.

The Doctor and Amelia were now making a leaf pile.

"He's still got the girl he kidnapped with him?" Francine watched them and smiled, "I figured he'd have given up and found somewhere on Earth by now."

"Nah, he seems pretty committed. The blue thing is Yumo, by the way. Yes, he's an alien and a bit of a big baby but he's mostly harmless." Tish waved off the inevitable question and ignored the kidnapped comment, "Now, for the important question of the day, Mum - "

"Yes, there is Halloween sweets and popcorn balls." Francine laughed as her daughters face lit up. "Go on then, go find them. Leave some for Keisha though! She's finally old enough for me to spoil without her parents protesting the lack of teeth."

"No guarantees." Tish replied as she located the bowl.

It took a little while, but eventually the Doctor and Amelia grew tired of the leaves and trudged inside with Yumo at their heels, all three covered in leaf bits.

"Done being childish?" Tish teased them as she savored a cup of her favorite tea - a must have on the next forced shopping trip.

"Never." the Doctor replied in unison with Amelia.

Francine grabbed two more cups from the cupboard, filled them and set them on the table for the two.

"Doctor." She said in greeting, her voice impassive.

He gulped, "Mrs. Jones." His voice squeaked, "I've brought her back on time, all limbs still on, no wounds and honor intact."

"Was honor in question?" Francine asked.

"No!" Both Tish and the Doctor yelled.

She watched his face then nodded and finally smiled, "Happy Halloween, Doctor."

"Happy Halloween!" he said happily and hugged her before pulling back and kissing at both of her cheeks. Sitting down he grabbed a cup and sniffed it curiously.

Francine raised an eyebrow at Tish with an unsaid question.

Tish shrugged and mouthed back, "Just go with it."

"Right...Amelia, it's nice to see you in proper fitting clothing." Francine hugged the girl. "Your outfit is very...pretty."

"Thank you! Tish bought me new stuff."

"She dresses herself." Tish said quickly.

"Yes, yes, all kids do." Francine grabbed a plate off the counter and set it on the table, "I distinctly recall a whole month of you wearing light up tap shoes, a pink tutu and a bowler hat."

"A bowler hat?" the Doctor was clearly interested.

"You had to bring that up." Tish grabbed a biscuit from the plate and toyed with it. "So, have you got a costume for Amelia, or are we going shopping?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"What she wants to be." Francine grinned and made the Doctor shiver, "I never pass up a shopping trip."

While they did force him into a shop, they placated him with a toffee apple. At least it didn't take very long. Amelia found a costume quiet quickly which made Francine happy, having her out and about without any way of hiding her face beyond glasses and a hat was worrying.

"Do you even know what day you've landed on?" Francine asked the Doctor as Amelia messed with her new costume.

"October 31, 2009." He replied confidently.

"October 30, 2009."

"Hey, only off by 24 hours. Not bad." Tish attempted to praise him without laughing.

"Don't make fun of him, or he'll remember it later."

"What's up later?" Tish asked stealing another piece of chocolate from the candy bowl.

"Halloween. Martha was going to stay in Cardiff, she said this is when a lot more of the bad guys come out because they can blend, but Jack told her that he and the others had it under control, so Martha and Mickey are coming down for the weekend."

Tish choked on her candy and the Doctor managed to gag and barely avoid spitting his tea out.

"She'll kill me, She'll really, really kill me." the Doctor said worriedly. "I told her I was taking Pond back!"

"She'll think I've been sleeping with you!" Tish yelled worriedly. "Oh, not good."

"Leo, Shonara and Keisha are coming too." Francine added, "They'll be here tonight."

"Is it just me or does she sound gleeful?" the Doctor asked Tish.

"What's wrong with them coming?" Amelia queried.

"Well, you're Amelia Pond. You're the Girl who disappeared." Tish told her. "You're infamous, I told you before?"

"Yeah."

"If Martha or Mickey makes that connection both the Doctor and I are going to be beaten black and blue. We've got to disguise you two." Tish worried.

Francine smirked, "One step ahead of you on that one." She pulled a box out of her bag and waggled it at the Doctor, "How do you fancy being ginger for a day or two?"

"Hair dye, really mum?"

"They'll match. Just need to work on the accents." She shrugged, "We'll get him in a costume and mask and I'm sure they'll barely recognize him."

"You're relishing this, aren't you?"

"Yes." Francine smiled, "You got your sense of humor from me, you know."

"Oh, God…I'm warped."

Amelia's English accent attempt was horrible and left Tish giggling and Amelia frowning. English accents being pushed aside Tish started on the Doctor. "Come on now, how Scottish can you get?"

"I'm not being stuck in a kilt." He replied, eyes closed as he enjoyed the feeling of his hair being messed with as Francine dyed it for him. The chemicals he could do without, but the feeling left him acting like a puppy.

"Hmm, you in a skirt." Tish pretended to be imagining it then shook her head, "No. Actually I was looking for accent. Can you sound Scottish?"

He opened one eye to peer at her. "Aye. Why?"

"Because Amelia can't sound English and we're hiding you two."

He rolled the eye she could see and closed it again.

"Need a name too. Got any Scottish ones? Pond's out, and I'm afraid John Smith isn't too Scottish."

"Hmm, two Scottish companions come to mind, but I'm afraid Martha might recognize 'Lethbridge-Stewart. "He opened an eye again to watch her, "Iain."

"Iain? Like Ian?"

"Iain McCrimmon."

"Okay, Amy and Iain McCrimmon…" Tish made a mental note. "Mum, fix him up and find him some clothes? I've got to go accidentally bump into someone."

Tish brushed her blouse and twirled slightly making sure her skirt was straight, "Look alright?"

"Fine. Why are you bumping into people?"

"The Doctor will explain it." Tish grabbed her purse, gave Amelia a one-armed hug and dashed out the door.

"What was that about?" Francine asked the Doctor.

He thought about his answer for several moments. He could answer factiously, but his hair was on the line… "Tish is off to accidentally bump into Amelia's best childhood friend in an attempt to corral him into a place where Amelia can meet him without giving away time travel."

Francine sighed and tugged his hair lightly so he'd look at her, "Couldn't you find an easier way?"

"Doubtful. She wouldn't let me erase his memory."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Late, AGAIN. It seems she thinks 'two hours' means '4-5 depending'. Maybe she's going by Doctor time? Anyway, off to finish up watching Miracle day. Hope you like!]<strong>


	28. Nurses, Coffee and Mysteries

Tish strategically placed herself outside of the coffee shop in wait. She knew this one was a favourite of the hospital interns and students when they were on break; far enough away to make sure no Doctors would stumble upon them, low income enough for them not to bother with and just close enough to be available if needed. Rory chose here and would often be found in the corner with a scone and coffee playing on his phone or reading some book or another.

She checked her watch; it was right about break time...There!  
>He walked briskly around the corner and down the street, head down earphones over his ears, blissfully unaware of the world. He'd always been more of a loner, always blushingly pleased when Tish acknowledged him even to say hi.<p>

Tish moved quickly down the street, stepped just right to the left and with a crash, she collided with him, her left shoulder catching his left and sending both of them wheeling.

"Oh my God!" Rory yanked his earphones off and stared in shock as he tried to regain his footing. "Are you okay? Oh my god!"

"You really know how to knock a woman off her feet, don't you? Give me a hand up, Nurse-boy." Tish said as she reached a hand out to her wiggled her fingers at him.

"Of-of course!" Rory quickly grabbed her hand and lifted her to her feet. "I'm so sorry!"

Tish straightened her blouse, brushed off her bottom and smiled, "Stuck in your own world?"

"Sort of." He ran a hand through his hair making it stand up more than it was. Digging his hands into his hooded jackets pockets he slumped his shoulders.

"Want to talk about it?" Tish asked curiously, "Coffee, on me. Well, as long as you don't fall into me again."

Rory blushed crimson.

* * *

><p>"So, what's got you all worked up?" Tish stirred her coffee and sat down across from Rory.<p>

"Nothing. Not really. Just stupid things." He avoided the question and stared into his cup.

"Sometimes stupid things are the worst." Tish tilted her head and poked his hand. "Don't be a child. What's up?"

"Well, I had a doctor lined up to do my clinic hours with me, but she bailed and moved to a new hospital. The only other Doctor I know refused because of my brother." Rory said looking down at the ground.

"Ah. Would the first Doctor be my sister?" Tish said knowingly reaching out to him.

Rory made a noise of agreement but avoided her gaze, still staring at the ground.

"Yeah, that'd bum me out too. You'll get someone. I'll talk to her if you'd like."

"No!" He jolted in his seat and blushed again, "I mean you don't have to. I don't want to seem like a baby who can't do something on his own in front of MARTHA JONES."

"Hey, what else are big sisters for if not to put pressure on younger siblings to force them to do things?" Tish asked smiling as she saw Rory react and look up from the ground.

"I'll find somebody, don't worry." Rory took a drink of his coffee and tried not to wince at the heat.

"Good. Don't be so glum, it's Halloween!" Tish grinned and poked him again. "You've got to be happy. Aren't you doing something?"

"Well, usually I'd watch horror movies, but I've er not got a TV currently."

"No TV? Are you serious?"

"Yeah…Bit of an incident." Rory flushed, his neck turning red. He hated when stuff like that came up.

"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you come visit my flat? A couple of mates and I are just going to sit around, watch some cheesy Halloween movies and gorge on junk. It'll be fun." Okay, so that hadn't been the plan, but she was sure she could convince a few people over and Amelia would be fine in a mask, right?

"Really, you're inviting me? I mean, that – that'd be cool." He tried to act cool and like he was invited places all the time and this was really no big deal.

"Of course I am! You have to wear a costume though. Scrubs would do." Tish teased him.

"Oh, I've got costumes." He said eagerly, "I've got to wear one for the party tomorrow night. We're doing a haunted house thing for kids and to benefit the hospital. I get to dress like a Roman Centurion. You could come, if you'd like. Bring your friends. It's just scaring people and eating sweets."

"Sounds great!"

A loud crash and yelling startled both of them and made them turn and look towards the register and who was creating the ruckus. A yelling man stood there rage evident on his features. He was dressed in scrubs, almost identical to Rory's, and was throwing his purchased items at the cashier angrily and cursing. His eyes were dark, and he shook as he spoke.

Rory was quick to jump out of his seat to protect Tish when the man started throwing things in every direction.

They watched as a security guard finally arrived in the shop tackled the male nurse to the ground and holding him down as he screamed.

"It's in my head!" The nurse raged at the man holding him down his body still shaking. "Get it out! I have to leave! IT'S IN MY HEAD!" The nurse screamed in fury fighting against the larger security officer holding him down.

The PCs arrived quickly and hauled the still screaming man away. He fought and tried hard to injure everyone near him on the way out.

Rory looked at Tish once he'd left, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Tish watched the man being stuck in the car curiously with a mix of pity. The terror and rage on his face was…chilling. "You?"

"I'm…worried." He admitted. "That's the third one this week." "What?" Tish's radar went off. "Third what?"

"Well, lately there's been weird things happening at the hospital."

"Weirder than trips to the moon?" she asked, grabbing her cup from the table and indicating Rory should follow her. He grabbed his cup and obediently followed after her outside.

"That was a drug trip." He stated.

"No, that was a moon trip."

"Yeah, it was. Still. A bit…No rhino men but…Do you know Karen?"

"Uh…Short, grey hair, kinda dumpy?" Tish asked, "Works with the infants?"

"She's horizontally challenged and has curves." Rory said with a grin, "But yes, her. She's the sweetest woman ever; brings in cookies on your birthday, always talking about her family. Nicest woman, she sits with the parents when they're worried about their babies, talks to everyone! A few days ago she started acting different."

"Different how?"

"She was angry, she snapped at Julie for asking where the unopened gauze was. She nearly smacked one of the other interns! I'd never seen anyone that angry, let alone Karen! Her eyes were different, all dark. I tried to ask her what was wrong and got a bruised arm in return."

"What happened?"

"She assaulted one of the guards, they hauled her outside and within minutes of being outside she calmed down, stopped being angry and started freaking out. She refused to enter the hospital again. Quit, right there on the spot."

"You said third, who else?"

"Dr. Vicor was second this week. He went crazy and broke three windows, smashed in a locker and dislocated Dr. Georges shoulder! Again though, the police hauled him outside, once at the jail he calmed down. Started crying actually, I'm told. Dr. Georges went to see him and refused to press charges. Dr. Vicor hasn't been to work since. He's taking 'personal time'."

"Wow. Three already?"

"Well, five overall in about a month. Just three this week." Rory shrugged trying to act unconcerned, "It's creepy but I have no idea what's causing it. I haven't felt any different."

"Huh." Tish made a mental note to tell the Doctor all about it.

"Anyway, should I bring anything tonight?" Rory changed the subject, uncomfortable with the present conversation.

"Just yourself; I've got drinks and such already." Tish smiled brightly at him.

* * *

><p>Amelia watched the bright lights that flickered across the screen as the man played a game on the TV, a loud game full of bright colours and noises, Francine said his name was Leo, and that he was Tish's baby brother. His little girl was being cuddled in the kitchen with Francine and his girlfriend.<p>

Something flashed on the screen and made a loud noise. She'd never seen a game like that. Rory had a really cool game on his Super Nintendo where you jumped on turtles and collected coins, but it wasn't nearly as bright as this!

"Wanna play?" Leo asked her, holding out the controller. He'd been watching her trying not to stare at him and the game for a while now.

"I don't know how." Amelia replied, but she inched forward her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Here." Leo scooted to the side and patted the couch, "I'll show you. It's just a football game."

He handed her one of the controllers and arranged her hands on it, "You move this stick to move your guy around, this one to move how you look and you press this button to kick the ball. See, easy?"

"Yeah…Easy." Amelia nodded and tried to remember the buttons.

Francine smiled at Amelia's attempt at playing the game and went back to talking with Shonara in the kitchen while Keisha coloured at the table. The Doctor had disappeared out back to put Yumo in the TARDIS and change out of his distinctive clothing – much to his protests.

"Isn't it a little hot to be wearing a mask indoors?" Shonara asked Francine in concern.

Amelia had been dressed up since they got there. She was dressed just like a PC; complete with a little radio and some handcuffs, but what was odd was she was wearing a black and white masquerade mask that covered her forehead, her eyes, her nose and most of her cheeks with lace lining it and small ribbons coming off the side.

It effectively hid who she was, especially with her hair pulled up under a cap.

"She likes it." Francine shrugged and handed Keisha another crayon. "Her dad's wearing weirder."

"That's another thing. From what Leo's been saying – and what I've heard from Martha – that man is not a good person to be hanging around. She didn't even know where she was!" Shonara said quietly to keep Keisha from listening in too much.

Francine looked over at Keisha then towards the living room. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course!" Shonara was affronted. "You know that!"

"Tish isn't off gallivanting with men, he's not untrustworthy and she's not up to anything bad." Francine told her quietly, trying not to laugh.

"Wh-what? But Leo and Martha said -."

"What they heard. Tish is getting back at them for everything they've done to her. She's got a job as a nanny, that's all. She's not in London because he travels for business and takes his daughter with him. She's FINE, just playing a joke on her siblings."

Shonara sat silent for a moment before she started laughing, "Okay, I think this tops anything they've ever pulled before."

"I thought so. Just don't tell anyone, not even Clive or Mickey."

"Her DAD doesn't know?"

"Nope." Francine looked quite like the cat that ate the canary, "It's more fun this way."

"And when it's all found out?"

"Then I laugh and make fun of them."

* * *

><p>"Mum, I'm back!" Tish called as she shut the front door behind her. Dumping her mum's car keys into a bowl near the door she barely made it a few steps down the hall when she saw her niece running towards her.<p>

"Aunt Tish!" Keisha yelled, barrelling into Tish's legs.

"Hey, sweetheart!" Tish scooped her up into a hug. "I didn't know you were here."

"Daddy and mummy too." Keisha hugged her aunt tight, "For Halloween."

"Oh yeah?" Tish cursed internally, her brother? Already…She didn't have too good a lie yet.

"Yup; Daddy's playing with Amy." Keisha told her.

"I see." Tish placed her back on the floor, "Let's find my mum."

"I'm in the kitchen!" Francine yelled.

She found Francine and Shonara sitting at the table in the kitchen, both looking as if they were trying hard not to laugh. "What's up?"

"Nothing…really, nothing." Shonara bit her lip to keep from giggling.

"Right…" Tish watched her anyway.

"How'd your meeting go? Did it work out?" Francine asked diverting attention from Shonara.

"Fine…We're gonna hang out and watch movies at my flat tonight; small get together. Where's T- Iain?"

"Out in the shed sulking. He took the puppy home and was getting changed."

Tish sighed, "Why is he sulking?"

"Go see." Francine smirked.

Tish eyed her mother, but was unable to determine what she was up to. Shaking her head she walked down the hallway and out the back door. The leaves that had been strewn around earlier were in different piles where they had been playing. The shed was as it had been, but the TARDIS was obviously parked inside it.

She shut the shed door behind her and entered the TARDIS.

"I'm amazed! How'd you park so well?" Tish called out, hoping for a reply that would place him.

A muffled yell came back so she followed the voice down a hall and into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?"

He was stuck half in half out the fridge digging through the contents. When he climbed out and looked at her it was all she could do not to laugh.

His hair—normally brown and straight – was currently bright red and in curls that stuck out in every direction. His tweed, bowtie 'student trying to be a professor' look was gone, replaced by long white dress trousers, dark dress shoes, a blue button up shirt under a dark blue double breasted coat.

She covered her mouth with her hand and choked down the giggles.

"What?" He twirled in place, the bottom of the coat twirling and held his arms out. "You said fancy dress."

"What are you supposed to be, a navy clown?"

He scowled and straightened his coat, "I'm a Navy Doctor and I've been told this will wash out."

Tish held her side laughing and followed him down the corridors to the Console room. "Yeah, it should. Where'd you get the outfit? I didn't see you get anything in the store."

"It's from a companion of mine a while back. I should probably return it." He mused.

"Looks good on you. Sort of dashing." Tish offered.

"Thought I looked like a clown?" he was obviously pouting.

"That's just the hair."

"Ready?" he started to walk out but Tish called him back.

"Oi! Forgetting something?"

"Like what?" the Doctor patted his pockets, "I've got the sonic, my psychic paper, TARDIS key…"

Tish picked up his mask off of the console and gestured him closer.

Like Amelia, his mask covered most of his face. Unlike Amelia his was just plain white held on by an elastic band that hid in his hair. The doctor had protested at its plainness but had been overruled. It was sufficient to cover his forehead, his cheekbones and distorting his eyes just enough to make sure he wouldn't be recognized first guess. He slipped the mask on without much protest.

Tish tugged on the front of his coat and buttoned it up properly. "Accent?"

"It's a good thing I've known Scottish people." He commented, slipping into the accent easily as he offered her his arm, "Otherwise this could be difficult."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: YAY! RORY! Love Rory, how can you not. <em>Sorry it's late, I got caught up watching Netflix and was dragged forcibly out of my house by my mother. <em>Mean partner's parents...Anyway, enjoy!]**


	29. Leo yells and the Party begins

She had thought this was a great idea, a way to have Amelia meet Rory without the issues of Amelia's kidnapping being an issue. There was just one thing she had forgotten about.

Tea….Oh dear God, she'd forgotten about tea; her parents, Leo, Shonara, Keisha, Amelia, the Doctor and herself all at the table…together. That was bad enough; thank god that Martha and Mickey weren't here yet, they would be here later though.

It had actually started out ok, they were chatting back and forth, never getting into awkward or too strange topics. Shonara spent most of the time telling them all about Keisha's latest accomplishments at day care, and success in potty training. While Leo talked about work and the newest toy he was planning on getting Keisha for Christmas; Francine telling them about her work and their dad's latest blunder but then what Tish had began to call _'Awkward Doctor Tea Syndrome'_ set in.

He tasted something he didn't like and started making faces like a baby who sucked on a lemon.

Tish sent him an annoyed look "No, don't you dare." Tish warned him as he looked as if he were about to spit it back onto the plate. She ignored the half amused looks from her family as they watched the altercation.

He made a muffled noise complete with desperate face looking around. Tish groaned in annoyance and handed him a napkin. He gratefully spit out the offending food item and gulped down water. Not noticing Tish's family smothering their laughs.

Tish and Amelia looked at him, TIsh in exasperation, Amelia in curiousity.

"What was it this time?" Amelia asked him curiously, trying to mind her manners and behave.

"Carrots." He made a face, "Awful things."

"You already knew you didn't like them, why'd you try them again?" Tish took a bite of her own carrots and tried hard not to roll her eyes at him in front of her family.

"I thought maybe your mums would taste better." He offered.

"What are you, two?" Leo, who had gotten over his amusement at the scene and was now looking extremely annoyed, "Even Keisha eats her veggies with minimal complaint." He said indicating the three year old obliviously chewing on a carrot while drawing in her applesauce on her plate.

The Doctor looked at him then leaned over to whisper to Tish, "Was that a rhetorical question?" He asked seriously ignoring the look of exasperation on her face.

"Yes." She whispered back curtly, wanting him to drop the subject and not ruin this for Amelia. She should have known her brother wouldn't be as cooperative.

"And another thing, where do you get off taking my sister somewhere she doesn't know where she is!" Leo demanded losing his attempt to treat Tish's guests nicely and giving in to his anger and curiosity about where his sister had disappeared too.

The Doctor leaned to whisper to Tish again, "Was that-" Tish just groaned and shook her head.

"No, it bloody well wasn't rhetorical!" Leo snapped.

"Well, this has been fun but we better get going." Tish said loudly standing up from the table, gently helping Amelia up and tugging on the Doctor's arm. "Mum, fantastic meal as always. Amy, get your coat, it's in the other room. Iain…Just…Don't respond to Leo." She said trying to pull them away from her family.

The Doctor nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets, and following Tish.

"What sort of weirdo wears a mask to eat anyhow?" Leo growled, starting to think Martha had a point when his sister had asked him to be here early to investigate this mystery man Tish had disappeared with.

"Leo, let it go." Francine warned her son.

"No! He's basically brainwashed my sister into quitting her job and disappearing off to God knows where." Leo growled

"Let's go." Tish nudged Amelia towards the back door. "We're parked around back. Mum, again lovely and we'll drop by again later. Shonara, see you later too. Have fun, Keisha sweetie Auntie Tish will see you tomorrow ok, and Leo just shut up?"

The Doctor bounced; he knew how to do goodbyes. Finally there was something he was almost certain he could do and not mess up.

He stood in front of Francine quickly and mimed kissing both of her cheeks, "Thank you for everything." He didn't notice Francine's amused look as he did so.

"Iain!" Tish said loudly as she walked Amelia out of the room.

"Coming!" the Doctor yelled, back turning towards Tish and Amelia and running after them.

* * *

><p>Tish's Flat<p>

* * *

><p>The TARDIS was parked in the spare room at Tish's flat. It served mostly as a place to store all of the old furniture that didn't fit anywhere else, boxes of things from her childhood, boxes of files and books from her work, and boxes of things that she had collected throughout her life.<p>

She was quite impressed by his landing as he hadn't crushed anything and he was on time, quite hidden between an old bookcase and some old books from college.

"What are we doing anyway?" The doctor asked as he opened a bag of crisps and filled a bowl with them.

"Tish said get food ready." Amelia shrugged and found a platter to pile biscuits and brownies onto. Well, biscuits for now, the brownies were in the oven and there was a strict 'Tish only' rule on working it.

"I still don't see why. 900 some years of time and space and I'm relegated to filling bowls with crisps." He tried to look mournful, but the bright red curls that bounced every time he moved his head sort of took away from his sulking attempt.

Amelia stopped what she was doing to listen to what Tish was doing. She heard her in the other room calling people. She said they were having a party just so she could meet Rory without him thinking anything of it. Amelia smiled a whole party just for her and Rory. That was the coolest thing ever.

The Doctor was getting bored waiting. Tish had gone to change clothes after calling a few people and the oven smelled good.

"I bet I could make it cook in 30 seconds." He told Amelia with a sneaky grin, fingering his sonic screwdriver.

"Tish said not to…" Amelia frowned then smiled like he did, "Do it!"

A quick sonic, a puff of smoke and a loud bang made both jump backwards. He opened the oven hesitantly; grabbing a tea towel he pulled out the dish and poked the brownies…

"I did it?" The Doctor said dancing goofily for a bit then remembering who he was in front of quickly changed his voice to a more serious one "I mean I did it! Knew I could. Never doubt me, Pond." He set it on the table and closed the oven. "I'm brilliant."

"You're fantastic." Amelia agreed giggling.

"Why's he fantastic?" Tish asked suspiciously coming into the room.

The Doctor and Amelia were both silenced in surprise as they turned to look at Tish.

She was dressed up in the dress she'd found on the TARDIS, her hair done up in a bun with curls loose; She looked like a photo of a French aristocrat come to life. She twirled in the cream coloured dress and took the mask off. "Well, what do you think?"

"Beautiful." Amelia said sweetly.

"Gorgeous." the Doctor agreed.

"Thanks. Now, why are you fantastic?" Tish asked knowing their compliments were honest but also an attempt to distract her from the truth.

"I fixed your oven." The Doctor bragged waving the sonic as Amelia shook her head and Tish got very quiet..

"Oh God, how'd you 'fix' it? It was fine before." Tish growled, knowing the Doctor using his sonic on her appliances was not always a good thing.

"It now cooks brownies in 5 minutes flat." The Doctor said as he adjusted the navy coat as best he could, "You're welcome."

"Well, that's going to be a nice one to explain if I ever move." Tish said as she shook her head but couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. "Right, Amelia go pick out a movie, the Doctor and I need to have a chat. Oh, and you can let Yumo out! Just don't give him any chocolate."

Amelia nearly ran out of the room to find her playmate, glad at least this time that no one got in trouble. As she left Tish turned to The Doctor as he got a look of fear on his face.

"We need to talk." Tish said quietly, not helping the Doctor's reaction.

"If it's about the oven I'm relatively certain I can change it back." He said quickly in response, he didn't want to lose Tish if she got too angry at him.

"Nah, oven's fine. I'm sure if nothing else I can replace it." Tish said sitting down at the table and motioning for him to sit down as well. "I've got something creepy and possibly alien for you."

He sat down quickly looking interested, "What? Really?"

"Mhmm, and you said visiting Rory was a bad idea." Tish picked up a biscuit and broke it in half, handing a piece to him. "So, it appears the hospitals having some difficulties lately. Not the normal 'patient bit someone' or 'guess which nurse got knocked up in the closet' trouble. People are going against their character. Rory says that people have been acting strangely. One of the sweetest nurses ever turns into a raging lunatic and that's just the start of this week!"

He leaned forward, "I'm listening."

* * *

><p>Amelia dug through the DVD pile Tish had set out that fit the 'Halloween' theme. There were dozens of weird looking ones; some that she could tell weren't for her to watch. Especially the disk that had blood prints on the cover. DVD's were really strange, she had VHS at home.<p>

They had some cool ones too! Rory had a lot of movies and sometimes his mum and Aunt Sharon let them stay up and watch a few different ones in ONE night.

"What do you think?" She showed one of the more colourful ones to Yumo.

He sniffed it, sneezed and rubbed his nose.

"Think that's a no..." Amelia put it down and looked through them at another. "That says 'Halloween', that means it's one for tonight especially, right?"

Yumo it seemed had no opinion. Amelia rubbed his head and set the DVD to the side. Tish and the Doctor were still talking in the kitchen, leaned in close which meant it was a secret. She grabbed the crayons and paper Tish had set out for her and started drawing to keep occupied so they could talk.

It wasn't long after she started drawing when there was a knock at the door. Tish didn't seem to hear it as they were still talking rather animatedly. Tish wouldn't mind if she answered the door, she knew she just had to be careful and not say who she really was or take off her mask.

She tugged her mask on properly to make sure she was hidden then opened the door a bit to see though.

"Hello?" She said cautiously.

The woman on the other side of the door was tall compared to Amelia. She had darker skin, but not quite as dark as Tish's; She wore bright shiny gold stiletto heels that wrapped around her feet and up her ankles; a cream coloured dress flowed down to her just past her knee on one side, but was slit to her thigh on the other side with gold stripes around it; she had on deep red lipstick, bright blue stuff around her eyes and a leaf looking tiara on her head nestled over deep brown curls.

"Well, hello there." The woman looked confused for a moment then smiled and waved at her, "Want to let me in?"

"I don't think I'm supposed to let strangers in." Amelia said glancing towards the kitchen.

"I'm Cara, what's your name?" The woman said carefully kneeling down to Amelia's level.

"Amy. Amy McCrimmon." Amelia said holding out her hand like the Doctor had taught her.

"There, now we're not strangers. Where's Tish?" The woman said shaking the girl's hand.

Amelia opened the door to let her in. "In the kitchen talking with dad. I'm colouring."

Cara looked down in surprise at the bright blue pup sniffing her feet. "You dyed your dog for Halloween?"

Amelia thought quickly, Earth dogs weren't blue. "Yeah, Dad did it with food colour."

"That's neat." She set down her hand bag on the table. Walking towards the kitchen she paused in the doorway, "Well, fabulous greeting as always, doll."

Tish smiled and stood to hug her, "Sorry, didn't hear you. Who let you in?"

"Amy. Cute kid. Who's this?" She smiled flirtatiously at the Doctor.

"Iain, meet Cara. Cara, meet Iain. Iain, excuse us for a moment and don't mess with the microwave."

He rolled his eyes and remained seated as Tish and Cara had a quiet – well, they thought quiet, he loved Time Lord hearing – conversation in the hall before Tish came back.

"Okay, she's going to look through movies with Amelia we've got 5 minutes max before she gets bored. Where were we?"

"Creepy hospital staff." He reminded her, picking up a brownie and tearing a piece off. "Why am I yours?" He asked curiously.

"Excuse me?" Tish said at the abrupt change of subject.

"She said I'm yours. What's that mean?" The Doctor asked again curiously.

Tish groaned, "It means she thinks we're dating so she won't flirt with you."

"Dating?" he wrinkled his nose, "Humans, you're so strange."

"Right, staff!" Tish poked him to their original topic.

"Yes, the staff. Well, there are several things that could be causing emotional turmoil so quickly along with violence, but when connected to several different humans it's unlikely." He took a big bite of brownie and spoke muffled. "It might be alien."

She handed him a napkin seeing the line of chocolate all over his face, "You're enjoying this."

He nodded and grinned wiping the chocolate from his chin, "Of course; Weird alien things in a hospital, twice? Oh I'm overjoyed."

"No moon trips." She warned him, leaving him alone with the sweets to go talk with Cara properly.

* * *

><p>Cara and Tish were talking quietly like before so Amelia and the Doctor coloured together. A new person had come over and now they were waiting on Rory. Amelia added a bit more orange to her photo. She wanted to give it to Rory.<p>

The new person was dressed like a PC too, but a different kind. She wore stockings, a short skirt, a vest like Amelia had on and a hat, but her handcuffs were shiny, not dull looking. She had her blond hair twisted up and curled and had bright red lips that contrasted amazingly with pale skin. Tish called her "Gen".

"If that's what real Police women wear then the world certainly has changed." the Doctor commented eyeing Gen.

"Nah, I'm not a real copper. I'm a stri—" Gen started only to be interrupted.

"Kiss-o-gram." Tish interrupted quickly, "She's a Kiss-o-Gram." Tish winced knowing that wasn't much better but it was slightly easier to explain.

"What's that mean?" Amelia asked confused.

Cara snickered and stepped in to rescue Tish, "It means she goes to parties and kisses people for a living."

Gen rolled her eyes then smiled seductively at the Doctor, "How about it?"

He looked confused and Cara tugged on Gen's curls speaking quietly.

Gen had the grace to look a smidgen ashamed before she sat down to dig through the DVD pile that was growing with each visitor.

"Don't mind her, she's just a slu—silly person." Cara amended.

"So says the goddess." Gen picked up one of the cases, "Kids?"

"Yup. Amy is a child. Children's movies first."

"Is this all of us then?" Cara asked.

"No, we're waiting on another friend. His name's Rory."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Hey, I got it done before midnight this time. <em>Only barely. _I've still got three hours._ Sure...Hope you lot enjoy. Rory's coming back next chapter..._YAY Rory_. Love Rory. _Hmm...Is he Companion material? _He is in canon...]**


	30. Nondates and surprise visitors

The records room was a usual gathering place for the nurses at the hospital, if only because all patient files had to be collected here to brief the other nurses. It wasn't unusual to hear gossip of one kind or another, especially at shift change. So it wasn't that unusual for the dayshift to be teasing each other, their topic of conversation was unusual however.

"No, I'm not going to go out drinking." Rory said exasperated as he stuck the charts he had written into the patients file.

"All you young kids do." Evelyn teased him. Rory mock glared back, his co-worker was only a year older than he was, but, according to her the last time he brought that particular fact up, being married with a baby made you more 'mature' and let you give life advice to your younger co-workers.

"Not me." He said stubbornly as he tried to ignore the others and finish his work.

"No, Rory's more the 'stay home and read' type." Ryland piped in as he stuck up for his fellow male nurse…somewhat.

"He's not a partier." Kylie said patting Rory on the back as if he was still a child.

"Hey, I'm going to the party tomorrow!" Rory said defensively his co-workers teasing manners getting to him, yeah he was quiet, and he was focused, but that wasn't a bad thing, he went out!

"That's a hospital one and the kids made you promise." Evelyn said as she rolled her eyes and patted him on the back as well.

"Well…I've got one tonight to go to!" Rory said quickly regretting it almost as quickly as he said it.

"Oh really?" Ryland crossed his arms and smirked not quite believing his friend, "Got a date?"

"Not a date, really, but a party. This woman I know I bumped into today invited me to the one she and her friends were having." Rory sighed knowing his friends wouldn't let him go until he talked.

"Oh ho, ho." Kylie grinned merrily, "You manly man you."

"It's not like that." Rory backtracked in an attempt to get them off this line of inquiry.

"Anyone we know?" Evelyn asked seeing his blush.

"Tish Jones; Dr. Jones's older sister." Rory said quietly and quickly hoping they wouldn't hear.

That got a hoot of appreciation from Ryland and a wolf whistle from Kylie, as well as a blush from Rory.

"Get going then, stud, next shift's coming on." Kylie said teasingly as she pushed Rory towards his coat. Rory tugged his coat on and zipped it up, walking with them out the doors. As they passed a hallway he stopped.

Something had just moved down the hallway, something black and it'd gone into one of the rooms. No one was wearing black, it wasn't the Children's ward way; no one even wore dark colours.

"You guys go on, I'll be right back." Rory promised and jogged after the shadow.

No one was in the hallway at all. All the doors were shut tight; lights could be seen through the crosshatched windows that were lined with metal but no one was out of bed in any of them. One room's door was propped open. He nudged it open the rest of the way with his foot and glanced around.

Near the far wall a young woman he knew to be named Riley stood, back perfectly straight, arms out in front of her shaking as they held up a child's dressing gown. It looked like she'd been folding it when she'd stopped suddenly.

"Riley?" he asked hesitantly.

No response, if anything her arms shook more.

"Riley, look at me?" Nurse training kicked into gear as his mind raced with possibilities including seizures.

He reached out and put his hand on her arm experimentally, gripping it firmly, but softly.

She jerked away and though she faced him, it was obvious she wasn't seeing anything.

Tears were rolling down her cheeks, her eyes were unfocused and dark…so dark. They looked like pitch black.

"Riley? Are you okay?"

Her eyes, still dark and foggy seemed to see him now and a look came across her face of what could only be described as intent.

"Riley." She said sharply, teeth gleaming impossibly white.

He grabbed her right wrist in his left hand and moved close as she started to falter, other hand coming up to her face to check her. Her faced changed once he touched her skin to skin and she started to sway.

"Riley, are you alright?" Rory asked gently visually inspecting the other nurse for injuries.

She stumbled completely into his arms and he was forced to kneel down to support her.

As she looked up at him her eyes started to focus, regaining their natural grey colour.

"R-Rory? What's wrong?" She tried to move in his arms, "What's happened?"

"I don't know." Rory admitted, pulling a clean tissue out of his pocket and wiping the tears off her face calmly, "I think you had a fit. Do you remember anything?"

"I was folding the gowns because we're moving it out…" Riley frowned, eyes darting back and forth as if searching for an answer. "I suddenly felt sick, dizzy, my head hurt like I'd been hit then…Here."

Rory stuck the wet tissue back in his coat pocket. "Think you can stand?"

Her arms and legs were shaking too badly to move.

"I had a seizure?" Riley asked quietly her voice shaking.

"Maybe. But not one that'd cause this type of muscle strain." He frowned remembering the recent occurrences at the hospital.

"Oh God," Riley's eyes went wide; "It's like with the others, isn't it?"

"I don't know." He kept his voice calm, though his mind was racing. "Come on, let's get you downstairs and into a bed." He said pulling her towards the exit.

"No! I can't stay here. I have to go home." She told him hurriedly, "If it's got me I can't be here. I can't, I can't!"

"Alright, I'll get you home." Rory promised her. Sliding one arm under her arms, around her back and the other under her knees he climbed to his feet. "Though I don't think I can carry you all the way."

Riley smiled slightly, "I've got a car."

* * *

><p>He'd been embarrassed when Riley saw where he lived. She'd recovered enough in the car that she felt able to drive home, so she'd insisted that he drive to his home first. Once there she'd take over and drive herself home.<p>

His flat... He knew it wasn't the nicest place to live and it mortified him when his colleges and fellow students found where an aspiring doctor lived. His flat was located in an estate that made other estates look like gated communities.

"Wow…erm, it's not that bad?" Riley suggested as she looked at the run down building.

"Yes, it is." Rory said honestly.

"Nah, c'mon, it could be worse." Riley said trying to sound cheerful and optimistic.

"Yeah, thank god the grass is only 6 inches long." Rory said sarcastically getting a laugh from Riley in return. "No lying; this isn't a place you'd leave your car unlocked or your windows rolled down."

"See you later." Riley said, scooting across the seat to climb into the driver seat – not getting out, just to irk him – as he shut the door and walked away.

He waited till she'd drove off before letting himself into the building. Second floor, third flat on the right…Well, they called it a flat. It was more like a closet. He undid the three locks on his door and shut it behind him, relocking them all.

His flat was comprised of one main room and a bathroom that looked like a coat cupboard: Tiny shower with barely a trickle of water pressure, cracked sink and all.

The main room was sparsely furnished. A futon served as both the couch and the bed, a milk crate worked perfectly as a coffee table and against the wall two stacked and bound with some duct tape worked just fine as a bookcase to house most of his text books.

A microwave and skillet on the counter served as his means of cooking things, his fridge barely worked, so an ice chest served to hold any items that HAD to be cold. His clothing was stacked in laundry baskets or in a small chest of drawers against the other wall.

He didn't have a TV or anything around. His MP3 was a birthday gift from his dad – one of the few that were accepted – and was the newest piece of electronics around that worked; even the fire alarm didn't work in this dump.

Sure, if he asked his mum or dad would front him the money to get himself a better place to live, but he felt that was cheating. His mum constantly begged him to move back to Leadworth, but there he was 'that weird kid' who went to four psychiatrists; he was that kid with the imaginary friend; he was the best friend of the 'girl who disappeared' and worst of all he was the baby brother of the main suspect in her disappearance.

His step-dad said he'd get him a job in the shop, but Rory didn't WANT to be a shop worker.

His dad would offer to help him out, put him in the best flat available, switch his universities and have him in the best clothing possible by the next night; but his father was the enemy…of sorts and Rory was determined to make it on his own.

He pulled his costume out of the drawers and located the 'props' for it, dressing quickly. It was a bit brisk out so he deviated from traditional wear and wore thick warm trousers underneath and a warm long sleeved jumper : red of course as to match.

The armour was easy to put on and slid over one arm, belted into place on the other side. The trouser piece wasn't hard either.

The scabbard hooked on without any issues and the sword rested neatly in it.

His Roman costume was his favourite indulgence. He'd ALWAYS Loved Romans, and when he was younger Amelia and some other friends had convinced him to play one in their games, it'd been the last true game he'd played with Amelia, he'd been obsessed ever since, so when he was 16 he'd used up all his birthday and allowance money for the last three years to buy a real proper set of Roman centurion armour. He left the helmet off for the moment.

Rory crossed the small room and thumped the top of the kitchen drawer to send anything inside it skittering away, then opened it. He withdrew about £4 in random coins for the bus.

He slipped the coins into his pocket, pulled on his jacket and grabbed his helmet, holding it under his arm; No need to lock the door or anything, it wasn't like he had anything worth stealing. He was so happy he was whistling. He had somewhere to go. With people who didn't think he was evil or weird or strange. A party!

He opened the door and stopped in his tracks, his face going blank as he encountered someone on the other side. A very familiar someone, a very familiar someone he really didn't want to see right now.

* * *

><p>Tish pulled open her door and smiled widely at Rory.<p>

"Wow, look at you. You're like a real, proper roman." She praised him, moving to let him inside.

He grinned and let her take his coat. He wasn't going to let anything spoil his mood now.

Tish tapped the chest plate, "Really a real proper roman."

"Thanks." He blushed some as she hugged him.

" You're the last one here. Running late?" She asked smiling at him and causing him to blush shyly.

"Missed my bus." He lied avoiding her eyes.

"Ah, too bad." Tish said sympathetically knowing he didn't have a car.

"Who's the hunk?" Gen asked, reclining against the wall by the kitchen so she had a view of the door.

"Oh, introductions, right." Tish tugged Rory by his arm into the main room. "Everyone, this is Rory. Rory, that's Cara, she's a Roman goddess tonight."

"Every night." Cara scoffed.

"Gen's the police woman. Don't question it." Tish waved off anything Rory might have to ask. "Amy there is also a Police Woman, but she's a proper one."

"Hi." Amy waved nervously, hiding behind her mask.

"Her Dad, Iain, is the Navy Doctor sulking on the recliner."

The Doctor gave a half hearted wave.

"That's it. Oh, and if you notice a little blue furry thing running around it's just a dog. Someone," she raised her voice and aimed a look at the Doctor, "Decided to dye him for the occasion."

He rolled his eyes. "Sure. Blame me. It's his natural tone." The Doctor sounded so Scottish that Tish was impressed.

"I forgot to mention, if either Iain or Amy starts babbling incessantly just ignore them. Iain has a tendency to forget who he's talking to or the point he's trying to make." Tish lowered her voice, "I also forgot to mention Amy's Scottish. I hope that's not an issue…"

"Of course not." Rory shrugged. After 12 years he could handle an accent. That wasn't a big deal.

"What movie are we watching first?" Tish asked them.

Cara chucked a DVD at her like a Frisbee, "Amy here has never seen 'Hocus Pocus'. It is time to educate her."

Gen disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared, handing Rory a red plastic cup. "No alcohol in it, though there is some in the kitchen if you want. We're watching kid's movies first because of the immature ones." Gen seemed to think about it, "Though, I _do _like this movie…"

"Come, sit down my disciple." Cara waved him over. Scooting a bit on the couch to make room next to her she patted a cushion.

Rory sat down obediently, taking his helmet off to sit it on the floor. "Thanks."

"No problem."

Gen plopped down on the loveseat, placed her feet on the arm of it and crossed her legs at the ankle. "Ready when you are, wielder of the remote."

Tish laughed and started the movie, taking the spot on Rory's other side. "We've got a whole group of kid's movies first, if you don't mind?"

Rory smiled shyly, "Have you got 'Corpse bride'?"

"Of course!"

Amelia sat on Tish's other side, and curled up to watch the show. The Doctor stayed in the recliner but Tish knew it was only a matter of time before he decided to come steal someone's spot on the couch.

* * *

><p>"I don't care what her explanation is; I'm going to kill them all." Martha said calmly as she waited impatiently for the lift to hit Tish's floor.<p>

"Don't kill your sister." Mickey said just as calmly looking over at his wife.

"Grievously injure?" Martha asked, sticking her lip out a bit in a plea.

"Nothing that requires stitches or ends with me explaining to your mother why I had to bail you two out of jail." Mickey smirked remembering their wedding.

"Deal." Martha kissed her husband and exited the lift, following the familiar path to her sister's flat.

Mickey shook his head and kept his hands out of his pockets, just in case.

"Hmm." Martha looked at the door in thought.

"What?" Mickey asked curiously at her as they stared at the door.

"Should I let myself in or make her answer the door?" Martha questioned a smirk on her face.

Mickey leaned past his wife and banged several times on the door with the side of his fist, producing a booming sound that emanated through the flat and the hallway.

"You know you scare the hell out of people when you do that." Martha told him as she heard several yells from inside the apartment.

"Why do you think I do it?" Mickey smirked back at her hearing the footsteps in the apartment.

The door opened and Tish made a face. "Don't make out in my hallway."

"Don't tell me what to do." Martha countered. "Where have you been?"

"Away." Tish replied noncommittally as she hugged Martha and Mickey.

"Do we really want to do this in the Hallway?" Mickey cautioned.

Tish moved back from the door and let the two in, locking it behind them. "What do you want?"

"To find out where you've been! Do you have any idea what you've put us through this past week?" Martha yelled glaring at her older sister.

"Is it anything like what you put us through for several days?" Tish countered.

Martha blushed in embarrassment or fury, Tish wasn't sure which, "That is not the same and you know it!"

"OI! Keep it down you lot; you're louder than the movie!" A woman's voice yelled.

Mickey peeked past Tish through the arch and into the living room. A woman lay across the loveseat, feet up on the end of it looking at him with a smirk.

Another woman sat on the couch next to a man and a child; an empty spot showed where Tish had been sitting. A man sat on the floor in front of the couch, head leaned back against the edge of it.

"What is this?" Mickey asked curiously.

"It's a Halloween party. I figured you'd understand that. Or maybe you don't get out that often." Tish commented flippantly.

"Hey Martha, Mickey." Cara sent them a wave. "Gonna watch 'Corpse Bride' with us? It's up next."

"Maybe." Mickey shrugged. "Gotta talk with Tish."

"Fine, take her away, but loverboy might steal her spot." Gen giggled.

"Shut up, Gen." Cara laughed as she threw a marshmallow at the woman.

Mickey and Martha followed Tish into the kitchen.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Disappearing for over a week without so much as a note?" Martha demanded.

"I left a note. It slipped under the fridge." Tish said calmly, quite thankful she'd already destroyed the note. "I'm a grown woman and can go wherever I want without notice."

"You don't even know where you were!" Martha hissed trying to keep from yelling.

"I'm reasonably certain it was a campground." Tish turned away from them to grab a red cup and roll her eyes without being seen.

"See? You run away with two men and you can't even tell me where you were." Martha's tone was concerned as she tried a new tactic to get her sister talking.

"And a girl. Don't forget the girl." Tish filled the cup with the concoction in a punch bow that the Doctor and Cara had created. It featured four types of fizzy drinks and two juices. It wasn't half bad even if it looked like swamp water.

"Why do you think this is so funny? What if you were hurt? What if something had happened?" Martha was still flushed with anger and concern.

Tish took a drink of the concoction and shrugged again, "I'm fine."

"Yes, but what if you weren't?" Martha said very concerned for her sister.

"Then I'm sure he'd have brought me home to a real doctor." Tish said wanting to go back her guests.

"What if he'd hurt you?" Mickey interrupted his wife. "How much do you know about him? How long have you known him?"

"Around a year, give or take." Give and take was more like it. Time re-writes really did suck.

"How could you know you'd be safe? How the hell do you not know where you were?" Tish sighed as her sister continued to question her whereabouts.

"He drove." Tish offered. "I didn't really see any scenery on the way."

"Of all the irresponsible things I've ever heard that has to be the top! Who the hell just takes off with an older man with no notice to anyone without knowing much about him?" Mickey yelled.

Martha bit her lip and Tish giggled.

"For the purposes of this lecture the Doctor doesn't count." Mickey snapped irritably. "My point is you could have been hurt. You could have been KILLED! Do you even know the kind of psycho's that are out there to prey on young girls?"

"Keep your voice down." Tish warned him as she could see Amelia starting to look at them. "I don't want her hearing this."

"Who is she?" Martha asked. She didn't recognize the girl, especially with the mask on.

"She's the daughter of the 'irresponsible psycho'." Tish said dryly..

"He's here?" Mickey demanded, fists clenching.

"Yes, and if you hurt them I swear to God I'll unleash mum on you." Tish warned him. "I'm a full grown adult and don't need lectures from you two. For one I'm older than you." She poked Martha in her arm. "And you're only two years older than me, Mickey Smith."

"Hey, I'm nine years older than you, missy." Mickey poked her, nerves calming a little as his wife held his hand. "It's not my fault they don't count Pete's world time around here."

"Whatever. We can talk about this later, okay? I'm a grown up and can do what I want. Iain wouldn't hurt me on purpose and neither would anyone else."

Martha looked ready to fight still but after a moment deflated, "Fine."

"Can I at least give him the talk?" Mickey asked, eyeing the man in the mask.

"Which talk?" Tish said her tone half amusement and half warning.

"The 'I have a gun, a truck and a weevil' talk." Mickey stated seriously.

"No. Stop at 'A gun, a truck and the Cardiff bay'."Martha patted his back.

"You two are welcome to stay for the movies. Just no yelling, no fighting, no picking on Iain and no questioning him." Tish pointed a finger at them seriously, "Got it?"

"Fine." Mickey said dismissively.

"Mickey…" Tish warned

"Yeah, fine. No fighting, got it." He snagged a brownie off the table and claimed the recliner that was empty in the living room for himself, keeping an eye on the Doctor.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Martha asked her sister seriously.

"Yes, I'm really fine." Tish assured her.

Martha pulled her sister into a hug, "I was worried. Still am."

Tish hugged her back. "I'm fine. I was fine."

"Okay…" Martha pulled back and looked into the living room. "What on Earth is Rory doing here?"

Tish laughed, "Long story!"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Once again late, sorry...more on time than last week! <em>Hey, you said it was getting later everytime!<em> It got you to write quicker..._At least it's more words than usual. Nearly double!_ Rory's back..._Remind me to post the poster later. _Have fun! Loved writing this bit.]**


	31. Movies, terrible dancing and costumes

Amelia was asleep on the couch, head lying against Tish's shoulder and the Doctor was laying on the floor, spread out with his head resting against Tish's legs as the credits rolled on the third movie.

"Iain, help me out here." Tish tapped his head with her knuckles and indicated the sleeping girl.

He hopped to his feet, for once not overbalancing and scooped her up. "Where to?"

"Here, we'll stick her in my bed for now." The Trio disappeared down the hallway and through a door.

Mickey watched them disappear then sat upright in the chair, pulling Martha to sit up right too. "Okay, what's the deal with those two?" Mickey asked the other three.

"What do you mean?" Rory asked.

"He means what are they up to?" Martha clarified.

"Lots of things." Gen giggled, "Lots and lots of things."

Cara threw one of Amelia's marshmallows and bounced it off of Gen's forehead. "You don't admit that to siblings of your friends."

"Why not?" Gen took a bite of the marshmallow. "He's quite fit."

"Go eat something to soak up some of that alcohol you say you're not drinking." Cara ordered her.

"Aye-Aye my goddess." Gen tried to get up, and let out an annoyed noise. "Soldier boy, give me a hand."

Rory dutifully got off the sofa and helped her to her feet, following her as she kicked aside her unoccupied shoes on her way to the kitchen.

"Again, deal?" Martha prodded Cara.

"I honestly don't know." Cara shrugged. "I've never met him before tonight. He's her man though. It's the only reason Gen isn't flirting with him."

"So you don't know him at all?" Mickey asked worriedly.

"Nope. He's the one she snuck away with though." Cara grinned. "Now that sounded fun, bar the tents. Tent's are horrid things."

"What—"

Martha's question was cut off as Tish and the Doctor came back down the hallway and Mickey sat back in the recliner quickly, pulling his wife back as well as it kicked the footrest out and left them near horizontal.

Cara laughed at the two as Tish looked puzzled.

"What was that?"

"I think it was some sort of catapult attempt." Cara laughed as they tried to straighten out in the chair again.

"Why's Gen on the phone?" Tish asked Cara as she watched Gen dance around the kitchen with the house phone in hand as Rory watched and laughed.

"Not a clue. Gen! Who the hell are you calling?" Cara yelled at the kitchen.

Gen flipped her off and continued her conversation complete with animated hand gestures.

Rory came back in and smiled, "She's called takeaway. Something about a Chinese pizza."

"Oh god." Tish groaned, "Not again."

"That sounds like our cue to leave." Mickey said as he checked his watch for the time. "We promised your mum we'd be back before midnight."

"Thanks for stopping by." Tish said hugging the two. "And thank you for not yelling much."

Mickey made an annoyed noise, "Next time when there are no children around we're going a round or two."

"Yeah, yeah. Go. Catch all the weird freaks and geeks of the night." Tish shoved them lightly.

They'd barely shut the door behind them when Gen appeared, phone in hand but hung up. "Food's coming."

"Why'd you order food and why with my phone?" Tish asked taking the phone away.

"I can't find my phone." Gen pouted.

Cara smirked and produced her own phone from a hidden pocket and dialed.

Moments later music and buzzing came from Gen's direction.

"Oh!" Gen's face lit up in surprise and she smiled widely. She reached down the front of her outfit and produced a phone from her bra. "Thanks, Cara!"

"Anytime." Cara was having issues holding in the laughter by now.

"What is Chinese pizza?" the Doctor asked Tish, quite perplexed.

"A drunken invention by a craving starved college student." Tish sighed.

"You start with a supreme pizza, ad lo-mein, Sesame chicken and any other nice sounding Chinese dishes as toppings and then come the fun bits." Cara told him.

"It's not fun. It's messy." Tish disagreed.

The Doctor listened in interest, taking notes as they tried to explain exactly what their friend had done.

* * *

><p>-<br>Rory stuck his bag that held his costume and sword into his locker at the hospital so he'd have it after shift. It was a bit bulky, but it fit…mostly. It wasn't like he had much else in there.

"Hey, how'd it go last night?" Ryland asked him as they changed out of their street clothes into their scrubs.

"Fine. Absolutely fine." Rory said with a bit of a blush.

"Oh, no you've got that blush!" Ryland exclaimed, pulling his shoes on. "That blush!

"What about the blush?"

"That the blush of a man who got something!"

Rory willed his face not to burn. "Well, I did spend the night with two gorgeous women hanging onto me. He didn't continue and say that it was because Gen was drunk and because Amelia had decided for a while he made a good pillow. As long as Ryland blamed that he wouldn't try to look any deeper.

"Nah, that's not why. You'd be more brag-y." Ryland chucked his clothes into his own locker and locked it, following Rory out the door and down the corridor.

"Some men aren't braggarts." Rory told him.

"Yeah right. The only men who aren't braggarts are those who have nothing to brag about."

"Why are we bragging?" Kylie asked them as they arrived at the nurses' station.

"Rory got some sort of lucky and won't talk." Ryland pouted.

"Some men don't kiss and tell." Kylie defended him.

"Only those who have nothing to tell." Ryland scoffed.

"Shut up." Evelyn told them. "Ryland, go find Nicholas. You two have to get Maxwell Walters ready for his X-rays."

Ryland took the file and jogged off, putting his teasing on the backburner.

"Kylie, Blood draw in room 4." Evelyn handed her a different file.

"On it." Kylie went to gather supplies.

"Where's Riley?" Rory asked Evelyn.

"She called out today. Said she was sick." Evelyn told him. "She sounded extremely upset. Any idea what happened?"

Rory sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair, "Something weird. It was like she was frozen or had a fit."

"Whatever it was that made the others go weird?" Evelyn asked quietly.

"I think so. It's not got any kids yet though, just adults. Why is that?" Rory asked just as quietly.

"I don't know…Be careful though." Evelyn rubbed her cross necklace that lay under the collar of her scrubs.

"Here" She handed him a file, "You've got Mr. Jimmy to take down to PT."

"Joyful." Rory took the file from her. "You be careful too."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I've got to go check and see if the interns on loan are doing alright setting up decorations." Evelyn mimicked horror to make Rory laugh.

He didn't really see anything as he walked down the halls. Nothing strange as he grabbed one of the will chairs.

Well, nothing he could see. He felt like someone was following him, staring at him, but whenever he turned around no one was there. Rory chalked it up to the security cameras or just plain paranoia after the last few weeks.

He pushed open the door to the patient's room and smiled reassuringly. "Hello, Mr. Jimmy. Ready for PT?"

The four year old looked at him stubbornly. "No."

"Aw, but you've got to go so you can get all big and strong again."

"Dun wanna." He said sulking as Rory grabbed a robe from its spot on the wall.

"No?"

"No!"

Rory shook his head sadly and placed a blanket on the chair to help boost the boy up a little. "But it'll help make you strong for tonight. Know what tonight is?"

"What?"

"Halloween. We're going to have a party and lots of sweets." Rory helped the boy slide the robe on and tied it for him.

"A party?"

"With music and everything." Rory told him as he picked him up and put him in the wheel chair.

"Real one?" The boy watched him, "No trick?"

"No tricks, just treats." Rory wrapped another blanket around his lap and legs to make sure he stayed warm and handed the boy his stuffed gorilla.

Jimmy hugged the gorilla close and looked up at Rory as they started rolling. "Dun have costumes."

"I think Ryland and Nicholas were working on that." Rory told him as he wheeled the boy down the hall.

"Be scary?"

"Maybe." Rory agreed as they entered the lift. He turned the chair so they could face the doors and the empty hallway.

"I push." Jimmy leaned in the chair to try and hit the button. Rory moved him closer to it.

"Level 1." He reminded him.

The boy pushed it enthusiastically.

As the doors were closing on the hall Rory saw a shadow dart from one wall to the other in a diagonal moving towards the lift. He jolted backwards in shock as the doors closed completely.

Jimmy babbled unaware of the Nurse's fear and discomfort as they descended.

* * *

><p>"Will you hurry?" Tish yelled into the wardrobe.<p>

There was a muffled yell back and she had to roll her eyes. The Doctor was concerned about what could be at the hospital and if their past adventures were any indication they'd end up with a deep need to run tonight.

With that in mind she'd sent him to find a costume he couldn't be recognized in (Just in case) and Amelia was getting dressed in the alternate costume that Francine had bought.

Tish had stolen one of Cara's past outfits and modified it a bit.

With a tank top under a tight over-shirt that fit tight with a scooped neck line and sleeves that didn't cover much more than the tank top sleeves did, fingerless leather gloves, camo shorts and combat boots she looked quite passable as Lara Croft.

She added the 'accessories' as well, complete with the toy guns in holsters. She refused to wear the shorts Cara had, and had exchanged them with a slightly longer pair that reached a few inches above her knee to make it – barely – children's party appropriate.

Amelia was dressed quite happily like a pirate, trousers flared out to cover long boots that came up to her knee nearly, the triangular hat covered much of her hair but what it didn't swirled around her shoulders. Her mask covered the rest of her face.

Francine and Tish had both proclaimed she looked properly 'piratical' and she'd flushed with praise.

The Doctor finally re-appeared from the wardrobe and Tish held back laughter.

"What on Earth are you wearing?"

He strolled across the hall and struck a pose, feet shoulder width apart and his hands on his hips.

His legs were clad in cotton trousers that were tight against his skin; furry boots that crisscrossed with leather strips covered him to his knees; a furry soft looking tunic covered him down just past his waist, held against him with a belt with an intricately designed buckle to hold it together; when he moved a cloak swirled behind him, the fur lined cloth came down to his knees; and there on top of his head sat a Viking helmet, horns on either side shining as he showed off.

"I wear a helmet now. Helmets are cool."

"I…Yeah, yeah they are." Tish stifled laughter. "Where on earth did you get that?"

"A friend a while back. Well, less a friend more 'tried to kill me and feed me to his god' but…" He waved his hand and produced a simple black mask like that worn by bank robbers, removing his hat just long enough to tie it on.

"How amazing do I look? Be honest."

Tish pulled out her phone and snapped a quick picture of him, sending it off to her mum. "Like a million pounds."

He smiled brightly. "Onwards, to the hospital."

* * *

><p>The Doctor refused to leave his TARDIS unattended in Tish's flat and so it had to be taken with them. She tried hard not to yell at him when they landed in a storage closet at the hospital.<p>

Looking around she noticed paint cans, tarps and random materials.

"Look at that, you're in luck. Seems like they're redoing this part."

"I'm always lucky." He went to mess with his bowtie but had to settle for adjusting his belt buckle instead.

"Not always." Amelia told him as she took his hand.

"Yes, always." He rolled his eyes and offered Tish his arm to be polite.

Tish wrapped her arm through his. "Come on now, let's go find Rory and find ourselves some monsters."

The Doctor grinned as they walked down the hall, none of them noticing the shadow that crept along the walls watching them.

* * *

><p>Rory looked around the room with a sense of pride tinged with apprehension. The room was decorated with orange and black streamers, balloons and lots of art on the walls. The kids were all so happy looking. All of them had weird masks on that Ryland and others had worked on for them. A kitty in a wheel chair was happily talking with a frog on crutches. Bowls full of boiled sweets and chocolate were everywhere along with cider, toffee apples and more than one table of baked goods.<p>

It was nice to see so many smiling faces on his patients, some of which he knew didn't have much reason to smile at all.

"Romans! Love a roman."

Rory turned around and felt the mile wide grin light up his face as he saw Tish and her friends.

"Tish!"

"Hello, Roman." Tish hugged him.

"You look…Wow." Rory seemed unable to say anything.

"Tomb Raider. Love it."

"I…Wow."

"I'm a Pirate." Amelia said trying not to sound like she was vying for his attention.

"You are an amazing pirate." He told her seriously. "A very awesome pirate. Possibly a better one than Captain Jack."

She smiled brightly and tried to remember to ask Tish if there was another Captain Jack besides the one the Doctor knew. "You're a cool Roman."

"I'm a warrior." Rory took on the Superman pose to make her giggle.

"Right. Warrior Roman, meet Warrior Viking." Tish gestured to the Doctor. "Iain's decided that horned helmets are cool."

"They are." the Doctor said as he adjusted it. "Very cool."

"Not anywhere near as cool as mine." Rory said smugly.

The Doctor eyed his hat then looked up as if he could see his own hat. "Maybe, but mine's cool."

"Want to play the games?" Amelia asked Rory indicating the game's the interns had set up.

"Sure." He took her hand and looked at Tish. "Coming?"

"Nah. You two go ahead." Tish smiled as Amelia gave her thumbs up. "Iain wants to go dance."

The Doctor was indeed eyeing the lights and smoke machine with intrigue.

"Alright. I'll be right back." He promised her.

"I'm sure." Tish smiled as the Doctor grabbed her hand and hauled her in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: I'm all alone, so sad...Well, I've got Firefly to keep me company while my Partner is off distracted by her family members visiting. Also, writing. Writing is good. Tell me, what do you all think of the Doctor's first '_ are cool'? Oh, and as promised the poster.<br>http:/i14. photobucket. com/ albums/a313/ladyyuna9/ Raising%20Amelia/RaisingAmelia-1. jpg dunno why she loves it so but...]**


	32. Surprise kisses and calling for Back up

"So, where do you and your dad live?" Rory asked Amelia as they tossed beanbags at the target.

"We…Well, kind of everywhere. Last week we were in London, but before that we were on Jun…Japan; we were in Japan. "Amy flinched a little hoping Rory hadn't noticed her slip, she didn't think the Doctor wanted people to know about Junbar.

"So you travel the world?" Rory smiled at the little girl as the game ended and the person running it handed Amelia a purple ticket.

"Yeah. Sort of. It's really fun." Amelia told him, accepting the ticket she was given with a smile before tugging him to the next game.

"I bet. How long has Tish been travelling with you?" Rory asked curiously allowing the girl to pull him from one game to another.

"Not long; just a little while. She's my nanny, the…Dad said so." She said, fumbling her words a little.

"Are Tish and your dad….Dating?" Rory asked, hearing her fumbling his mind coming to a conclusion, trying to sound calm and uninterested even as his heart tightened.

"No. I don't think so. Tish laughed at him when her mum asked that." Amelia snickered at the memory from the night before.

"Cool…neat. I erm…Yeah." Rory stumbled, the tense feeling disappearing as he threw himself into the games with the little girl.

They played all the different games available, she even convinced Rory to try to toss darts at the board to win a tiny rubber duck. Amelia was having a lot of fun and it was almost like being back with her old Rory.

He'd definitely changed. He was a LOT taller now, with lots more hair. He looked like his brother now, but more skinny. His brother had been older by a lot and now Rory was lots older. It was strange.  
>She couldn't tell him that she was his Amelia though. No matter how much she wanted to.<p>

Rory checked his watch. "We should probably find them again…It's been a little while. Right?" he said pulling Amelia away from the ringtoss game.

"We can." Amelia nodded looking down at the wad of tickets in her hands. When she thought he wasn't looking she leaned over and tucked all the tickets she'd won into some little kid's bag. She had neat toys on the TARDIS and didn't need the tickets.

Rory felt the smile tug at his face as he watched her get rid of them. Most children wouldn't do anything like that.

"Any idea what they'd be up to?" He asked her not wanting to draw attention to the fact he had seen her give the tickets away.

"Knowing the..Them, nothing normal." Amelia told him honestly.

* * *

><p>"You're awful! Terrible!" Tish laughed as the Doctor spun in circles in the fog and lights, arms wiggling above his head as he twirled.<p>

"I am not! This is fantastic." He cried, "They like me!"

Several little kids were actually copying him and seemed to be having fun. Nearly as much fun as the Doctor at that.

"See?" the Doctor reached out a hand and took Tish's, "You've got to do it too."

"Not me!" She protested, even as he spun her. "I'm not insane!"

"That's debatable." He grinned as she playfully smacked at him. "Now arms up!"

She tried to mimic his actions but found herself laughing too hard to do much of it.

"Aw, come on, Jones! It's a party!" He cheered grabbing her hands to twirl her again as the music bounced in some happy children's Halloween theme.

"Yeah, I know." Tish twirled with him but something caught her eye. Something she noticed just out of the corner…

"What's wrong?" The doctor asked interrupting her train of thought.

"Saw something." Tish said stopping in place and staring at the door. "Something moved."

"A child?" He asked curiously, holding onto her hand but standing still. He searched the doorway and didn't seen anything.

"No. Too tall, too dark to be a child. It was like…a shadow." Tish shook her head. "I must be seeing things."

"Maybe not." He tugged her with him towards the door and looked around. Furtively he pulled the sonic out of his cape and whirled it through the air as it buzzed. The Doctor paused and frowned as he looked at it. "Yes. Not good."

"How not good?" Tish asked worriedly looking for Amelia and Rory.

"At least a bus ride away from not good." The Doctor replied grimly

"Aliens." Tish sighed.

"Yes." A smile tugged at his lips, "Want to go and find them with me?"

"Why not? Rory should be good with Amy for now." Tish agreed and followed him through the corridors; he twirled and looked around everywhere reminding Tish of a bloodhound on the search for a missing person.

"Where are you two off to?" A woman in scrubs stopped them as they went down a brightly lit hallway.

"Just gone to find the loo." Tish told her, thinking quickly. "My boyfriend, you know, can't find anything on his own."

The woman eyed her but nodded. "Third right, first door on the left. Make sure you stay in the designated areas."

"We will." the Doctor promised.

Too bad she didn't know rule one: the Doctor lies.

They found themselves on the second floor when Tish's phone started ringing.

"It's Rory." She told him.

He rolled his eyes, "Get rid of him."

"He's got Amy." Tish reminded him.

The Doctor scowled, "Fine. But if he gets caught in the cross fire, you have to deal with the yelling."

Tish clicked on the phone. "Hello?"_  
><em>

_"Tish? It's Rory. Amy and I were looking for you, she's kind of worried." Rory's voice echoed from the phone speaker._

"We're just touring around." Tish told him as she peeked into a room and didn't see anything. "It's been a while since Iain was here and he wanted to know about one of the departments."

_"You shouldn't be…You might get into trouble."  
><em>

"You sound like my mother." Tish laughed.

_"Yeah..well…I…er. Where are you so Amy and I can find you?"  
><em>

"Meet us at the second floor reception desk, left wing." Tish told him as she checked the signs. "Iain wants to see Paediatrics as well. Maybe you could give him a tour."

_"I..Sure." _

She clicked the phone off and the Doctor rolled his eyes at her. "He sounds like a puppy."

"A puppy?" Tish asked him refusing to look him straight in the eye.

"Easily excitable, doing tricks for treats." He shrugged. "Could just be you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said cautiously.

"We're not supposed to be up here." the Doctor told her. "Rory knows that. You say one word and he scrambles to do something you want. 'Attention, please!'" He paused in thought as he scanned a room. "A lot like Mickey, actually. Before he became Mighty Mouse."

Tish was surprised. The Doctor didn't talk like this often. In fact she'd never heard him with this level of distaste in his tone. "Doctor, you shouldn't talk like that."

"Why not? It's true. He's a weird little man, all scrawny and tall, no social skills. Excitable as a trodden on Chihuahua and just as weird looking; pretty sure he's got a crush on you. That's not allowed." the Doctor was turned away from her, and if she didn't know for sure it was him the voice would have fooled her. The accent was still there, thick as it had been but now there was darkness to it; a rumbling in the tone that shouldn't be there and brought back memories of madness and drums.

"Wh-Why is it not allowed?" Tish said turning to glare at the doctor.

"Jealousy, mainly, or so I've heard and seen. I've got to protect you, after all." The Doctor's voice sounding darker than Tish had ever heard it before.

"Protect me?" She tried to tug her hand away from his but he held tight.

"Of course, that's the boyfriend's job." He turned around and smiled, teeth flashing in the light his eyes dark as night. Not his, definitely not his eyes. He took off his helmet and stuck it on her head; the metal was heavy and a bit too big for her but he smiled anyway. "There. Some protection."

"You're my boyfriend now, then?" Tish's insides were shaking a bit as she looked around desperately. Something was wrong. She tugged the helmet off and held it at her side for lack of anywhere else to put it.

"That's what you told that woman." she could hear the amusement in his voice as he walked. "That means you'll follow me anywhere and I'll protect you. My daughter as well; children are so trusting, aren't they?"

"Do they have any reason not to be?" Tish asked him as she looked around desperately for something, anything that could work as a weapon. Her hand clenched around the warm metal of the helmet. It could be heavy enough to work.

"Of course not." His tone was melodic, almost soothing, but she could feel the intent in it. "Neither have you. I'll protect you just like a boyfriend should."

Tish felt her insides shaking, her heart racing. "You're not yourself…Something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong." He waved off her worry without much thought as he pulled her along behind him not even checking rooms anymore. She stopped moving near the nurse's station in Paediatrics.

He turned to her and scowled. "Why've you stopped?"

"Something's wrong." She told him, trying to keep her voice strong.

"Nothing is wrong." He repeated vehemently, quite plainly angered by her insistence.

"Why aren't we looking anymore then?" she asked carefully, testing this new Doctor.

"There's nothing to look for." The Doctor's voice sounded almost hollow as he spoke.

"An alien presence shouldn't be looked for?" Tish asked.

"There's no such thing as aliens, sweetheart." the Doctor told her, speaking as if to an especially slow child. Then he did something that proved quite plainly he wasn't himself: he leaned forward and kissed her.

Fear and shock twirled together inside her duelling emotions. Then anger took over; Anger at him, at this alien, at whatever had caused this, anger was useful however, it cut through fear. Her hand clenched tighter on the helmet and she swung it up hard, slamming it into his head.

It wasn't the brightest move in hindsight; when it hit him it sent him forward, the two crashed together and ended up on the floor. She scooted back away from him watching him with mixed feelings of relief and horror when he didn't get back up right away.  
>She edged forward and felt for a pulse on his neck. It was there, strong and steady but way too fast. Faster than a humans, but that was to be expected when he had two hearts.<p>

"Okay…unconscious….good." Tish wiped her mouth, her lip and cheekbone were throbbing where they'd collided, and came away with blood. "Fantastic."

"Tish!" The sound of Amelia's voice made her look up as she spotted Amelia running down the hallway at her.

"Amy." Tish embraced her tightly and pushed her to arms length again. "Something's wrong, you need to go to the TARDIS. Hide."

"What happened to the Doctor?" She asked worriedly. "He's got red."

Tish looked over at him and was startled to notice he was indeed bleeding from his head. "Accident. The alien…It took over him." She said carefully

"What the hell is going on?" Rory demanded looking horrified.

"Rory, you remember the Judoon?" Tish asked him urgently as she looked around through random supplies lying around.

"Yes. What's that got to do with -" Rory started, the pieces slowly connecting in his head.

"There's something in this hospital. Something alien." Tish told him seriously. "Something that shouldn't be here. I haven't seen it straight on, but there are shadows that are moving."

Rory stiffened.

"You've seen them, haven't you?" Tish asked him. "You've seen the shadows move."

"I…Just a trick of the light." Rory said, his voice quavering, "Nothing more."

Tish finally gave up the search for whatever they were looking for and dug into her pockets. From them she produced a pair of handcuffs.

"Why've you got handcuffs?" Amelia asked, clearly alarmed.

"I stole them off of Gen last night. She wasn't thinking too clearly. I don't know why I carried them…Just…just in case I suppose." Tish fastened one of the cuffs tightly around the Doctor's right wrist and looked around. She spotted a radiator. "Rory, help me."

Rory followed her instructions without thinking, still in shock, and helped her drag him over to the radiator.

She clicked the other end around one of the bars and dug through his pockets. "Where is it…Aha!" She pulled out the sonic and stepped back a few steps. "Amy, don't listen to anything he says when he wakes up. Something's wrong with him. He's sick."

Amelia held tight to Tish's hand and she could feel the girl shivering. "Why's he sick?"

"Something alien and bad made his mind go weird." Tish told her gently, "But we'll make him all better again. I promise."

"Swear?" Amelia asked worried as she looked again at her Doctor Dad.

"I swear." Tish agreed.

Rory found his voice again, "What do we do?"

Tish rubbed her hands on her arms, feeling colder than before. "We get help."

"You don't know how to fix this?" Rory felt his stomach dropped.

She scowled in his direction, "I've only been at this a few weeks."

"Help." Amelia nodded, her brain kicking into gear. "Gotta find another big bad alien fixer."

"I'm not calling my sister unless I have to." Tish told her.

Amelia shook her head. "I know another one."

* * *

><p>Amelia dashed through the hallways as quick as she could encountering next to no one on the paediatric floor or any other wing as she headed back towards the area they'd parked the TARDIS in. She had to hurry, be quick, grab the Doctor's mobile and keep her fingers crossed she could reach who she wanted.<p>

Amelia rounded one corner too quickly and smashed right into someone else.  
>She climbed to her feet quickly listening to apologies and queries if she was alright.<br>Amelia looked up at them, making sure her hat was straight and her mask on right. The one she'd run into was a short black male with no hair dressed in what looked like a karate outfit with a weird metal tube attached to his belt. He was apologetic and the Indian woman next to him – slightly taller with long dark hair – was looking worried.

"You okay? What're you doing running like that?" He asked her.

"Gotta find my mummy." She lied quickly. "Promised I'd be back but got lost. Nearly there."

"Be careful," the woman told her. "You shouldn't be running around like that."

Amelia nodded but dashed off again, barely listening as she heard the male laugh and say something about 'Sound like Sarah—'.

She used her sonic on the door that hid the room the TARDIS was in and locked the door tight behind her again. She unlocked the TARDIS with her key and ran up the stairs to the console.

Red phone, right where it always was. She scrolled through the numbers on it like she'd been shown how to do but couldn't find the right number.

"Help me, please?" She pleaded with the TARDIS. "I don't know how to call."

Amelia felt the warm air pulse around her as a keyboard flipped out of the console underneath a small screen. The screen started making a buzzing noise and colours swirled on it for a few minutes.

Then a face appeared on the screen, the face of the person she'd wanted.

"Doctor Song!" She cried as the woman answered, "We need help!"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Who else do you call in an emergency? <em>Ghost busters? _We forgot it was friday...oops. _We got posted nearly in time. Totally earlier than last time. _Even with company this week. _Even with me coming up with completely crack pairings for the future that involve crossing over into Firefly. _Yes, even with that. Hope you like it! People've asked us to bring back River so..._Wasn't going to bring her back this early originally, but it fit!]**


	33. Hospital high jinks and River's Return

Tish paced back and forth in the hallway as Rory tried to gather his thoughts.

Aliens were real. Well, he knew that, he'd known that since those bloody rhino men had invaded. But Aliens...plural! As in a lot of aliens in his hospital, in the paediatric ward even!

"You've got that look on your face." Tish's voice startled Rory out of his thoughts as he turned to look at the woman beside him.

"Huh?" Rory looked up at Tish. "What look?"

"That _'oh dear God there really are psychotic aliens on Earth'_ look." Tish smiled sympathetically, trying to at least ease one of their minds. "Don't worry; we all get it in the beginning."

"How'd you find out?" Rory asked shakily, hoping for a neutral subject as they waited for her friend to wake up.

"About aliens, I mean."

Tish face flashed with different emotions before settling back to the neutral calm 'See, I'm totally under control' expression it'd had before.

"There was this man…He…He wasn't human. He tried to take over the world. Actually did for a little while. Just…Doesn't matter." She shook her head, "That's the past. Don't really want to talk about it." Tish shivered at the memories then looked back at her friend, a groan causing them to turn and look at the man on the floor.

The Doctor was attempting to sit up, groaning as he blinked his eyes.

"He's waking up." Rory went to check on him but Tish hauled him backwards.

"Don't. Not until we know who it is." Tish warned him.

"Oh, wow, what hit me?" the Doctor whined finally managing to sit up and reach his left hand up to touch his head. He frowned when it came back bloody. "And how hard?"

"I hit you." Tish said simply.

He stared at her, trying to bring her into focus. "Why? Why would you hit me?"

"You kissed me." She said accusingly. Tish moved closer, crouching down to look him in the eye, but remaining just out of reach.

His eyes widened as he looked at her. She had a busted lip that was quite obvious; her left cheek bone was bruising up as well; a small mark above her eyebrow was bleeding too. "Did I do that?" He tried to reach for her but frowned at the jangling noise and restriction. "I'm handcuffed? Why'm I handcuffed. Who carries handcuffs?"

"Anyone genre savvy." Tish stood up again and stepped back away from him. She looked him over. "You were different…taken over."

"I was?" His memory was coming back in foggy bits and pieces. "Did I do anything?"

"Ranted. Insulted people; Mickey and Rory specifically." Tish stated bluntly.

"Tried to take advantage of you." Rory stated, adding that offense to the list of reasons he wanted to smack Tish's friend.

"Where's Amelia?" the Doctor demanded trying to stand up again. "Where's she gone? I didn't hurt her, did I?" his voice took on a slightly panicked tone at that last thought, what if he'd hurt the girl, she was a child…

"She's gone to the TARDIS. We need help." Tish crossed her arms, tapping the sonic against her hip as she watched him. "Someone who knows how to deal with Aliens."

"You've called for your sister?" he asked, paling.

"No." Tish said dismissing that, Martha didn't know she was travelling and she wouldn't if Tish had any say in the matter.

"Jack?" The Doctor asked slightly less panicked. While not the best option at least Jack already knew about Amelia.

"Nope." Tish said smirking a bit at the pale look of the doctor's face.

"Who then?" he asked confused as he ran through the list of people Amelia may have contacted.

"I believe her name is River Song?" Tish said calmly, "That's who Amelia said she called anyway.

The Doctor's eyes widened to a quite humorous extent. "You did what!" His pale face turned white, then nearly bright red as another voice echoed through the hall.

"Oh, pipe down, Sweetie. Sometimes professionals are needed."

All three turned to look at where the voice had come from.

Amelia walked up the hall towards them, her hand being held comfortingly by River Song. River looked like she was either done up for Halloween or just off her job. She wore tan shorts that went to around her knee that had several pockets that looked full; dark brown scuffed up leather boots covered in sand and dried mud; a simple white tank-top on covered by a tan coloured vest with more pockets. She smirked as she looked over him.

"I really can't let you to your own devices, can I?" River said smirking at the Doctor as she held gently onto the hand of the small girl beside her.

"Go away. I have everything perfectly under control." He sulked trying to get out of the handcuffs.

"So I see." River still smirking as she looked at Tish and Rory. "How long has he been like this?"

"He's been awake a few minutes, but he started acting weird a little while ago…er, weirder." Tish corrected at River's amused laugh.

"Ah. So, what are we looking for?" River asked, letting go of Amelia's hand and wrapping her arm loosely around the girls shoulders, "Any idea?"

"Shadows." Rory told her, his voice soft almost as if he didn't want to say it.

"Shadows?" River repeated. "Like…Moving shadows?"

"Yes." Rory nodded and scuffed his boots together awkwardly. "I've seen them. They sort of just…move. On the walls, across the ceilings. They don't touch the floor."

"Vashta Nerada?" She mused to herself.

"Those eat people, they don't take over minds." the Doctor said.

"Hush you." River pointed a finger at him threateningly, "Shadows aren't as rare as you'd like. They can be as diverse as the humanoid species."

"Any way to tell exactly what it is?" Rory asked.

"Well, it took over his mind easily enough. Though, there's not much to be said for that feat; his mind's not much better than a child's." Tish smirked as she piped up, smiling innocently as she saw the Doctor's expression.

The Doctor protested as River grinned, but Rory frowned.

"What's wrong?" Tish asked seeing her friend's face.

"These shadows, whatever they are, they've been taking over people. Causing pain, anger, people are lashing out and hurting people. Physically in some cases." Rory stated remembering the other cases of strange behaviour in the hospital lately.

"Yes…You said this." River nodded.

"But, they've only taken adults. None of the children have said anything at all about them. I had one patient with me the last time I saw one moving and he didn't see it." Rory told her. "What's the difference between adults and children to it?"

River's brow furrowed in contemplation, "Chemicals, for one. I'd say knowledge, but that doesn't help matters much." She tapped her nails on her arm and looked as if she weren't in this world for a minute or two. Then a smile spread on her face. "Oh…I've got it. Sweetie, you've got yourself a set of shades."

He scowled, "Have not."

"Have so." River responded.

"Have—" The Doctor started sounding more like a child that Amelia.

"Oi, children." Tish waved her hands to get their attention, "What are shades?"

"Mostly harmless stupid little creatures. Well, I say little, I mean pathetic." River eyed the Doctor and motioned for Tish to watch his face. "Lowly little life forms; Parasites that thrive off of conflict and violence created by controlling human brains. Really quite pitiable in all actuality. Even the slimes of Fvar VIX can accomplish their goals without human help."

"I'LL KILL YOU!" the Doctor Raged, lunging forward with a crunch as the handcuffs hauled him backwards again. "I AM NOT PATHETIC!"

"See? Truly pitiful." River scoffed. "Can't even figure out who's human and who is not." She stepped almost within reach of the Doctors hands. "So, tell me, Shade, why on Earth did you take this body?"

"Strong. So much trust." He snarled, "Manipulate the girlfriend and the child."

"Girlfriend?" River looked up sharply, "Who on earth is his girlfriend?"

Tish groaned, "I needed to say something to make that nurse go away."

"I see. Well, Shade, you're in the wrong body. You've not got a human." River lowered her voice dangerously, "You've got a Time Lord."

His eyes widened in glee, "So much more power."

"So much more mental abilities." River corrected. "And technology. Tish, have you got his sonic?"

Tish held it out to her. "Yeah..."

"Thank you, dear." River messed with it and pointed it outwards at the Doctor. "Sorry, Sweetie, you're going to get quite a headache from this." She looked back at Tish, Rory and Amelia. "You might want to cover your ears."

The three did as told as River pressed a button on the sonic and it emitted an ear piercing shriek that made the Doctor scream and sent Amelia tumbling to the floor.

A shadow seemed to grow up out of the Doctor and hang in the air spinning faster and faster as if lost until it started glowing. Small white holes like tears ripping through it as it vanished in a puff of smoke.

River stepped closer, "You back with us?"

The Doctor glared at her, "You didn't have to kill it."

"Yes well, I've had a long day and it was quickest." River unlocked the cuffs with the sonic. "Aren't you happy I'm here for you?"

"Stop trying to impress people." He tore the mask off his face and moved to Amelia's side, kneeling down to speak to her. "Amelia, can you hear me?"

"Ow." She whimpered.

"Here, let me look. I'm a nurse." Rory nudged Tish aside and before they could stop him he had her hat off. He paused at all the red hair but pushed past the feelings it created, feeling for her pulse, checking her eyes.

"Your nose is bleeding." He pulled a clean tissue from his pocket and mopped at the blood.

"Thank you." Amelia said quietly as he examined her.

"Your welcome." Rory sat back on his heels and helped her sit upwards.

"Come here." Tish helped her to her feet and hugged her. No one noticed Amelia's mask coming undone till she moved back from Tish and it fell with a soft thump to the ground.

"No." Rory gasped stumbling backwards. "It…It can't be."

They could hear voices echoing down the hall coming their way.

"Rory…it's okay." Tish shoved Amelia back towards River just in case.

"NO!" He nearly screamed, fear and disbelief in his tone.

Shouting from the hallway now and running footsteps.

"River, take Amelia." the Doctor told her quickly. "I'll handle this. Go hide in the TARDIS and DON'T touch anything."

River didn't argue or flirt, her silence spoke volumes as did the mixture of emotions he could read on her face.  
>"Right. Come here, sweetie." River wrapped an arm around Amelia tightly and pressed a button on the weird band she wore around her wrist. The two disappeared into a flash of light.<p>

Rory was still staring in shock and horror. "Can't be. Can't! It's not…Amelia!"

"Rory." Tish grabbed his arms and looked him in the eye. "Swear to me you won't say a word about her or River being here and I promise by God I will tell you everything and answer any questions you have as soon as this is all over."

"I—" Rory started still in shock.

"Swear!" Tish demanded holding his arms tighter.

"I swear." Rory said weakly, tears in his eyes.

The Doctor reached out and shoved them both lightly sending them crashing onto their bottoms on the floor.

"Doctor, what-?"

He promptly sat back down on the floor and lay back, resting his head on the tile. "Oh, I'm slain. Utterly slain. How on Earth shall I ever recover? Are my days as a traveller over?"

His whining tone over dramatized the words had the desired effect and made Tish laugh.

Rory felt his eyes going cross even as the footsteps stopped, some ending in the screeching noises he associated with sneakers sliding on tile.

"Ni-night, Rory." the Doctor nearly laughed as the nurse was overloaded finally and fainted.

"What the hell!"

Tish looked up and couldn't stop laughing. From one hallway Martha and Mickey stood, both armed clearly worried about whatever alien it was that must be running around; a second hallway had Sarah Jane and her kids standing with baffled expressions.

"Hi!" She giggled waving a bit. Between the Doctors actions, Rory fainting and the overall emotion of the night she found everything hysterical.

"What's going on?" Martha asked, dashing forward and sliding next to her sister to check on her.

"Well, I came to a Halloween party with the Fainted Roman, ran into a Viking Doctor, got hauled to find an alien, got kissed and got bruised up while helping get rid of an alien." Tish summed up her evening without mentioning Amelia. "I think this is a normal night for you."

Martha looked at the other man she hadn't paid any attention to. "Doctor?"

He grumbled quite grateful the curls and red hair dye had been washed out before the party. "I think I ruined a perfectly good cloak." He whined, blood running down his scalp and dripping onto his tunic and cloak.

"Sorry about that." Tish offered.

"Sarah Jane, is that…?" Rani asked.

"Yes. Unfortunately." Sarah Jane walked over to him and looked down at him. "What have you got to say for yourself?"

He gulped as he looked up at her. "Please take pity on a man who's been possessed by a shade, beaten over the head with his own helmet and is bleeding; show some mercy."

Sarah Jane rolled her eyes and tilted his head forward to look at his scalp. "You'll be fine. A few stitches and back to normal. Lucky for you I know three Doctors who work with Aliens and have a medical degree."

The Doctors eyes went wide and he looked at her in something akin to horror, "Mercy means no calling the imbecile!"

"You said I'd take mercy. I didn't."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Partners computer has been struck by a virus, so she's not avaliable for an AN this week...We'll pretend to be sad - seriously, she just wiped it to factory settings a week or so ago. Anyway, River's back! Sarah Jane and crew have arrived - if you hadn't realized it, it was Clyde Amelia went crashing into last chapter. As always reviews are fantastic and ideas always welcome.]<strong>


	34. Stitches and Interogations With hats!

-River-

* * *

><p>The Vortex Manipulator River used landed them in the TARDIS console room, but while she was more adept at using it than the Doctor, she still didn't manage to stay on her feet with Amelia in tow, their bodies causing a clang on the floor of the TARDIS as they lost their footing and landed roughly on the walkway around the console.<p>

Amelia quickly got back on her feet looking a bit green and ran off, her shoes echoing thuds with each step she took. River got to her feet as well, thankful the Doctor wasn't there to see that embarrassing of a spectacle. Using a Vortex manipulator was tricky with passengers at the best of time, let alone when one of the passengers was unaware and you were trying to land in a TARDIS. She brushed off her shorts and went to find Amelia.

She found her relatively quickly; the TARDIS always did love River, and knocked lightly on the open door. "I should have warned you that might make you sick. Sorry, sweetie." She said seeing the little girl sitting on the rim of the bathtub and wrapped in a purple towel.

Amelia wiped her mouth on the purple towel and shook her head. "It's okay." She said shakily.

River frowned at the blood smeared on the girls face as she noticed the nosebleed the girl had. "No…It's not. Come here." River said calmly as she helped Amelia up onto the counter and dug through the counters drawers, pulling out a wash cloth and a cup. She filled the cup up from the sink and handed it to Amelia while she wet the cloth. "Here. Drink it slow."

Amelia did as told, grateful to sit still for a moment.

River wrung the cloth out and looked at Amelia's face properly. "I told you to cover your ears."

"I did!" Amelia protested as River cleaned off the blood.

"Not properly." River chastised her. "Next time seal them with your palms, not your fingers. That helps block the sonic more. Do you have a headache?"

"A bit." Amelia admitted.

"Easily dealt with." River tossed the cloth into a laundry basket she assumed the TARDIS produced and pulled at the mirror. As expected it popped and opened to the side. It held inside on shelves different girl items including Tylenol. "Little Tip, Amelia." She hazard a guess about which name to use based on what she'd seen so far today. Amelia didn't say anything, so apparently she'd guessed right. "If you ever need anything pain related always look through an ex-companions bathroom. They're stocked."

Amelia swallowed the pills gratefully. "What do we do now?" she slid off the counter, River helping her avoid falling, "Do we go back for the Doctor?" She asked, a tone of worry in her voice.

River scoffed, following the girl out of the room. "Why on Earth would we do that?" She questioned as she tried to calm the girl.

"Because it's nice and he needs us." Amelia opened the door to her room and invited River in. She put her pirate hat on top of the dresser and pulled her hair back away from her face. It'd all came down when she fell and her hat came off. "You always help someone in need." She continued turning to look at the woman who was now sitting on her bed.

"Yes," River agreed, bouncing slightly on the bed. "But he doesn't need us currently." She stated calmly.

"He doesn't?" Amelia asked curiously, the Doctor always seemed to need help, and he was hurt!

"He has Tish and Rory looking after him. Plus I think Martha and Mickey are there and a few other friends of his."

River looked over at the girl reassuringly as she toyed with the stuffed bear on the bed. "I don't know about you, dear, but I really wouldn't want to be in that mix if I were famous."

"And I'm famous…" Amelia paused thinking it over. "He was hurt." The worry creeping back into her voice as she sat beside River and looked up at the older woman.

"He knows no less than five medical doctors. Martha and Rory among them, I'm sure they'll stitch him up just fine." River said countering all her reasons to go back for him and Amelia didn't have an argument to any of it.

"Then…What do we do till he gets back?" Amelia crossed her arms, tapping her right hand's nails against her left bicep, "He'll be ages."

River stood up, a slow grin forming. "Well, sweetie, let's see. I have a credit card and a psychic paper; we're in the 21st century; it's Halloween and the Doctor isn't around to say no…What the hell, let's go out."

"Out?" She asked curiously, going out was a rare treat, and she had to be careful.

"Let's hit the town! Go see the sights." River said enthusiastically. She tugged at her shirt and frowned, "I think I'll change first though, and find some make up."

"Why're you dressed like that?" Amelia asked forgetting about the Doctor as she listened to River.

"I was at work." River said as she got off the bed and with Amelia following went in search of the wardrobe.

"I thought you were in prison?" Amelia asked, wanting to know more about her friend.

River laughed, "I'm supposed to be but I couldn't pass up a job opportunity I was given so I busted out. Really, I had a very nice job digging for treasure and archiving data on a planet no one was allowed to go to, why would I stay in prison?"

"So you were working?" Amelia asked.

"Mhmm." River entered the wardrobe and looked around happily.

"Did I get you in trouble?" Amelia wanted to know, hoping she didn't, River didn't need more trouble, that's what the Doctor said.

River looked at her strangely, "Why would you get me in trouble?"

"Well, Rory called his mum at work once and her boss yelled at her for it." Amelia said remembering the incident where she'd gotten them stuck up a tree.

River scoffed, "I **am** the boss, sweetie. What I say goes."

"Even while in prison?" Amelia asked curiously.

"Especially while in prison. A co-worker fields any calls we get, deals with the trivial stuff and calls me if something fun pops up." River ran her fingers across some blouses that were hanging up and smiled as she came across something she liked.

"So you're only in prison when you want to be in prison? Why?" Curiosity getting the better of the little girl as she started to get more and more excited about going on another adventure.

"A promise I made just before I went to prison." River stated as she started to pull clothing off the hanger and hang it over her arm before digging again.

"Who to?" Amelia asked very curious.

River smiled at Amelia, "Spoilers. Let me get dressed and we'll go out."

* * *

><p>-Royal Hope-<p>

* * *

><p>"Ow!" the Doctor whined loudly, squirming in his seat.<p>

"Shut up, you big baby." Martha said calmly as she tied off a stitch and got started on another one. "Or I'll have Mickey hold you down. You would think you'd never gotten stitches before."

Martha had commandeered a small hospital room and pulled everyone into it.

The Doctor was squirming on a hospital bed while Rory lay on a gurney. He wasn't hurt that Martha had seen when she'd checked him over while Mickey located something to put him on.

If he didn't wake up in the next few minutes she'd look at him again.

Sarah Jane was standing next to him almost protectively, her three sitting against the wall talking animatedly yet quietly together. Clyde was dressed as a Jedi, complete with a lightsaber on his belt; Luke dressed up in a brown pinstriped suit with bright red converse shoes on his feet with his hair spiked up, the Doctor had looked at him and giggled for a few minutes; Rani had – against Clyde's suggestion of 'metal bikini Leia' – dressed as a female version of Super Man, complete with a blue skirt that Clyde had nearly giggled about.

"You've had stitches?" Tish asked curiously. She sat on one of the visitor chairs holding an icepack to her face.

"He got bit by a shark once." Martha told her sister. "Right on the –"

"Personal!" the Doctor shrieked girlishly.

"Yeah, anyway. I had to stitch him up and extract teeth. He whined for days." Martha said smirking as she continued to stitch up the head wound on the doctor.

"Days?" Mickey grinned, leaning against the wall next to Tish with his arms crossed over his chest. "Over a few stitches?"

"At first it was over stitches." Martha finished and started on the next stitch as he squirmed either from embarrassment or discomfort. "Then it was over why couldn't he just use a dermal hypo-glue to fix himself within minutes."

"Why couldn't he?" Mickey asked enjoying this story mostly because of the Doctor's embarrassment.

"I ran out." the Doctor said sulkily, "Then the Blue Goo container shattered. I had to deal with stitches for three whole days!"

"Three days?" Mickey scoffed. "I had to deal with them for near a month when I split my leg on the playground."

Tish smiled but winced, that hurt. Martha caught the action and frowned.

"So, Doctor…" She put the needle and tools she'd been using away and gently covered his new stitches with an antibiotic salve. "Want to explain why my sister is all bruised up and you've got stitches?" Martha smirked at the Doctor as she watched his reaction.

Mickey would have tried for a display of power to back up his wife's tone, but didn't feel the need to put effort into it; the Doctor was already being twitchy.

The Doctor waited till Martha had her hands off his head and working on bandaging before responding. "That might be my fault." He said sheepishly, subconsciously backing away from his former companions as he realized how many of those currently present might want to hurt him for this and past transgressions.

"Might be?" Sarah Jane looked nearly entertained at his discomfort. He chalked it up to a small payback for him taking Luke, hoping that was as far as she'd go.

"I'm still not totally convinced it was my fault." the Doctor shifted in his seat as Martha came closer and wrapped his head to cover the wound. "I mean, yes, it was me that caused the bruises but to be fair…" He pointed at Tish accusingly, "She hit me!"

"You hit him?" Mickey looked down at his sister in law with pride.

"Yes, but he started it." Tish pulled the ice pack away from her face, annoyed by the cold that hurt nearly as much as it had before.

"How did he start it?" Mickey asked, both wanting to know and wanting to make the Doctor twitch some more.

"He kissed me." Tish stated, mock horror in her tone as she pointed right back at him with the same accusation.

"He what?" Martha glared at him as he tried to sneak his way to the door. "You what?"

"To be fair it wasn't me. Well, it was me but it wasn't me. See, it was me but the shade made my thoughts disappear and replaced them with its thoughts so it wasn't me." He said hurriedly.

"Anyone believe a word of that?" Mickey asked.

"Yes." Sarah Jane said. "If he'd kissed her he'd out and out admit it. He doesn't see any issues with it, just look at how many people his last self kissed."

Martha smiled a bit and Mickey shook his head in mock annoyance.

"I've got to go…" he edged closer to the door. "**Certain companions** to find, alien menaces to deal with. Sights to see." the Doctor fixed his eyes on Tish's though he spoke to the whole room. "_People_ to meet. I hope they remember where to **meet me**. It would be a nuisance to try to _track them down_."

Tish nodded minutely, message received.

"Who are you travelling with now?" Sarah Jane asked, Martha, Mickey, and the teens all turning to look at the Doctor, curiosity plain on their faces.

"Oh, long story." He said with a grin opening the door and stepping out. A moment later he popped back in a sheepish look on his face. "Forgot my hug….do I still get a hug?" The look he sent Sarah Jane was like a kicked puppy.

She kept her look stern for a moment as he shifted in place then it melted into a smile. "Do you ever not?"

He bounded the few feet in between them and engulfed her in a big hug, lifting her off the ground temporarily.

After a moment or two he let her go. "No more mad?"

Sarah Jane held her thumb and forefinger close together. "Little bit."

The Doctor frowned. He looked around then spotted his helmet. He handed it to her with a grin. "You can keep the cool helmet if you won't be mad."

Sarah Jane took the helmet from him. "How can I stay mad with such a _cool_ gift." She rolled her eyes but he didn't catch the sarcasm and left with a grin.

"If I didn't know better I'd say Tish gave him brain damage." Mickey stated to the quiet room.

Martha laughed and moved to Rory's side. He still wasn't awake. "Tish, did he hit his head or anything?"

"Um…" Tish thought back over the day's events. "No, I mean he thumped it when he passed out but I think it's just stress that got to him."

"Hmm." Martha checked his reaction time with a light then patted his face lightly. "Rory…Rory, can you hear me?"

"Mmm." Rory groaned but didn't really reply.

"Need his medical chart then I could tell if he had a history of fainting spells or something of the like –"

"He doesn't." Sarah Jane replied, "No epilepsy, no black outs, perfectly healthy. Mostly."

Mickey stared at her, "No….Not again. You're not allowed to do that!"

"Do what? How do you know?" Came the question from several people, so many no one knew who asked what.

"She has this thing." Mickey complained, "I saw it when I lived with her, she knows EVERYBODY!"

"Do not." Sarah Jane replied.

"Do so! She knew Mika and Jorge."

"To be fair I knew Mika from when you crashed my car and I met Jorge while in jail awaiting bail." Sarah Jane said mock glaring at Mickey.

Martha waved Mickey off, "How do you know Rory?"

Sarah Jane looked at her disbelievingly, "He's a central thread in the disappearance of Amelia Pond."

"Really? Huh. What's that have to do with you knowing him?" Martha asked still not seeing the connection.

"She wrote the book on her. Really." Tish told Martha, "She wrote _'Where's Amelia: The Girl Who Disappeared'_."

Martha looked surprised. "Huh. I might have to read that. Rory has something to do with that?"

"He was her best friend. Met him for the first time when he had just turned eight. Let me try." Sarah Jane moved to take up Martha's spot. She rubbed one of his hands between both of her hands and spoke. "Rory, you need to wake up."

"Mmm?" Rory groaned half conscious.

"Yes." Sarah Jane stated firmly, shaking her head as she was reminded of having to have similar morning conversations with Luke, Clyde, Rani, Mickey…even the Doctor when she'd used to travel with him.

"Hm!" Rory responded nearly making her giggle as a particular memory of the Fourth Doctor being just as stubborn and how she'd woken him.

"Rory Alwyn Williams, wake up now." She nearly yelled her voice raised as she went with the way she usually woke up Luke and Clyde on bad mornings.

Rory's eyes shot open and he looked like a chastised child. "What?" He tried to sit upright immediately but groaned and had to lie back down. "Ow."

"Why kind of name is 'Owl-wind' anyway?" Mickey snickered.

"Alwyn, and it's welsh. Mock it to Gwen and see what happens." Sarah Jane threatened him playfully making him blush. She turned her attention back to Rory. "You feeling okay?"

Rory sat up slowly and let Martha look over him. "I'm fine. Think so."

"You fainted." Martha checked his pulse, counting to make sure he was fine.

"Yeah, I -" Rory caught Tish's eye. Tish was making cut-throat motions either threatening him with death or telling him to shut up. "Whacked my head." He said lamely. "Some weird shadow things were…just fell, that's all."

Martha made a noise signifying she didn't really believe him, but chocked it up to him being embarrassed about fainting because of Aliens. "Don't see any bumps or bruises. I wouldn't drive home though. Leave your car here and catch a ride."

"Don't have a car. I take the bus." Rory stated nervously, wanting to talk to Tish, or hide, or cry he wasn't sure what.

"I'll give him a ride." Sarah Jane offered. Her kids looked surprised.

"Mum, how—" Luke started his brain trying to figure out the logistics.

"You three can squeeze into the backseat. It won't be for long." Sarah Jane said giving the three teens a look.

"You don't have to." Rory blushed, he didn't want her kids to see where he lived.

"I know I don't, but I trust my driving more than a bus for an injured person." She grabbed his hand before he could protest and led him out and away.

"Bye." Luke waved at Martha cheerfully and tried to catch up.

"I refuse to sit in the middle." Clyde protested as he and Rani followed them.

Tish shrunk back in her seat as her sister and brother-in-law both turned their full attention to her. "What?"

"Several things. First of all, why are you here?" Martha asked a tinge of anger in her voice.

"I was on a date with Rory." Tish muttered. Lying through her teeth.

"A date with Rory? What about…what's his name..Iain?" Martha asked her anger growing along with worry.

"He's out with his daughter so I'm with Rory." Tish said trying to cover her lies so neither her sister nor Mickey would question further.

"Tish—" Tish nearly groaned as Martha tried using the Mum tone, despite the fact she was two years younger, Martha always tried to act the part of the oldest.

"Save the lecture for later. Can I catch a ride home? I got a ride here, my car was acting up." Tish stated, not really wanting to be with them, but not wanting to reveal her real transportation. Yes it was, another lie, but TARDIS travel would get her a lecture and probably the Doctor killed.

"Fine." Martha nodded. "But we're talking in the car."

"Fun." Tish sighed as she followed Martha and Mickey out of the hospital.

* * *

><p>-The TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor quickly made his way back to the TARDIS, wanting to waste no time where he could be found out or picked on more. He'd gained several stitches and lost a cool hat, tonight was not looking very good.<p>

He entered the TARDIS, shutting the door behind him. "Amelia? River?"

No answer. He climbed the steps two at a time and found a note taped to the centre console.

He tugged it down peeling the tape away and scowling at the mark it left behind. The Doctor looked at the note and made a noise of annoyance, so much for the TARDIS being a peaceful spot.

_"Sweetie, Gone out with Amelia to explore London and expand her cultural knowledge. Meet you at Tish's home no later than midnight. XO River."  
><em>

Great, now he had to wait for those two, find a way to keep Rory quiet and find how to get to Tish's without being noticed or seen by Martha and Mickey.

He could just leave….take off now and leave Amelia with River. River would figure something out…Then she'd be safe and he wouldn't have to take her dangerous places….then of course she'd also be raised by _**River Song**_.

Strike that.

A weird yapping noise caught his attention along with nails on glass. He looked down and scowled, "They've all gone out and left me with the dog."

Yumo yipped at him happily prancing in place for attention.

"Go away."

Yumo bounced on his back paws, front paws waving at the Doctor as if to say 'pick me up'.

He looked around surreptitiously before bending over and lifting the pup up. "Tell anyone I played with you and I'm turning you into a hat."

Yumo licked him enthusiastically, nearly sending them flying into the 29th century instead of the Vortex.

He pulled out his phone and skimmed through it to find Tish's number. Text messages were easy, weren't they?

Yumo bumped his head against the Doctors.

"Stop it. It won't be a cool hat either. Because it'd be blue and furry." the Doctor threatened him as he typed out a message to Tish. "And only pink furry hats are cool."

Yumo didn't seem to care.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Pink furry hats are totally cool. Yumo-hat anyone? <em>Our readers would kill us, you do realize that don't you? <em>Eh. Doesn't stop the image of a Yumo-hat like a racoon hat being funny. _Why does Sarah Jane know everyone? _Because she's awesome like that. And a reporter...who lives where a lot of stuff goes down...and she's cool. _River's corrupting Amelia...They're alone, together in London. With however much River can get that card for..._whoevers card it may be.]**


	35. Moving the pieces check

"I'm fine. You can leave." Rory told Sarah Jane as she pulled up in front of his building. "Really." He continued hoping that she would take the kids and leave, they really didn't need to be in this neighbourhood.

"You live here?" Clyde asked, peeking out the window of the small car as best as he could.

The three teens, all in costume still were crowded tightly together in the back seat, Rani stuck in the middle squished between Luke and Clyde. Rory felt a little bad for them being squished in, but at least in the front he had leg room.

"Yeah." Rory said softly. "It's not much."

"Seriously?" Clyde said looking at the ramshackle old building they had pulled in front of.

"Clyde…" Sarah Jane gave him the look and he shut up. Then she turned to look at Rory keeping her expression normal as she spoke. "I'll walk you in." She said taking Rory's hand before he could protest.

Rory started to protest but quieted. "Alright, but I'd lock the car with them in it." He said quietly, this was a bad neighbourhood.

"We can go in." Luke said, "The car has an excellent alarm system helped by K-9 and Mr. Smith meddling."

Rory looked over at them and shook his head. "No…you'll be safer here." Rory said hoping Sarah Jane agreed.

Sarah Jane could feel Rory's discomfort. "You three stay put, lock the doors."

Sarah Jane and Rory walked towards the building doors, as a scramble happened in the car.

"They do realize they can change seats by getting out of the car, don't they?" Rory asked looking at them oddly as he held the door open.

"I'm told that halves the fun." Sarah Jane replied dryly.

Someone's foot hit the horn and they could hear laughter.

He didn't trust the elevator, neither did she so they quietly climbed the stairs together.

He tried to keep from any form of conversation that could imply anything; his brain was working overtime with odd thoughts. He'd seen Amelia, his Amelia; he saw aliens, more than Judoon aliens; Was Tish just manipulating him from their first meeting? Did she really like him?

She'd kissed him goodnight the night before, but it was on the cheek…maybe this was all just some drug induced haze. Some days he had to wonder whether or not this was all just a hallucination brought on by psychotropic drugs and he wasn't institutionalized somewhere.

"-You okay?" Sarah Jane asked, seeing the younger man's expressions as he was lost in thought.

"Huh?" Rory snapped back to reality. "Oh, fine." He said distracted slipping back into his train of thought as he continued to walk to his apartment.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he entered his flat. He pulled it out and scanned the message, it was from Tish: _"If anyone asks we were on a date at the hospital, Iain didn't come and Amy wasn't there nor was River. Promise to explain it all as soon as sister leaves. Think you could make it to my house?"_ Rory looked at the phone for a moment before quickly sending a reply saying he could and got back an address and smiling face in reply.

Yeah…maybe she was messing with him. Drugs were still on the table though.

"So you've probably got a lot of questions." Sarah Jane said calmly as he sat down on the futon.

"You have no idea." Rory replied.

She sat down on the other side. "Oh, I bet I have a pretty good idea." Sarah said as she looked at him.

"Really?" Rory looked disbelieving at Sarah Jane.

"I was shocked the first time I found out about aliens as well." Sarah Jane said thoughts of her adventures going through her head quickly before she nodded.

Right, aliens, not Amelia. "Is that why you were in town, Aliens? Is that why you stopped by yesterday?" Rory asked the memory of the last time he had seen her flashing through his mind.  
><em><em>

_**He opened the door and stopped in his tracks, his face going blank as he encountered someone on the other side. A very familiar someone. A very familiar someone he really didn't want to see right now.  
>"Sarah Jane?" Rory asked in shock<br>"Hello, Rory." She said with a big smile, "Can I come in for a moment?"**_

__"That's one reason. I was serious about wanting to catch up and information for the new article." Sarah Jane told him. "Now, about aliens." It was amazing how many times she'd had to give this speech over the years.

"They are real and out there. There are hundreds of planets and thousands of moons. Not all are bad, like you saw tonight. Some just need a little help or are curious about us." Sarah Jane continued to talk, Rory listening to her every word.

He nodded along, absorbing all the information she had to give him but at the same time worrying about Amelia and Tish.

When she went to leave she paused, looking around the flat Rory called home. "I really wish you would take some of the money you deserve." Sarah Jane said looking sadly around the small flat.

"I don't deserve any money." Rory replied as he always had at those comments.

"For photos, interviews and name references, yes you do." Sarah Jane had done a number of articles and a book that had Rory in them. He'd always refused to touch any money however.

"No, I really don't. I'm fine. I make do." Rory told her.

"Your flat is the size of Luke's room." She told him flatly, "You should take the money."

"I make do." He repeated calmly.

"Of course you do." Sarah Jane shook her head. She should know better than to argue the point by now. That did not mean, however, she didn't hide a few pounds under his pillow on the futon for him to pretend not to find later, while he wasn't looking.

"Next time there's an alien invasion, I'm staying home." He said with a forced smile.

"I don't blame you." She hugged Rory before she left, receiving a big hug back.

He waited till her car was gone from sight before changing clothes and grabbing his coat. It was a long walk to Tish's flat, but if he left now he could be there outside of an hour.

He stopped outside the building and looked to the bike rack. No one would notice one going missing and he WAS in a hurry… No one bothered to lock their bikes up in this neighbourhood, it just added a challenge and it was too expensive to buy a new lock when yours broke.

He found one with both tires aired up that either belonged to the man in 32 or the woman in 25. And borrowed it…he'd return it and it would knock a good twenty minutes off of his travelling time.

* * *

><p>-River and Amelia-<p>

* * *

><p>"And then as I'm trying hard to get out of the dug out section this wall of dirt comes down in a wave over myself and Anita." River said smiling at the memory and the responses from the little girl beside her.<p>

Amelia giggled at River's story. "Then what?" She asked curiously, leaning forward to find out more in this fun story.

"Then Anita and I share this look of horror, if our professor found out we had been down there he'd kill us!" River said animatedly, "We were only second year students after all; we had no call for the physical work. So we finally climb out after an hour of trying and laughing make our way back to the dorms. Our Professor finds us as we're entering and gives us this very stern look." River mimicked the face to make Amelia smile.

"And says 'do you know what time it is?' I check my watch, but it isn't on! It's gone, so I lie with a smile and say 'past our bedtime?' I looked all over and could not for the life of me find that watch. A week later when they're digging in the middle of an ancient burial ground they dig up my bright green watch." River said smirking.

Amelia was starting to think River might just be the coolest adult out there, well besides the Doctor or Tish. She was smart, she dug for ancient things and she dressed up in odd costumes just for work!

Currently the two were walking down the street in what River called 'fun ancient London'. The lights were bright and people were milling all around in costumes.

The chill in the air would have gotten to her, but River had shed her jacket and wrapped it around Amelia, even though it dwarfed her a bit.

River had gotten someone making whistling noises at her and she'd laughed at him and made a motion with her hand she then told Amelia not to ever repeat.

River dressed up like a pirate to match Amelia. She had on heels on her boots though and hers laced up the front more than Amelia's did. Instead of trousers she had on a skirt with a slit up the side of it and instead of a billowy shirt like Amelia had on she had some weird top that had ribbon lacing together across the front of it. River had on hoop earrings on that were huge and looked very pirate like and a bandana over her hair. Wait, that reminded her.

"River, who is Captain Jack?" Amelia asked, lacing her fingers in Rivers to keep up with her or make River slow her stride.

River looked at her in surprise. "You don't know Captain Jack Harkness?"

"No, I know him." Amelia nodded, "But Rory told me earlier that in my costume I looked better than Captain Jack. Is he a pirate?" She asked cautiously, he hadn't looked like a pirate.

River bit back whatever she wanted to reply and said instead, "Captain Jack, to him, is a Pirate from a very famous movie series, not Captain Jack Harkness."

"There's a Captain Jack in movies?" Amelia asked interestedly.

River smiled and tugged at Amelia's hand lightly, "Want to see the movies?"

"Sure! Can we?" Amelia said bouncing in her chair.

"We're in a giant city, I'm sure we can find some theatre somewhere showing at least one of them." River said indulgently, "And if not I've got my handy dandy wrist strap. We could go to the premier."

* * *

><p>-Tish-<p>

* * *

><p>Tish had never counted minutes like she had when she sat in the backseat of Mickey's car having a serious conversation with her sister. She loved her sister to death, but it was hard to explain without admitting she was with the Doctor.<p>

Just a few simple words "I'm travelling with the Doctor" and there wouldn't be any more conflict…well, less conflict. But Tish was afraid to say those words. She didn't want them to know because then they'd ask about Amelia because they'd seen her before.

She didn't want to tell them just in case they'd hate her for travelling with him even though he'd sent them to therapy.

Tish was afraid her sister would go way over protective because of the year that wasn't.

But mostly she didn't want to tell them for purely selfish reasons: She was having fun! It was funny watching them try to figure it out and it was just plain amusing to hear Leo freaking out.

She'd have to tell them eventually, but for now…

"Are you sure you're not being brain washed?" Martha asked her seriously.

"I'm pretty sure." Tish nodded.

"He's not in some cult?" Martha continued ignoring Tish's look of exasperation at the questioning.

Tish paused and wondered what religion the Doctor was…. "I don't think so."

Mickey parked outside the building and left the doors locked. "Martha, want to walk her in? Think I should give Jack a call, tell him what's up with the disturbance."

Tish made an annoyed face at being 'walked in' like a child but didn't say anything.

Her phone buzzed and she ignored the two in the front seat. She pulled it out and tried not to laugh at the Doctor's frantic message.

_**"Save me! Left alone with yapping soon-to-be hat. River stole Amelia. HELP!"**_

_"Stay calm. Will text when they're gone. Don't hatify Yumo!" _she sent back.

"Tish?" Martha asked seeing her distracted sister looking half amused half exasperated at her phone.

"Huh?" She looked up. Oh, doors unlocked. "Thanks for the ride, Mickey." Tish said opening the door and getting out.

"Any time." Mickey said, pulling out his phone to call Jack.

Tish let Martha follow her up into the flat, Tish texted Rory on the way just to be safe then stuck the phone away and refused to worry about what Amelia was doing with some odd Alien hunting lady that made the Doctor worry.

"Tish, I don't mean to sound like I'm nagging." Martha started to talk as they entered Tish's apartment, "But I'm worried."

Tish felt bad, she really should tell her… "I'm fine." Tish reassured her, "Really, I am."

"Dating two men?" Martha frowned at her sister.

"Less dating…more…" Tish made a decision. "Okay, Martha, I'll let you in on a secret, but you have to promise not to tell Mum, Dad, Leo OR Mickey." She said hoping what she was about to say could both keep Martha from protesting and protect her secrets.

Martha made a face at her.

"Okay, fine, tell Mickey but if he blabs I'm blaming you." Tish warned her as she took off her coat and hung it up, locking the door just in case.

Martha looked leery, "Is this one of those secrets that come with a death threat?"

"No. Promise me you won't tell?" Tish repeated.

"I promise." Martha nodded.

"Swear?" Tish held out her hand.

"Swear." Martha agreed grudgingly clasping Tish's hand in a deal.

"Right. I've got a new job. It's working for a wealthy but very odd man; Iain. I'm not a secretary though, I'm a nanny. I know, I know, weird and why the secret but…" Tish smiled at Martha, "I get to travel to all these exotic locations and see things I never thought I would. Think what Mum would say if she knew I was travelling with an unmarried man, his daughter and on occasion other friends of his."

Martha looked at her in shock, "Seriously?"

"What?" Tish asked, "It's not that hard to believe."

"You're being a nanny?" Martha sat down on the couch, "Dear God, Leticia, I nearly had a heart attack all last week!"

Tish smiled sheepishly, a little happy to let off a bit of the lie, "I know. Sorry. It was funny though!"

Martha glared for a moment then let herself smile, "It was. A bit. Little bit. You made Leo rant."

"I know." Tish giggled, "And mum!"

"Why the big secret? You don't think she'd approve, that's all?" Martha said smiling at her older sister.

"Well, Iain is quite fit…" Tish tried not to comment on the Doctor where he could hear, he had a big enough ego.

"His friend who comes with on occasion is rather handsome. Mum and Dad would both pitch a fit." Tish smirked at the last part.

Martha felt relieved and Tish could see it clearly. "Alright, but don't disappear. I want the truth if I call, not some half-cooked lie about sleeping with several people."

"In my defence it was cold, there was only one bed and the Dog thought I was a good bed." Tish protested making Martha laugh.

* * *

><p>Once Tish was certain Martha and Mickey were gone she texted the Doctor back again.<p>

_"M&M gone. You can come back. Waiting on Rory."  
><em>

Almost instantly she heard the TARDIS noise and a slight crash in the backroom.

The Doctor came running down the hallway moments later looking frantic. He didn't pause but took a flying leap over the table onto the couch next to Tish. "Save me!"

"From what?" She laughed as he hid next to her.

A yapping noise came echoing through and she looked in surprise as Yumo came sprinting down the same way as the Doctor had and tried to leap at him. His stubby legs made it a little hard to climb onto the couch though.

"Hah! Can't get me here, can you? Stupid furry soon-to-be hat." the Doctor taunted the Uval and stuck his tongue out at Yumo. "Nyeh!"

"Leave the puppy alone." Tish scolded him.

She left the Doctor sitting on the couch, feet drawn up against his chest taunting the bouncing Uval to go put tea on. Rory should be here soon. She hadn't even thought to ask how he was getting here. Busses might not run this late…Oh that might mean he'd be walking.

"Tish!" the Doctor whined from the living room. "Tish!" he made sure to stretch out the vowels.

"What?" She asked looking through the door at him.

"I'm hungry." He stated plainly, "And my head hurts."

"Your point?" Tish just looked at him.

"You could cook for me." the Doctor suggested, "And help with dermal glue."

"I could?" Tish said giving him a look he was starting to recognize as the look she gave Amelia when the girl did not want to clean her room.

He nodded then stopped because it hurt to do so. "Yes."

"I think the question is 'will I'." Tish stated firmly looking at the doctor.

The Doctor frowned; generally companions just did as asked…well, when he was injured…okay, sometimes when he was injured. "Will you please help me glue my scalp back together and get rid of the stitches since you are the one who hurt me?"

She laughed, "Well, when you put it that way…

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Oh, sorry about being late. Partner went to visit nephew and my grandparents invaded. <strong>_**Yeah...for once it's not late because of ME!**_** You could have done it last night! Anyway, Filler chapter, of sorts. **_**Just catching up on who is where...You better not turn Yumo into a hat. **_**But it'd be like a coon skin hat! **_**Readers would kill us. **_**Okay, and to apologize for the lateness of this chapter we have a special 'look ahead' into the near_ish _future :**

_"Okay, we_ do_ NOT use Amelia to pick up girls!"  
>"Bu-"<br>"OR men; non-gendered aliens, transvestites, transgendered life forms, Robots, non-body-having sentient beings or poodles."  
>"What about<em> –"  
>"NO!" <strong>]<strong>


	36. Attack dogs, Corsets and Super Novas

Rory chucked the bike aside near the entrance to Tish's building and took a deep breath. He was a strong, brave, confident man and would not be backed down from finding the truth about Amelia no matter what. He kept repeating that to himself as he entered the building but stopped in shock.

It was clean! Vacuumed carpets that didn't have a stain on them that looked like a chalk outline; the walls were a cheerful yellow that was on purpose; it smelled of flowers and sunshine, not of rotten milk and smoke…There wasn't caution tape on the lift!

"Wow." Rory mumbled to himself as he pressed the button to call the lift. He checked his mobile again just to make sure he had the right floor.

He was a brave, strong, confident man and he would not be backed down. He repeated this to himself as he walked down the hall to Tish's flat.

He was brave! Strong, nothing could stop him!

Rory knocked on the door, steeling himself for a fight of some sort; he was strong, brave and confident!

The door opened and the man from the hospital looked at him in annoyance. "What do you want?"

"Er, looking for Tish?" He cleared his throat, unhappy at the way his voice had squeaked. "I mean, I'm here to talk to Tish Jones." Rory stared at the strange man then repeated his mantra again.

The man rolled his eyes but opened the door the rest of the way and ducked aside, walking away. "Come in then and sit down somewhere." The man said in a bored tone.

Rory looked around suspiciously but shut the door behind him and followed the man anyway. "Where's Tish?" He asked curiously

"In the shower." The man sat down on the couch and picked up a bowl full of soup off of the table, leaning back and crossing his feet, resting them on the table.

"Okay…Who are you?" Rory asked looking at the strange man in his friends apartment.

"I'm the Doctor." the Doctor said glaring at Rory.

"Doctor Who?" Rory asked confused at the strange looking man. He didn't look like any doctor he had ever seen.

"Just 'the Doctor'." the Doctor smiled then turned his attention to the telly. He picked up the remote and pressed a button, unfreezing the show on the screen. Instantly bright colours assaulted Rory's senses.

"Are you watching Cartoons?" He looked at his watch, "At nearly 10:30 at night? How did you find cartoons this late?" Rory blinked at the television, and the colourful puppet like characters singing on the screen.

The Doctor sent him an aggravated look and spoke with his mouth full of soup, "On Demand." He mumbled out.

"What?" Rory asked

"Tish. She has something called 'On Demand'. I'm not sure what it is. Think it might be some sort of slavery over electronics. But she found it for me." He said smugly as he spooned up more broth from his bowl.

"I see…" Rory looked around, it was cleaner than it had been last night, no food or clothing sat around, DVD's didn't lie all over the table. The Doctor was dressed much like a university professor, complete with braces and pressed trousers. All he was missing was one of those old fashion tweed jackets to go with the bowtie, Rory thought with a smirk. "Where are the other two?" He asked looking around carefully.

"What other two?" he asked coyly.

"Amelia and er…River?" River stumbled trying to remember the names from the hospital.

The Doctor stiffened but continued watching the TV and eating, "Don't know who you're talking about."

Rory looked exasperated and flopped down onto the other end of the couch, "Any idea how long Tish'll be?" Rory looked around the apartment again. Hoping Tish would get here soon.

"Women take ages getting dressed and showering." the Doctor told him. "I'm not sure why. Do you know?"

Rory gave up trying to get a concise answer, "I don't know. Washing their hair takes a long time?"

The Doctor considered it and nodded, "Good idea. I'll have to try that one."

* * *

><p>-Tish-<p>

* * *

><p>Tish listened to the loud noises coming from the living room, but didn't think much of it. The Doctor had discovered how to flip channels (Apparently her telly was 'weird') and had been consuming his 3rd bowl of soup when she got into the shower.<p>

A dermal-glue, as he had called it, worked to fix his scalp together, but first she had been forced to remove the stitches he had in place. Even with gloves it had been a mess so she'd made her way to change as soon as possible.

"-Go on, get him, Yumo!" A yipping sound echoed towards her causing her to quicken her pace as she got dressed.

The Doctor encouraging the Uval…that wasn't good.

She hurriedly pulled her last sock on and opened her door.

"Good boy!" She heard the doctor say

"Argh!" She recognized that voice immediately and started quickly towards the living room.

Running down the hallway she paused in shock. Rory was on the couch, feet curled up under him as Yumo yipped at him furiously. The Doctor sat happily on the other end of the couch cheering Yumo on.

"Doctor!" She yelled in a voice reserved for when he or Amelia were being particularly rude or bad.

He looked up and had the grace to look a bit ashamed. "Sorry."

"Yumo, behave." Tish scolded the Uval.

Yumo made a whining noise but obediently left Rory alone.

"How long have you been here, Rory?" Tish asked calmly, looking at the other man in the room.

"Long enough to realize his stomach must be ever expanding and children's programming has gotten worse." Rory said.

"Oh…Doctor, did you get him some soup?" Tish turned her attention to the Doctor glaring a bit.

"No." the Doctor said stubbornly glaring at Rory childishly.

"Did you offer?" Tish questioned knowing the answer.

"No!" the Doctor looked possessive as he held onto his bowl, "My soup."

"God, you're such a child. I'm letting it slide tonight, thanks to pain killers. Tomorrow however, I will smack you."

Tish said "You must be polite to guests" she said turning and walking away.

He stuck his tongue out at her as she turned to the kitchen then went back to studying the TV Show.

"Rory, come in here?" Tish called him.

Rory stood up, sidestepped Yumo who grumbled at him, and continued his mantra as he walked into the kitchen.

'I'm a strong, brave, confident man who deserves answers.'

"Have a seat." Tish smiled as she poured hot water into two cups to make tea; at least the Doctor had boiled water for her. "Are you hungry? There is more soup or I've got sandwich stuff in the fridge." She offered.

"No. I'm good." Rory said as he sat down at the table. He took a deep breath, "I want to know why Amelia was at the hospital."

"Sure, pick the hard spot to start." Tish muttered but sat down at the table, handing him a cup. "Sugar's in the dish…"

"I'm not going mad, am I? Amelia really was there." Rory asked, getting to one of the reasons he was sitting here in an unfamiliar flat talking to Tish Jones of all people.

"Yes. She was." Tish took a moment to compose her thoughts. "What do you remember of the night Amelia went missing?" She asked gently.

"Well…Mum was watching us both. Aunt Sharon was out…I think with her fiancée." Rory had told the story so many times to so many different people as a child it had become routine. Now it was different, he hadn't told it as an adult to someone who didn't have an agenda. "We were playing and I fell and knocked my head on the stairs. Mum had to take me to the hospital…It was bedtime anyway so she told Amelia to go lay down; she called Aunt Sharon and said what happened. I was bleeding…

"We left for the hospital to get stitches. My mum sent over my brother and his friend to watch Amelia for a while. They weren't there but for maybe an hour before Aunt Sharon got there but Amelia was gone then and neither teen had any idea what happened or so they said."  
>Rory knew that bit second hand and it always came with a lecture on the dangers of drinking heavily. "They were arrested and brought in for questioning while I was given something at the hospital that interacted wrong with medication they had already put in me and an allergic reaction knocked me out for near a week. That's it."<p>

Tish looked at him seriously, "You don't believe that last bit."

"No, but it makes more sense than 'a world war two soldier came into my hospital room, questioned me then gave me little white pills to make me forget' and much better than 'the world thinks my brother killed Amelia Pond'." Rory said in annoyance, "Now, about Amelia!"

"Right." Tish nodded, "I wasn't there, but the Doctor was. Amelia's told me the story too. Not long after you left she was going to bed but the Doctor, he crash landed in her yard…"

* * *

><p>-The Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor ignored their discussion mostly. He could hear them perfectly despite how quiet they were trying to be. He hadn't known someone was home, he really hadn't.<p>

Maybe Rory would be an okay person to keep an eye on Amelia on Earth…then she'd be raised by an earth doctor….a weird medical one with stupid hair…strike that.

He pressed buttons on the remote to make it change channels. No, stupid, music…more music…gun fight…naked person, argh!

He tossed the remote away and glared at the TV.

The Doctor closed his eyes, rested his head back on the couch and settled down. Maybe resting wouldn't be too bad. Normally he didn't 'nap', but he did have rather bad head trauma and thanks to a several cans of soup a rather full stomach. Napping sounded good.

He hadn't been asleep very long when the door slammed and he heard voices.

The Doctor sat upright on the couch and looked around.

River stood in the entryway, bags in hand with Amelia next to her. Both were pink from cold and laughing.

"Hello, Sweetie." River said bouncing into the room and smiling flirtatiously at the Doctor.

The Doctors mouth fell open as he looked at River. He looked at Tish in the kitchen then at River again.

He pointed accusingly at River while staring at Tish, "You told me no one wore corsets anymore!" he pouted as he looked between the women.

"I didn't account for time travelling alien hunters." Tish said with a giggle.

"I'm not an alien hunter." River said, eyeing Rory who was staring from the kitchen. "I'm an archaeologist."

"Then why were you the one called when they needed help?" Rory asked her, trying to stick to his confident persona.

"Because I kick ass and take names." River looked at Amelia and smiled as the girl laughed. "Also, because the TARDIS knew help was needed. I've programmed my number into your mobile, so next time the TARDIS won't have to call me." She smirked looking straight at the Doctor.

Amelia removed her hand from River's and sat down on the arm of the couch to look at the Doctor's head. "Where are your stitches?"

"Stitches?" He asked looking curiously at the little girl as she talked.

"When Rory hit his head he got to get stitches and when Aunt Sharon's fiancée cut his hand they both had to get stitches. You did both." Amelia stated firmly looking at the doctor as if he should know this fact already.

"Martha put them in. I had Tish take them out and use better medical equipment to fix it."

Amelia grabbed his head and tilted it to examine the injury. It was red and the area a bit bloody still, he really needed to wash his hair, and the cut was rather visible still, but it wasn't bleeding and it was covered with something clear and sealed together with something bright pink. "Glue?" Amelia's brow furrowed as she thought about this.

"Mostly. Some Pink cream to help it along and get rid of scarring." the Doctor told her. "I had soup and watched 'the tweenies'. According to Human culture that means I'm healed." He said as Amelia thought a moment, then nodded, kissing her fingers and touching them lightly to the area anyway.

"For fast healing." She said simply remembering something Aunt Sharon used to do. A wave of sadness hit her and a frown marred her face.

The Doctor nodded solemnly, "I'll remember that part next time." He said gently scooting over on the couch allowing her to slide down to sit next him.

"Who exactly are you?" Rory asked River, "Beyond an archaeologist."

River smiled at the duo then looked at Tish. "Sorry about earlier, there wasn't much time for introductions were there?" She offered Tish her hand. "Doctor River Song."

"Leticia Jones." Tish shook her hand, "Call me Tish."

"Rory Williams." Rory shook the hand River offered him. "You're a doctor as well?"

"I hold a Doctorate in Archaeology and history, not medical. Best I can do for injuries are call for help or seal it with a bandage." River laughed.

"So both of you are doctors, but neither of you are medical doctors." Rory confirmed.

"Yup." the Doctor shifted on the couch and stretched his back out, making the joints pop. "They're just giving the title away now." Rory shook his head.

"Don't worry, Dr. Williams, your title isn't being poached." River smiled.

"Dr. Williams?" the Doctor looked between Rory's shocked face, Tish's expression of disbelief and amusement and Amelia who was covering her mouth then said gleefully, "Spoilers!"

"What?" Rivers smile faltered, "What year is this?"

"2009." Rory croaked.

Her smile fell completely, "Oh…bugger."

"Language." Amelia scolded her playfully.

* * *

><p>-Morning-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor stepped over a snoring Uval, sidestepped the sleeping Rory and made his way into the kitchen. Tish had said since he had head trauma they'd all just sleep at her flat tonight and travel tomorrow. Rory and Amelia had spent ages 'catching up' with him telling her about how he was a big brother and her telling him about Junbar and Demanshi.<p>

The Doctor actually had tea and coffee done when River appeared in the kitchen and stole his cup.

"Hey!" He protested.

"Mmm." River sat down in one of the kitchen chairs, drinking deeply. She had stayed overnight too, something about 'prison can wait' and 'etiquette'. River had even told Amelia a bedtime story which made him sulk.

"That's mine." He pouted, glaring at Rvier.

"Possession is 9/10ths the law." River told him smugly.

"Who taught you that?" He said sulkily.

"Jack Harkness." She smiled sweetly as he scowled and made a second cup. "So, what are you plotting?"

"Who says I'm plotting anything?" He asked as he stirred in sugar.

"That look on your face. You're plotting something devious. Or just plotting in general. Which is it?"

He narrowed his eyes at her studying her for some sign then smiled, "Trying to figure out what to do with Rory."

"What do you mean?" River said in concern.

"Well, do I wipe his memory of Amelia and dump him back? Do I ask convince him not to say a word?"

"Why not…invite him along?" River suggested, shrugging and gesturing with her hand, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"What if he refuses?" the Doctor sighed.

"Don't give him a choice." River said deviously, "Kidnap him."

"I'd never kidnap anyo—" He started

"Barbara, Ian, Amelia." River stated.

"None of them count and how do you -" He continued trying to finish a sentence.

"Spoilers." River smirked

"I hate you sometimes." the Doctor muttered sulkily into his tea.

They sat silently for a few minutes. "Kidnapping him is a good idea." He said still sulking

"Very good." River nodded egging him on.

"And if he doesn't behave I can always drop him into a super nova…" the Doctor smiled, obviously satisfied with his plan as River looked distinctly uncomfortable with the idea.

"Super Nova?" River asked a bit of worry in her voice.

"Oooh, or maybe I could just kick him into the sun!" the Doctor stated, not seeing the brief look of horror on River's face.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Sorry, late once again. With a new record of TWELVE HOURS being used to 'edit'. Wait, 10:22...just over thirteen. <em>Not my fault! I blame Apoca-Jesus. <em>No blaming Sims characters. Anyway, another 'just moving the pieces' chapter, sorry. More action-y type things soon to come! River's here. _Tomorow's christmas eve! _Yeah...Children to visit with...Frankly writing a Doctor Who version of Christmas is more appealing...Really 2009, The Master takes over earth where Tish, Rory and Jack are; River's in prison and the Doctor is alone with Amelia and Yumo..._What's the worst that could happen?_]**


	37. Hide and seek  Rebuilding Torchwood

-**TORCHWOOD-**

* * *

><p>Jack sat to the side of the warehouse in his little desk area watching as Gwen, Rhys, Mickey and Martha competed in a game of dodge ball, Lois acting as the referee. He was surprised Lois was here still; he thought that as strong as she was she'd still bow out but so far she'd lasted a month and a half. Not bad.<p>

After the hub exploded the three remaining Torchwood agents – and Rhys – had set up in the warehouse for those few days. After Jack was forcibly dumped back on earth – From 10 feet above the ground, he was still smarting over that – they redid it all. This time however there were mini heaters, desks and comfy chairs. Comfy chairs with WHEELS.

They found Janet a few days after he returned. The weevil was disoriented and had a broken arm but they managed to recapture her. She spent three weeks hiding in Sarah Jane's cellar with a cast on before they got her back.

Jack had built a dog-run especially for her with reinforced steel bars, two separate lengths of fence and a comfy looking dog bed. It was strange, as cold as it got in parts of the warehouse Janet seemed…calm and rather gleeful. Sure, she still growled and bared her fangs but she hadn't tried to kill Jack in ages.

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his feet on his desk. Life was finally looking up again. Pulling out his phone he looked at it a smile forming, Martha and Mickey had told him earlier about their adventure at Royal Hope, he'd almost gave away some secrets when neither mentioned a child. He had to check, besides it would be fun to tease the Doctor a bit. Hitting some buttons on his phone he began to text.

_'Heard you solved an invasion on Halloween RHope. No mention of a child. Still need me?' _He typed smirking as he hit send. He was surprised when within seconds the phone buzzed back, with a message.

_'Kid was taken briefly by other person. Still needed' _Jack frowned at that wondering who or what had taken Amelia and if she was okay. Quickly Jack began typing again.

_'Your kidnapped kid was kidnapped by a secondary kidnapper?' _He questioned the Doctor further as the game continued around him.

_'Yup' _came the response quickly and Jack had to smile at the simple response.

_'Fun. They OK?'_ He questioned wanting to make sure at least Amelia and Tish were safe, he was going to be in deep trouble if they weren't.

_'Fine. Currently playing hide & seek.' _The response from the Doctor made Jack smirk, of course, what else would the doctor be doing.

_'Are you seeking or hiding?' _Jack typed quickly.

_'Am hiding under bed. Not found yet. Three others running around.' _Jack laughed at this gaining looks from his coworkers.

"Jack! Come play!" Gwen called, distracting him from whatever was so funny. "It's fun and then Lois can play without alternating."

Jack smiled, "One moment." He shot off a last text _'have fun. Going to work'_

Jack jogged over to their area, whipped off his coat and put it aside. "Okay, who's on whose side?"

"Well, it's currently married couples as teams so...let's go genders." Gwen said looking at the assembled group.

Jack moved to stand by Rhys as everyone moved to the proper side. "You know, most people play solitaire when it's slow at work."

"Most people aren't Torchwood." Rhys told him. "Oh, and aim away from the lorry. Got one of the balls stuck up in the engine by some miracle earlier."

"Will do." Jack smiled, he may have helped that ball get there.

* * *

><p>- <strong>TARDIS-<strong>

* * *

><p>The Doctor hid quietly under the bed. He'd done as River suggested. He'd 'kidnapped' Rory. Though it was more 'adult-napped'. Really, kidnapping implied a child was involved. Well, one was involved but not 'involved'.<br>He was hiding under the bed of the room that River had claimed earlier. He was dropping her off at Stormcage as soon as he stopped hiding.

He was hiding from a very mad Tish, a very annoyed River and a pissed off Nurse.  
>Rory shouldn't be so mad. Honestly, he was nice about it.<p>

He soniced him, made his brain send him to sleep and even caught him before he hit the ground! That was completely nice. Really nice. Totally nice!

Well, maybe he did wake him up by chucking him into the shallow end of the pool once they were in the vortex. Still nice.

He heard footsteps on the floor and stiffened. Boots…Tish was wearing heels again so she clicked; Rory was in flats he made scuffing noises, Amelia wore tennis shoes that clomped, that meant boots were…

"Hello, Sweetie." River said, looking under the bed at him.

"Go away." the Doctor hissed at her. Waving as best he could from his hiding spot he tried to shoo her.

"I'd rather not. See, currently you've got two people very angry at you. Tell me, why was it a good idea to knock him unconscious?" She gave up the leaning over bit and just laid down on the floor on her stomach, arms under her head as she watched him.

"You said kidnap." He accused her.

"Yes. I meant old fashioned 'bag over the head shove them in' type. Not Sonicing him unconscious. Speaking of, exactly what setting does that?" she asked curiously, sidetracked.

"That's for me to know and you to not." He stated childishly.

"I see." River said humouring him.

"Why are you talking to me anyway instead of yelling?" the Doctor asked not noticing the other person enter the room or peek on the other side of the bed.

"I'm just talking to distract you as Tish gets you from the other side." River smirked as his face fell in horror and two sets of hands wrapped around his ankles hauling him out from under the bed.

"Cheat!" he yelled as he was hauled out.

The Doctor looked up at Tish and Rory and laughed uneasily, "Hi?"

* * *

><p><strong>-TORCHWOOD-<strong>

* * *

><p>Jack looked down as his phone buzzed and arched in his seat to pull it out of his pocket.<p>

"JACK! ROAD!" Mickey roared.

"I see, I see." He swerved to avoid a collision and settled back into his seat. He opened his phone and blinked in surprise.

_'Statute of limitations on Kidnapping in UK. Y or N?' _

Jack laughed and moved his hands on the wheel so he could text back. _'NO!'  
><em>

"JACK! You may be immortal but we aren't!" Gwen warned him, holding onto a handle on the ceiling for dear life.

"Yeah, yeah. I haven't crashed us yet." Jack told her dropping the phone onto his lap and turning a corner.

"You did too! We had a giant crater in the back bumper from a tree." Gwen yelled.

"That was Ianto's fault for distracting me and Mickey fixed it just fine." Jack yelled narrowly missing some trashcans and a fire hydrant.

"I can't fix everything!" Mickey nearly screamed, holding onto his handle and fumbling for a seatbelt. Jack was an insane driver.

His phone went off again and he picked it up, eyes off the road.

_'U sure?' came the strange text from the doctor.  
><em>

_'YES! Am a cop of sorts' _Jack typed taking both hands off the wheel for a second to the horror of his passengers._  
><em>

"JACK!" Gwen yelled reaching to grab the wheel.

"Sorry, sorry." Jack kept the phone in hand and both hands on the wheel as both Gwen and Mickey looked sick. He could hear Martha and Lois through the headset worrying. Jack looked at his phone smirking as he saw another text.

_'How much jail?'  
><em>

_'10 years +' _He typed back as the car weaved in and out of traffic.

"JACK!" Gwen screamed, "I'm going to throw up and Rhys will kill you!"

Jack slung the car to a stop rocking it up on two wheels for a moment till it settled back.

His phone beeped and he grinned.

_'Seekers cheated. Feel bad. How do you apologize for knocking people out?'  
><em>

_'Dunno. Knowhow to do up…Retcon?' _Jack typed, ignoring the protests from his passengers._  
><em>

"You're going to be killed." Gwen stated through gritted teeth as she kept her eyes closed and tried to breathe evenly. "By me after you kill us."

Jack tucked the phone away and smiled. He leaned over and rubbed her belly – though it didn't yet show her pregnancy – "Sorry Mini Cooper, I'll drive nicer next time. Don't make your mummy sick."

Gwen slapped at his hand, "You're making its mummy sick!"

Jack grinned and opened his door, "Let's go get us some tech!"

Mickey nearly slid out of the car. Jack was never driving again.

* * *

><p><strong>-TARDIS-<strong>

* * *

><p>"Why would I go to prison?" the Doctor asked as Tish ranted.<p>

"Kidnapping is an arrest-able offence!" Tish yelled stomping angrily around the room.

The Doctor blinked and pulled out Martha's phone texting to Jack.

"What are you doing?" River asked him.

"Texting Jack to see how I get out of this." the Doctor stated simply.

Obviously Jack didn't have the answers he wanted as he looked up at Rory and Tish.

"Well, if you charge me with kidnapping for Rory and Amelia you'd have to explain Amelia and then you'd have to figure out how to get my two hearts past security. Then you have to try and keep the government from taking me. Then of course you have the fact that if I asked the Brig would bail me out."

He ticked off his fingers with reasoning, "And of course I have a namesake who's a lawyer. We're trying to get him a shot at being PM but he thinks it's a no go." The Doctor shook his head and clicked his tongue in disappointment, "All those days when he was an infant trying to teach him the art of politics wasted."

"What?" Rory felt the shock go through him, "You're blackmailing us?"

"Unless you want to go to a mental institution, get your memory erased by one Government agency, be imprisoned and 'studied' by a second or get 'convinced' to shut up by the third. I personally prefer the third. They're a much neater agency. Even if they do have a pet Dalek." The doctor said smirking.

Tish stared at him in shock, "Doctor?"

"In other words…Rory, find a room and go tell Amelia you're staying. Tish, message your mum to cover for Rory if he's not back in time. River…Go back to prison and get out of my biscuit jar." He scolded the woman who was unabashedly rummaging.

"Prison food sucks." River stated.

* * *

><p><strong>TORCHWOOD-<strong>

* * *

><p>Jack surveyed the crater that use to be the tower that hid Torchwood. They got out most of the rubble so far. Hauling sensitive equipment out with a lorry he'd had Rhys buy. A few pieces of tech went missing including some very large field disabling plates. If they turned up on the market he'd find out.<br>Most of the rubble was gone now but still he spent a large portion of time digging through it. Rhys and Mickey helped him mostly. Martha did as well but everyone refused to let Gwen or Lois dig through.

He climbed down a few layers, not bothering with a hard hat and scanned the pile of rocks, wood and various items. "Careful, Mickey." He called as Mickey slid on one chunk of wood.

"I'm fine!" Mickey yelled back keeping his balance as he cleared an area digging for 'treasure'.

Jack spotted something under a large piece of crushed concrete. He hefted it up till he could rest it against his shoulder than pushed it over. There lying on the ground slightly singed and dirty with a few tears was a teddy bear he knew use to be soft and grey.

"Tosh." He whispered as he brushed his fingers over it on the ground. He picked it up and resisted the urge to hug it close and instead slipped it into his jacket pocket on the inside.

"Find anything?" Mickey called over to him.

"Nah, nothing." Jack replied. He looked over the area for anything else that was Tosh's but he didn't find anything that wasn't ruined.

He was about to climb out of the crater when his phone beeped.

New Message: Leticia Jones.

Jack made a noise of surprise and opened it.

_'Doctor being unreasonable, blackmailing his kidnap victim, threatening to mind wipe people or hand them to an agency that will. Also putting someone back in prison, but that's unrelated. Why does this scream 'Jack'?'_

Jack gulped, this wasn't good.

'_Not my fault. I said Ret-con.' _He typed quickly._  
><em>

_'JACK! Don't suggest those things to someone with the impulse control of a 3 year old with sugar! Current new Kidnapped is freaking out, old Kidnapped is gleeful about this all, Doctor is looking far too smug and his arch-enemy/love(?) is stealing biscuits and lobbing jelly babies at Uval pup. What is wrong with this picture?' _

Jack tried hard not to laugh._  
>'Uval eating Jelly Babies.' <em>He typed, hoping the humor would calm her down_  
><em>

_Not what I was going for. Way to miss the point.' _Came the response from Tish._  
><em>

_'What's kidnapped's name?'_ Jack asked, it was always good to know, and he might have to help the Doctor out of trouble if this really went bad.

'_Rory Williams'  
><em>

Jack slipped while walking in his surprise and slid down the board nearly smacking into a wall.

"You alright?" Rhys yelled to him.

"Fine!" Jack squeaked.

He messaged Gwen quickly, _'Rhys Relative named Rory Williams? YorN?'  
><em>

_'Yes. Brother. Why?' _Gwen texted back and Jack nearly cursed, In his head he started saying prayers in as many languages as he could remember to as many Gods as he could.

_'Friend thinks he's cute' _He responded quickly hoping she believed him.

_'Creepy friend or normal?' _Jack groaned then a small smirk appeared on his face, if he was going to get in trouble he might as well make life hard for those that were causing it.

_'Martha sister. You judge.' _He typed then quickly took a deep breath and sent back to Tish:

_'The Doctor, the #1 enemy of my business who is also the ex of my current Romantic interest has kidnapped the brother of my lieutenant/second in command/best friend's husband…And the helper is the sister of my Doctor aka my lieutenants great friend. Tish? I need alcohol.' _Jack groaned as he typed, he was so dead if anyone found out.

He had made it to his feet by time a message got back to him.

'_Not telling Rory this. He knows of aliens but not that my sister works with them. He hates his brother for reasons relating to A.P., and if he knew that both Rhys and Gwen know about aliens he'd kill them…JW, did you ever ret-con a little boy in 'Leadworth' ?' _Jack tried to remember, he did remember retconning several children, usually as a last resort, but he wasn't sure about Leadworth._  
>'Will check files and get back to you.' <em>Jack typed quickly.

* * *

><p><strong>-TARDIS-<strong>

* * *

><p>Tish lay on her bed above the covers not wanting to do anything. She should take a shower and get dressed for bed but today was just…insane.<p>

They'd dropped River off not too long ago amid protests from her. The guards at the prison had been friendly enough though, they hadn't even yelled at Tish or Rory! Just the Doctor.

Rory was off somewhere sulking. He was mad but Tish didn't blame him. In two days he finds out about aliens, finds his friend he thought was dead is alive and was kidnapped by time travelling aliens. Well, _alien_. She'd be a bit out of it too.

There was a knock on her door, "If you're male go away but if it's Amelia come in."

The door edged open and Amelia peeked in, "Are you mad too?"

"Hmm?" Tish sat up on her elbows, "Why would I be mad?"

"Because the Doctor took Rory like he took me. Rory isn't happy about it and yelled lots. Even at Yumo." Amelia showed her the chubby Uval who looked more sleepy than sad, "The Doctor yelled too. River didn't."

"That's because women are more sensible then men." Tish patted her bed and laid back down on it.

The bed shifted as Amelia sat down on it then lay down next to her. Yumo padded in a circle like a cat then lay down with a whump on Tish's pillow.

"Rory doesn't want to be here." Amelia said sadly.

"That's not true, honey." Tish wrapped and arm around Amelia. "He's just upset. He found out about Aliens, time travel and that you're alive all in one day! That's a lot to take in."

Amelia nodded, "His brother would have fainted."

_'He might still faint'_ Tish thought to herself, wondering how Rory's brother would react to finding out he really could be completely 100% off the hook for any crimes…if someone wanted to 'out' time travel and aliens in one go. She suddenly felt a rush of sympathy for the man she'd never met; how many people could get out of a crime they didn't commit by saying 'the Doctor did it!' Well, probably quite a few in all actuality.

"Yeah, maybe. Give Rory a little bit of time and tomorrow we'll make him a really good breakfast. What's his favourite breakfast?" Tish said giving the girl a hug.

"Oatmeal." Amelia wrinkled her nose at it. "With lots of brown sugar and pieces of raisins and dried bananas. His daddy makes it and it's icky."

Tish chuckled, "We'll try to recreate the icky treat."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: for those confused yes, we did make Rhys Williams and Rory Williams half brothers. <em>It made sense at the time and soon enough we had enough written it couldn't be changed! <em>I still like it. Adds another layer of weirdness to an already wibbly plot of awesomeness. Oh and in case Jack's '_The Doctor, the #1 enemy' _confused anyone basic translation is:  
><strong>"He's the most wanted man in Torchwood, the ex of my current significant other, and he has kidnapped Gwen's brother-in-law and his accomplice was Martha's sister..."  
><em><strong>She's certifiable, I swear it. Hope you enjoy the fic! Any questions or comments feel free to review or<strong>_** PM.****Unless it's a spoiler.]**


	38. TARDIS Jail, NotRory and Promises

Rory paced back and forth in his room. It was tiny, tinier than his apartment, he could make it door to the wall in seconds… Well, at least it had a bed. It was better than a futon, which was an improvement over his usual sleeping arrangements, but it was plainly decorated.

The comforter was a light blue colour and perpetually warm no matter how long he left it. He always could find any clothes he needed by opening any drawer. It was creepy, yet the whole situation was oddly comforting. Although he was also in space with an alien, a kidnapped time travelling child and Tish, creepy was relative.

He didn't know how long he'd been here, how long in space or 'the vortex' as Amelia had called it, no, not Amelia…Amy.

Tish had decided it was confusing too much to Rory for him to be calling someone he thought long dead by her old name and between she and Amelia had decided he should just call her Amy.  
>Rory was trying to work up the desire to actually do something. He was technically a prisoner, maybe a hostage, and what was worse is no one would notice! He could be gone twenty years, or twenty seconds. Time travelling kidnapping aliens…<p>

Rory gave up and left the room, searching along the hallway for something or someone. He'd learned quickly NOT to follow any instructions on the wall or any signs along the way.  
>He found one on the wall "LIBRARY: Left" with an arrow painted pointing to the right.<p>

Rory blinked at the wrong pointing arrow and puzzled over it for a moment before turning left and following. Soon he heard laughter and voices.  
>Rory looked into the room and saw Tish and Amelia sitting at one of the tables near the pool pouring over some book.<p>

"So they built an entire town that way?" Amelia said in amazement.

"Yup." Tish said flipping a page in the book and pointing to another photo. "Venice is quite amazing."

"It is." Rory agreed, sitting next to Amelia on the floor and looking at the photos, "Pictures really don't do it justice."

"You've been?" Amelia asked in surprise looking over at Rory and smiling..

"Yeah. Mum's husband took us." Rory told her, his gaze watching her before turning to the pictures again.

"Your dad?" Amelia asked curiously, remembering the loud and large man that had been in and out of Rory's life.

"Erm, no…Mum and Dad split not long after you disappeared." Rory cleared his throat. "She married Mr. Mitchel remember him?" He asked Amy

"The kindergarten teacher?" Amelia made a face. "Really?" A look of disgust came over her as if the thought of teachers marrying was wrong somehow.

"Yeah. He's my sister's dad. But he took us to Venice, me and mum, when I was about 10." Rory didn't feel the need to mention it was their honeymoon but his mother had been terrified to leave him home, even with Aunt Sharon.

"Think we could go?" Amelia asked Tish eagerly.

"To Venice?" Tish asked looking at Amelia and Rory

"Yes!" Amelia stated as a smile grew on her face.

"I don't know." Tish answered honestly, "I think you might have to go ask the Doctor."

Amelia bounced in her seat, "Can I be excused from my lesson, please?"

Tish closed the book, "Go! Maybe he'll find something interesting to show off in Venice."

Amelia leapt to her feet and took off running to go find the Doctor, where ever he was hiding.

"Think we'll go to Venice?" Rory asked, not sure if he wanted to or not.

"I don't know. It depends if he thinks it's safe." Tish said carefully, "He's a bit cautious after the Shades and keeps thinking of reasons to stay in the Vortex."

"You mean after he kidnapped me." Rory said sarcastically, "He's finding reasons to keep me away from my time so I can't go 'tattle' on him."

"Pretty much." Tish agreed grimly. "And I think that until he's sure you won't go telling the world about him, about time travel, about Amelia and about Aliens you're stuck with us. Sorry." She looked at Rory sadly for a moment.

"Please, like anyone would believe me. I finally have proof my brother didn't do it and I can't tell him. I can't even go to him and admit that I know he didn't do it because he doesn't know about time travel or aliens!" Rory said almost hysterically.

Tish bit her tongue, maybe being funny would come back to bite her, but she was halfway tempted to tell him that his brother worked with Aliens daily; after all Rhys Williams was with Torchwood… "I'm sorry, Rory. Maybe you could try to make up some other way?" Tish said wrapping an arm around her friend.

"Like how? God, there's no one I can tell about this! No one else knows about aliens. I can't even tell Sarah Jane!" Rory said not noticing her arm as his hysteria grew.

"Why are we telling Sarah Jane things? We don't tell Sarah Jane things." the Doctor said sternly as he walked in with Amelia. "Why are you telling Sarah Jane things?" He asked a tone of fear lingering in his voice.

"Sarah Jane's the one who had to explain aliens to him." Tish told the Doctor.

"Ah. Why? Is it because she's the nice one? I know Mickey isn't serious enough about it but you could have blamed head trauma." the Doctor said seriously.

"Sarah Jane won't lie to me." Rory said defiantly, "She never has and never will!"

The Doctor scoffed then paused as the word choice hit him, "Never has? How long have you known her?" He asked curiously.

"Since I was about eight." Rory was on his feet looking the Doctor in the eye. Tish pulled Amelia aside to watch the testosterone battle. "She wouldn't lie to me!" He insisted.

"Why have you known her? How on Earth did you meet her?" the Doctor looked worried and baffled.

"She—" Rory started to say before he was interrupted.

"She wrote the book on Amelia." Tish told the Doctor, "The book I've safely tucked away so no reading it."

"Wrote the book? There's a book on me?" Amelia asked.

"Mhhm, and news articles, magazines, even TV stories." Tish told her.

"Most done by Sarah Jane with my help!" Rory played up his bit, happily having found some button for the Doctor.

The Doctor's eyes widened, his breath hitched, "She'll kill me. She'll kill me till I regenerate and then do it again!" He paced, pulling at his hair then turned to look at Rory, finger pointed at him sternly, "NO telling. You are not telling any of this to Sarah Jane!" the Doctor pouted yet tried to look menacing.

"You know Sarah Jane?" Rory looked upset for a moment, "How."

"He married her." Amelia told him helpfully. "Luke said so after the Angels before he went home."

"I'm only married on the lost moon of Poosh! Which…is no longer lost thanks to Donna. Crap, I am married still." the Doctor scuffed his foot on the floor and glared at Rory again, "NO TELLING. She'll kill me. Anyway, it's a bad idea. She'd get mad at you too."

"Why would she get mad at me?" Rory asked.

"I don't know, I'm still thinking on how to frame you." The Doctor said pointing to Rory.

"Doctor!" Tish said, "Leave Rory alone. You're worse than Yumo…Speaking of, where is he?" she asked looking around hoping to see the blue dog.

"He's definitely not under an overturned laundry basket in the bathroom with a shampoo bottle on top to keep him in." the Doctor said offhandedly, causing Tish to narrow her eyes at him.

"Ugh, you and that Uval." Tish sighed. "Anyway, when are we going to Venice? Do I have time to change?"

"What makes you think we're going to Venice?" the Doctor asked pouting.

"Amelia asked." Tish said simply.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes, "Five minutes."

"Good. Rory, go let Yumo out, Amelia go get dressed." Tish instructed them as she left to go change clothing.

"Not the dog." Rory nearly whined.

"I'll help you." Amelia offered, "He's probably in the bathroom near our rooms."

"Thanks Amel-, Amy." Rory smiled and took her hand, leaving the Doctor behind to sulk and debate divorces and murdering of Earth Nurses in private.

* * *

><p>-Rory and Amelia-<p>

* * *

><p>"It's only Venice." Amelia told Rory as she watched him try and locate shoes that weren't his 'good work shoes' that looked a lot like really crummy old tennis shoes. She thought absently that maybe she should find him a new pair. The Doctor was good at 'finding' shoes, even though most came with initials on them.<p>

"Venice has lots of stone streets, it's wet and there's a lot of walking." Rory told her. "That sucked. Really, George had us going EVERYWHERE. Every street had to be travelled; every museum and market had to be seen."

Amelia made a face; Mr. Mitchell was very excitable and not too nice. "Find running shoes."

"Why running shoes?" Rory asked.

"Whenever we go anywhere he thinks will be peaceful we always end up running, sometimes swimming." Amelia stated looking at her worn and mismatched shoes.

"He taught you how to swim?" Rory looked surprised.

"No. He grabbed me and jumped in the water then lifted me out before I drowned." Amelia shrugged. "You can teach me." She said looking at him happily.

"I could." Rory nodded and finally located a pair of shoes that didn't look too horribly hard to run in. "Any idea who these belong to?" He asked looking at the large selection of shoes.

"Luke." Amelia said showing him how they lit up at the back.

"Who's Luke?" Rory asked, wondering.

"Sarah Jane's son." Amy said as a look of recognition came on Rory's face.

Rory choked and sat down on the floor hard. "Sarah Jane's SON? You had him on here…She let him on here!"

"The Doctor borrowed him for a little while to babysit me. We didn't ask Sarah Jane first though…she was a little mad." Amelia said, not noticing Rory's expressions.

"So she knows the Doctor has you?" Rory asked wanting to know if Sarah Jane was aware of the truth.

"No!" Amelia said quickly, "And we can't tell her."

"Why not?" Rory asked frowning.

"The Doctor said not to and if we tell her they might take me away and put me in a secret foster home on Earth! I don't want to go to Earth." Amelia turned to glare at him.

"Why not? Earth's your home." Rory told her.

"I know. But it's not my home without Aunt Sharon and since I can't have Aunt Sharon I'm not having Earth." Amelia said defiantly.

"Aunt Sharon misses you." Rory said, pulling on the shoes.

"I miss her." Amelia admitted to him quietly. "I miss Aunt Sharon and Aunt Michelle. I miss Henry. I miss everyone. I even miss your stupid brother."

Rory looked up at her to see her eyes watering, tears not quite shed. "Amy?"

"I miss my bed and my bears. My toys. I miss my colouring kits. I miss going to church! I miss school with everyone else and I miss Aunt Sharon's cooking all the time and miss playing games with Rory!" Amy sat down tears starting to come down her face.

"I am Rory." Rory said seeing the girl's tears.

"MY Rory. Not older Rory. My Rory who liked games and played adventure. Rory who built forts with blankets and who helped me sneak treats and who burned marshmallows on the heater trying to make s'mores! I miss the Rory who like going and seeing new places. I want my Rory back!" She said tears falling as her voice got more frantic. "My Rory who's always been my Rory! My Rory that doesn't hide from strange things. I tried to get my Rory back but now Rory's not adventurers…"

"I am to an adventurer." Rory told her as he sat next to her on the bed, leaving his shoes undone in favour of comforting his friend. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Only because the Doctor took you." Amelia sniffled. "You wouldn't be here if you had the choice. You'd be gone and wouldn't be going to Venice. You're on Earth and not like you use to be. Stop being a boring adult and be my Rory again?" She pleaded.

"I'll…Okay, I'll be your Rory again and for always if you promise me one thing." Rory said as he hugged her.

"What?" Amelia sniffled.

"Promise me that you'll always be my Amelia, no matter what name you go by and who you're with; no matter how far away you go in time or space." Rory said wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

"I promise." Amelia swore against his shoulder.

"Good. Then let's go to Venice." Rory said, standing up and offering her his hand.

* * *

><p>-The Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor twirled a small camera in his hands as he stood at the console. He'd procured it for Amelia recently and Venice seemed as good a time as any to give it to her. Usually he'd protest companions documenting all their journeys in time and space – at least with a large amount of photos – but he knew Amelia wouldn't broadcast them to everyone.<p>

"What are you thinking about?" Tish asked, startling him and making him yelp in surprise, fumbling the camera so it landed with a crash on the floor.

"Right now I'm thankful this thing is fall proof." He said as he picked it up. "And wondering why you think startling me is funny."

"Same reason you think it's entertaining to figure out what makes women take so long to get dressed." Tish said smirking.

"Oh, I have a theory. Borrowed it from Rory." the Doctor said proudly.

"What theory is that then?" Tish asked, leaning against the console railing.

"Hair washing." the Doctor said seriously as he nodded, "Women have too much hair."

"Says the man who takes two hour long baths." Tish scoffed, "And no. Not all women shower before changing every time. Try again."

"Damn Rory." He muttered crossly. "And it was one hour."

"Only because I made you get out so we could go somewhere since we were out of milk!"

"I had solid bubbles that turned blue and pink!" He sounded outraged, "Why would I get out for milk!"

Someone cleared their throat and both turned to look. Rory stood in the doorway wearing a pair of tennis shoes that lit up with each step he took – the Doctor made a mental note to return them to Luke – a pair of black trousers he knew to be Harry Sullivan's; a button up pale pink long sleeved shirt over a light blue shirt he nearly yelled in outrage was his…well, an older him's.

He held an enthusiastic grin that was belied by his eyes desperate want to not be there. "Ready to go to Venice?I know some excellent museums. Plus I know like four whole words of Italian."

Amelia grinned, her enthusiasm no where near fake, "Ready to go Doctor? Tish?"

"One moment." the Doctor handed her the camera he'd been toying with. "For you. I know you like drawing all our travels so I thought maybe you might possibly like a camera." He babbled, "I mean, it takes photos and video so you can do anything and I trust you not to broadcast everywhere – though it does that too – and well some species have this fear of photos stealing souls but that's not too hard to get around and-oomph!" His babbling was cut off by Amelia hugging him tightly.

"Thank you!" She said smiling up at the doctor.

"You're welcome." He adjusted his bowtie anxiously and sent the TARDIS spiralling out of the Vortex. Rory clung to the railing, Tish laughed and held onto the Console while Amelia hooked her arms like Rory around the railing.

The Doctor laughed as they landed and walked to the door. "Behold, Venice!" He cried as he threw open the door excitedly.

Rory looked out as Tish and Amelia came to stand by the door. "Venice is sandier than I recall."

The Doctor peeked out and scowled as both girls giggled, "I don't remember any lessons in school saying Venice had red dirt everywhere." Tish added to Rory.

"Doctor, does Venice have giant rats?" Amelia asked looking as a group of the animals passed nearby.

"That's a Kangaroo." Rory told her, "And no."

"I think we're a couple thousand miles off course." Tish told her. "Somewhere down under."

The Doctor ignored the snickering from both Adults. "Venice isn't as interesting as Australia." He said woodenly, "They don't have kickboxing overgrown rats nor do they have mammals that sweat milk, have duck bills and poison people."

"Oh God…Doctor, if this is some plot to capture a platypus…" Tish asked wary of the doctor.

"I'd name it Perry," the Doctor told her honestly with a hint of humour, "and it could live in the bath."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN:<em> You almost didn't get this today.<em> Yeah, I lost power. Had a fire going and everything for warmth. Borrowing net doesn't work when there's no power to run a computer. _Happily she got it back and gave me time to do other things..._Two thousand words in one day. I am pro. So we've mentioned a few times now Sarah Jane wrote a book about Amelia's disappearance; **'Amelia Pond: The Girl who Disapeared'. **_What we want to know is, do you want to see bits of it? _Like excerpts at the begining of certain chapters? _Oh, and if you didn't catch it completely Yes, we did indeed make Rhys Williams - husband of Gwen Cooper - Rory's elder brother. We're well aware of the age/country difference. _Give us time and all will be explained behind it, we swear! Enjoy!]**


	39. Black Mountain and Boxing Rats

"Don't worry, mum, we're fine!" Finn said into his mobile, "We're gonna lose signal soon. Yeah, we're going hiking."

"Tell her hi!" a man yelled to his best friend, hoping Finn's mum would hear.

"Noah says hi." Finn said. "No, don't worry, Paula's driving."

"Hi. Ms. J…or do I call her mum now?" Paula laughed as she drove down the road, kicking up dust in the wake of the jeep.

Finn rolled his eyes, "Dunno. Mum, now that we're married does Paula call you mum? Yes, I do in fact have to reference it as often as possible otherwise it doesn't feel real." Finn laughed at whatever she replied. "No, of course we're not going to Black Mountain. It's dangerous to hike there. I know people disappear."

Noah and Paula both quieted a bit as Finn talked, the only noise the low buzz from the radio and the hum of the engine.

"Yeah, why would I go? Aliens...Right, mum, I'm not an alien chaser. Unlike some people I don't see the point in saying hi to every alien I pass...Yeah, really? Well tell her 'hi' then." Finn said delicately. "Right. Love you too. Bye."

Paula pulled to a stop, jeep parked in the dirt with dust settling around them and they all sat still looking into their climb in the distance. The mountain was huge and black; it looked nearly sinister in the sunlight, almost like it beckoned to them. It was at least a thousand feet tall and around two miles wide, rearing out of a rainforest as if reaching for something.

Black Mountain… The Mountain of Death. Even the Aborigines wouldn't go near it. All the ancient legends warned them it was dangerous. Hell, even those who'd come later were terrified of it.  
>The sheer number of men and animals that had disappeared without a trace here – almost as if the earth or mountain itself had swallowed them up. Anyone with a keen eye could see even birds and animals avoided the area.<p>

"So...Blatant lies?" Noah asked.

"Yeah." Finn nodded and pulled out a video camera as he climbed out of the jeep. "Let's go find us some proof of alien life or climb the 'Death Mountain'."

"Either way, right?" Paula laughed at the duo. She wasn't sure of the significance of the myths surrounding the mountain; she'd moved to Australia near two years ago with her dad and hadn't really read into many nearby myths. "To the top or bust?"

Noah chuckled, "Totally."

It took them ages to reach the top of the mountain dodging different dangers and doubling back to keep away from pythons – some nearly sixteen feet long - who decided to warm themselves in the sun. It was interesting, only the animal considered 'evil' by other myths was to be found on the mountain.  
>As they walked if they struck the boulders that made up the mountain they would give off a strange metallic ring that even Noah couldn't explain.<p>

"What do you think, Noah?" Finn asked, looking around with his camera. The view from the top was breath-taking and he carefully turned show off every view he could think of, including scouring the boulders themselves.

"It's beautiful." Noah agreed, sitting down on a stable rock, one foot pressed against the ground in case he needed to stand up quickly.

"Wow." Paula agreed, adjusting her footing as she looked around. The light glistened off the rocks even more at the top so it was nearly blinding. It was beautiful, but for some reason despite the hot air she was chilled to her bones. "It's amazing...Well, we haven't disappeared yet. That's a good sign."

Finn chuckled and aimed the camera at her, "Is it?"

"Nah, let's face it, what aliens would want to abduct us?" Noah asked them. "You two aren't pretty enough to be alien spawn holders."

"Like they'd want you; if brains were dynamite you couldn't blow off your hat." Paula told him.

"Nice!" Finn high-fived her, "Finally your assimilating."

Noah stood up and looked around. Noah really wanted to see inside. The mountain was known to be nearly like honeycomb with all the caves. Most of which were unexplored because they dipped so far below ground level and everyone feared entering any. Nobody knew the extent or what they could contain.

He located a way down into the mountain and grinned slowly as he looked up at Finn and Paula, "Hey, Finn, you grab the rope and torches like I asked?"

"'Course; they're in the bag." Finn moved closer to see Noah's view and smiled, "You wanting to go down into the scary mountain?"

"Hell yes!" Noah proclaimed. "Give me my torch."

Paula dug through the bag and produced a thick metal torch that had a tie on the end. She handed it over and watched as he looped the tie around his wrist and pulled. Noah let go of the torch several times watching it swing from the tie instead of falling to the ground. "Right then, let's go!"

"Wait!" Finn yelled at him.

"What?" Noah asked in annoyance, not happy at being stopped. If he paused he might lose his courage.

"Helmet." Finn told him sternly digging through the bag and tossing Noah his light blue helmet. Noah put it on grudgingly. He paused at the mouth of the opening, tying one end of a large bright coloured climbing rope around a protruding rock and sticking it in with another rock to hold their place.

Finn dug into the bags and only found one other helmet, his red one.

"Oh...I must have left mine in the car." Paula worried. "You two can just go, I'll wait I guess..." She sounded almost happy to have an excuse.

Noah made a whining noise shifting on the rocks, halfway into the crevice.

Finn stuck the helmet onto her head and strapped it on firmly, "You wear mine, and I'll do without."

"What? Finn, no-"

"Hey, I'm the experienced one here." Finn teased her, "I've been at this for three whole more years than you. Unless you're too afraid to go into the mountain..."

"Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong." Paula proclaimed, kissing him and grabbing a torch to follow Noah.

"Only you would marry such a silly Sheila..." Noah shook his head as if dismayed but disappeared into the mountain, Paula on his heels.

Finn placed their bags carefully near the rope and made sure they were zipped tight. He double checked his pockets to make certain his mobile was still there then grabbed his own torch and followed the two; Camera clutched in hand still going.

After a while of exploring tunnels that narrowed as they dipped steeply they found themselves in a main enclosed chamber with yet another dead end. There were no other ways out of the mountain that they'd found yet. All they had found was some random broken equipment, a few odd rocks, a lot of dirt and – strangely – one lone abandoned hiking boot lying in the dirt, covered in a layer of dust to suggest it had been there for a while. Noah snapped a photo with his own camera while Finn kept filming with his.

"What do you think?" Noah asked looking around and shining his torch on the walls. "Cause I think it's a bloody dead end."

Paula smiled nervously, looking around then room and then at the camera directly. "I think we should head home. It's dead in here. Nothing's panned out its just empty…with sand."

The walls were nothing but solid rock, cold smooth granite despite how warm it should be. She couldn't help the feeling of unease that overtook her; whatever she'd been feeling outside had doubled or tripled itself inside. A glance at Finn showed he was feeling at least a small twinge of unease as well.

"It's supposed to be sandy." Finn laughed, camera bouncing in hand as he looked around as well. Looking up at the cave ceiling all he could see was darkness, even with a torch.

Noah kicked the sand laughing then stopped suddenly. "Finn? I can't move."

Finn looked over at Noah. Noah was standing with his feet half buried in the sand up to the laces of his boots, a look of horror on his face. "Stop mucking around, Noah." Finn said, swallowing hard.

A deep musty scent was beginning to fill his nostrils. A sickly scent that nauseated him and scared him. The torches began flickering. All of the sudden Paula's died, then Finn's, leaving Noah's torch and the light from Finn's camera the only things keeping back the inky blackness.

Out of no where there was a jolt and Noah's feet were sunk in to the ankles. "It's got me! Something's got me." Noah yelled trying to pry his feet out of the sand, "Finn! HELP ME!"

The sheer terror in his voice and face was overwhelming.

Finn cursed and set the camera down on a ledge so he could see by the light and ran forward the few steps he could take to help his friend. No matter what he and Paula tried Noah's feet wouldn't come loose.

They all stilled briefly as a noise started. A deep moaning from the bowels of the earth that reverberated. Finn pleaded with his God to make it bats, not something else.

Suddenly a scream echoed around the small room as all the sudden Paula was being dragged in too.

"HELP!" Noah shrieked as he was pulled in to his naval. He reached as if to find something to grab onto, his torch lodging in a crevice of the wall as Finn seemed torn between his wife and his best friend.

Paula, who had been kneeling helping Noah, was now up as far as Noah.

"Finn!" She screamed, reaching for him. It was getting harder to breathe, both the pressure of the sand and the foulness of the air compounding the issue."FINN!" With a last scream and she was pulled through under the Earth.

"NO!"

Finn's yell of anguish was overtaken by a sickening crack followed by a popping noise and Noah's howl of pain as his arm was broken and jerked downwards. The lash around his wrist finally broke with a snap, leaving the torch to clatter to the ground as he sunk under.

"No. NO. NO!" Finn screamed as it started pulling his feet in. He yanked backwards trying to escape and barely managed to free one foot.

In his desperate bid for freedom and with the dizziness he already felt he over balanced himself and was sent reeling trying desperately to maintain his footing. One foot free it pulled on him again sending him backwards. His head hit the wall with an audible crack that jarred his whole body and he went still.

The darkness that had been held at bay with Noah's torch now encompassed all but a small patch as the torch died. The only light the small one from the camera that steadily whirled as it recorded till finally it too stopped with a beeping noise to indicate it was sending its video and powering down.

* * *

><p>Two days later; TARDIS Group<p>

* * *

><p>Two days in the sun and the sand; Tish would take that over Venice any day!<p>

Rory had been acting more enthusiastic than usual, getting into the spirit of 'adventuring' so much so that he'd let Amelia convince him to wear 'local clothes'. Rory was currently wearing a vest, khaki shorts, hiking boots and a leather belt with fangs; Tish doubted the locals would be caught dead in such an outfit. The Doctor was trying to figure out how to steal the belt; Amelia thought he looked dashing; Tish just thought he looked like Indiana Jones and Crocodile Dundee's love child.

"You're not going to catch it!" Rory goaded the Doctor.

Tish relaxed back on her lounging chair and watched as the Doctor tried once again to get back his sonic.

For some reason when strolling around he'd decided that whatever was on the other side of a fence had to be explored. Tish still wasn't sure why the other side seemed to be a pen full of Kangaroo's, but realized that it was the least weird thing she'd seen so far and just went with it.

It seemed the overgrown boxing rats wanted the sonic. The Doctor wanted his sonic back. One bruise later and it 'was on!' as the Doctor chased around a Kangaroo who decidedly did NOT want to give it back.

"I will too!" the Doctor howled in protest at Rory's goading. "Even if it takes me forever!"

Amelia giggled and climbed up the fence to sit where she was on Rory's level. "Think he could get it back?"

"I think the animals are really just fu—messing with him." Rory told her. "And if he were nice or bribed them he'd get it back."

"Like when Mrs. Angelo's dog took your bear and you had to give it your lunch to get it back?"

"Yup. I wonder what Kangaroo's like to eat best." Rory pondered.

Amelia turned to Tish, steadying herself on the fence as the Doctor yelled in the background as he once again fell into the dust. "Tish!"

"What?" Tish yelled back. She felt like a lizard, just lying in the sun as they entertained themselves. Even Yumo was in the spirit of things and was currently brown – thanks to rolling around in too much dirt – and snoring in the shade.

"What do Kangaroo's eat?" Amelia asked.

Tish looked over Amelia's shoulder and laughed, "Apparently Sonics' and bowties."

Amelia looked back and saw indeed the Kangaroo now had the Doctor's bowtie in one hand and was nibbling on it curiously.

"That's mine!" the Doctor shouted trying to tackle the 'giant rat' to get it back, but missed.

"Can you see?" Amelia asked her nicely, using her best manners.

"I refuse to look up something you could know with school work." Tish told her, "It's a rule. However I am not averse to asking my mum to look." Tish reached into her bag she'd brought and produced her phone. She pulled up her mother's number and with a smile dialled.

_"Hello?"  
><em>

"Hi, mum! I've got an eager student here with a question." Tish told her.

_"Should I know answers to alien questions?" _Francine asked with a laugh.

"We're not anywhere alien." Tish laughed, "Currently we're in Australia. It's a very warm and sunny day, we're in shorts. Sadly no sandals; they aren't ideal for running."

_"It's snowing here. Want to trade?" _ Francine asked jokingly making Tish smile. _"Okay, what's the question?"  
><em>

"Amelia would like to know what Kangaroo's like to eat so as to get the 'mean boxing rat' to give the Doctor his sonic and bowtie back. Before you ask, yes, this is a – mostly - normal day but normally Yumo has the sonic and a nice peanut butter biscuit gets the sonic released…or the socks, or the braces..Sometimes the shoes."

Francine couldn't help the laughter, _"So much for a calm job as a nanny like you told Martha."  
><em>

"Martha told you?" Tish asked her. She could hear her mother typing in the background.

_"No. But Shonara overheard her telling Mickey when she was putting Keisha to bed. Shonara is finding all of this extremely entertaining, by the way, and sends her love. Okay…Here we go. Kangaroo's like fruits and grains. Veggies too."  
><em>

Tish smiled and yelled to Amelia, "Go get an apple and some carrots. They're vegetarians."

Rory helped Amelia off the fence and sent her running to the TARDIS to find some.

"Thank you mum, love you greatly. Sending you some photos too. You've got to see everyone. The Doctor is covered in dirt and stains; Amelia's really into this Australian outback thing and Rory looks well, horrifying."

_"Rory? Rory who?"  
><em>

Tish blinked…uh oh, she'd forgotten to tell her mother about Rory. "Rory as in Rory Williams…He's a med-student and works with the kids at Royal Hope. He…erm, he's Amelia's best friend from when they were children."

_"He volunteered to go travelling with the Doctor and didn't go to the cops about his friend?" _Francine sounded impressed and doubtful that someone would do that.

"Erm, no…To be honest the Doctor knocked him out, dragged him into the TARDIS, tossed him in the pool and has been holding him hostage ever since. We've been hanging around alien places or in the vortex lately because he doesn't trust Rory won't go running to the cops."

_"LETITIA JONES!"  
><em>

"Not my fault! I'm totally vying for Rory's release. I swear. I think he might trust him a little because it's the same time here as it is where you are; I checked! I swear I'm working on it. Don't tell Martha and please keep it quiet? I mean, if Martha knew I was part of a kidnapping that kidnapped her co-workers brother in law she might kill me. Even without knowing about the Doctor."

_"This weekend you're coming home. I know you're more than likely out of milk and bread and I demand an explanation…in person. Got it?" _Francine said in the mum voice.

"Understood." Tish gulped, "We'll be there. I've got to go, mum. Looks like the Doctor's hair is now edible too. Love you!"

_"Love you too. Give Amelia a hug for me."  
><em>

"Bye." Tish clicked the phone off and tucked it away. She got to her feet and strolled over to the fence, climbing it to the other side where Rory stood watching the Doctor in his epic battle verses the Kangaroo.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" She asked him.

"It's entertaining not to." Rory said. "And he's getting beat up by an animal."

Tish sighed and said as she walked towards the Doctor, "I'm reminding you of this next time you have to climb something to get away from Yumo."

* * *

><p>-In town-<p>

* * *

><p>"I still say I won." the Doctor complained, rubbing his head as they walked down the street. He was ignoring the fact his bowtie was half soaked in a Kangaroo's slobber, had teeth-marks in it and wasn't on right. He was also ignoring the teeth marks on the sonic.<p>

"Yes, of course you did." Tish assured him. "I'm sure that mean old Kangaroo learned a lesson from you. You are a very powerful boxer."

"The Doctor got his arse handed to him by a giant rat." Rory sang happily in his own little song, "His sonic got chewed and he nearly lost a shoe; oh the Doctor got his arse handed to him by a Kangaroo."

Amelia rolled her eyes at Rory but held his hand anyway, "You got it back."

"Yes, Yes I did." the Doctor sniffed trying to look proud, dropping his hand from his head to take Amelia's other had. "I rule. I'm cool."

"No you don't and no you're not." Rory dropped his song for the moment. "You got chewed on by a Kangaroo. That's not cool in the least." He smiled cheekily then continued his little ditty, "His bowtie got frayed, and he ran away!"

Amelia nudged Rory and gave him a look of disapproval that was tempered by the sneaky smile.

Rory took the hint and quieted, but kept his cheeky grin.

Tish had to laugh at them all, both boys were competing, though neither would acknowledge it . They were both competing for the attention of Amelia. Honestly they were both like nursery school boys both wanting attention from the same person; but neither willing to share.

Rory wanted back his best friend, whom he'd known since they were infants in a pram together; the Doctor wanted…Well, Tish wasn't sure how to describe it and wasn't sure if the Doctor could either. It was like he was a mix of a Father, Big Brother and 'that Cool Uncle' to her and he'd be damned if he'd give away any attention to Rory.

The Doctor's attention strayed as he stood still, pulling Amelia back who pulled on Rory. His eyes lit up as he looked into a window.

"What is it, Doctor?" Tish asked curiously.

"They have ice cream." He told her as if this were a serious deal.

"I see that." Tish nodded. "So?"

"They might have banana flavours….or fish fingers and custard!" he declared.

"Gross." Rory stated plainly.

The Doctor and Amelia both shot him looks of horror that was quite comical.

"Right then." Tish shook her head, "You need money for that."

The Doctor looked sulkily at the shop window then back to Tish, "You have money."

"Not Australian, I don't."

He muttered in annoyance about the lack of a Earth standard when there was a universal standard; "You could get some." He said hopefully.

"How would I get some?" Tish questioned him in amusement.

He fumbled through his pockets and produced his Psychic paper, "Show them this at the bank, get funds, we then buy ice cream."

She took the billfold gingerly, "You want me to rob a bank?"

"No! Borrow money from." the Doctor corrected her. "Then Rory can be force-fed fish custard till he understands the amazing coolness that it is."

Tish shook her head in exasperation but flipped the billfold in her hands. "Fine. You go on in. Amelia, Rule 1!"

The girl nodded and followed the Doctor inside eagerly.

"So, Rory, you going in or are you going to come with me?" Tish asked him.

Rory looked torn between staying and going then nodded, "I'll come with you. The longer I'm away from fish custard the better."

Tish held his hand and led him off, looking for the nearest bank; "Yes, yes it is. Nasty combination."

"You've tried it?"

"Not willingly."

* * *

><p>"Have you seen him? This man." A woman near the bank was handing out flyers and talking to people, a look of desperation on her face Rory had seen all too often reflected on the face of his Aunt Sharon.<p>

"You go on in," Rory told Tish, "I'll wait here."

Tish looked at the woman then smiled at Rory, "I'll be back and hopefully without shiny new bracelets."

Rory smiled and walked over closer to the woman.

She was talking to a new couple now, easily handing out flyers and explaining her plight.

"They disappeared, said they were going hiking and all three are gone." She said as she showed them the photo on the flyer.

"We'll look out." The older man told her solemnly.

"We haven't been here long, but we'll call if we see any of them." His wife told her.

"Thank you, I'd appreciate it."

"I'm just happy you speak our language." The man chuckled and patted her on the arm, "If you spoke English I don't think we'd have understood a word."

"Never thought we'd find a German speaking native." The woman smiled at her.

As the two walked away the woman looked vaguely disturbed and as if she weren't quite in this time.

Rory looked confused as well and made a note to ask Tish about why he understood German as English.

"Excuse me," the woman approached Rory holding out a flyer, "Have you seen any of these three people?"

Rory took the flyer and looked it over. The photo looked like it had been taken in a restaurant, white table clothes with gold trim and candles decorating it.

In the centre was a tall tan young man waving at the camera, blond hair cut short close to his hair; blue eyes shone with laughter, dressed in a black tuxedo. His arm was draped around a shorter female also with tanned skin, dark green eyes and dark brown hair, pulled back in a braid; she was wearing a short sleeveless white dress with a ribbon sash around her waist, One arm wrapped around the man in the tuxedo while the other was wrapped around the waist of another man who had light skin, reddish-brown hair in loose curls around his face with dark eyes. Wearing a similar tuxedo as the other man, with a camera bag slung over one shoulder.

He shook his head, "Sorry, Ma'am, I haven't. I'll keep an eye out though, promise. How long have they been gone?"

"Two days." She replied, running a hand through her short dark hair in frustration, "They went hiking and disappeared. Finn – my son – swore to me they were staying away from Black Mountain, but their jeep was found near the base."

"Black Mountain? That weird rock formation?" Rory questioned.

"Yes. It's…well known. Most people don't go near it, but it appears three daft teenagers might." She said in annoyance, but he could see the concern. "It's…There's a reason it's called 'Death Mountain'." She shook her head and tried to smile, "Tell me if you see them, and pass it around, please?"

"Of course." Rory nodded, "I know how you feel. We've been looking for my best friend for thirteen years; I hope you find them."

She looked a little afraid at those words but nodded and tried to smile again, "Thank you."

Rory walked over to the bank entrance in time to greet Tish. "Get any money?"

"Along with a stuttering clerk who seemed to think I was royalty, yes. I'm going to have to ask him why this declared that." Tish mused. "Who was the woman?"

"She's searching for her son and his friends." Rory told her, showing her the flyer.

"Huh." Tish looked it over, "Disappeared near Black Mountain?"

Rory explained to her what the woman had told him on the way back to where the Doctor was with Amelia. It wasn't hard to find them inside the shop, both were sitting in a corner booth with more ice cream in front of them then anyone could ever reasonably eat.

"Way too much ice cream, you two." Tish told them as she squeezed into one side of the booth, effectively blocking the Doctor in. "I doubt anyone could eat that much; well, _maybe _Mickey!"

The Doctor glared at her and pulled a bowl closer, "Just for that I'm eating it all."

Tish rolled her eyes, "We got caught up talking to someone."

"So?" He asked, mouth full of ice cream. "Mun-eh?"

"Yes, we've got money. Don't talk with your mouth full." Tish scolded him as Rory and Amelia ate ice cream slower than him. "Anyway, apparently her three kids disappeared."

"Kid and two friends." Rory corrected her.

"Right. Near a mountain referred to as 'Death Mountain' where people supposedly disappeared. Hundreds over the years. Not even animals go near it."

He didn't really look at her full on, but the look he sent her out of the corner of his eye told her to go on.

"Well, three people disappearing out of nowhere and leaving no trace but their jeep? That's a bit spooky."

"Hmm." the Doctor said around a mouth full of ice cream that made Tish wonder at how he didn't get a brain freeze, "Anfang ulse bat eh?"

"Yes, there's more. Rory here said she was speaking German without realizing it."

"Yeah, and on that subject how on Earth could I hear German as English?" Rory demanded quietly.

"TARDIS translates for you." Amelia told him before the Doctor could so to avoid him spraying whip cream across the table. "It hears it, filters it and you hear it in your language. They were speaking German though."

"How'd you learn that?" the Doctor asked her curiously. Not many bothered to figure it out.

"Tybre and Kali said I spoke Demanshi, I thought they spoke English then their Nurse explained to me you probably gave me something to translate." Amelia shrugged.

"Okay, three missing hikers – technically children as they're all 18 or 19 -, a woman who doesn't realize she's speaking German and a mountain called 'Death Mountain'." Tish listed, "Interested yet?"

"Maybe. Who's missing?" He looked over at her as he grabbed a second bowl of multi-coloured ice cream.

"Uh let's see….Noah Jenkins, Paula Henderson and Finnian Jovanka."

The Doctor choked so hard that Tish had to pat him on the back. He spit out a mouthful of orange ice cream and coughed up a cherry. "Jovanka?"

"Yeah. It sounds German…maybe she forgot she knew it." Rory suggested.

The Doctor scowled and wiped his face on his sleeve, "No…She just forgot the language…Why does this keep happening to me? What deity out there did I annoy so severely that they keep trying to hurt me? Why is this funny?"

"What's going on, Doctor?" Tish asked him in concern, handing him a napkin to clean himself instead of his sleeve.

"I believe my life has become a cosmic joke, that's what's going on." He muttered then looked at all three. He sighed and grabbed the paper from her and read it. He groaned and thunked his head back on the booth. "Of course. Alright then, let's go find ourselves Death's Mountain."

"Death Mountain." Rory corrected him, "And we need to pay first."

"Fine, fine."

Tish looked down at the paper, trying to see what he'd seen to make him react that way. All she could see was an orange thumb print on the bottom next to the information line:

_**If you have any information about the whereabouts of any of these three please contact Tegan Jovanka**_ with a number next to it.  
>Tish shrugged it off as him being peculiar and went to pay for the ice cream.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Whoa, I feel the need to take a deep breath after that. It's the longest we've done so far I think that wasn't directly from an episode. <em>You didn't even let me detail add! <em>Nearly five thousand words was enough. _Hope you like Australia and the extra long chapter for the 111 reviews. Woo hoo! _They were supposed to go to Venice... this is what happens when I watch TV and get ideas..._and when you have access to Google. Enjoy!_]  
><strong>


	40. Mobiles, Climbing and Backup

Paula dug her fingers into the cold dirt and let it slip through her fingers. They'd been down here a while. She couldn't see her watch to tell how long but she knew it had to have been at least a day.  
>She could hear Noah groan which meant he'd tried to move again.<p>

"Stop moving." She warned him, looking in the direction he should be in. It was so dark you couldn't see your fingers in front of your face, even once your eyes had adjusted.

"Can't help it." Noah gritted out, "My legs were asleep."

Paula felt around and found the torch. She didn't want to run the batteries out, but she needed to check on Finn again.

When they'd fallen through they'd hit some soft sand in a bare room that was lit with some sort of glowing light. Then they'd come.

They were tall creatures, about a normal human male's height but they weren't human, not by far.  
>Their skin was rough scales, like that of an alligator but in colours that reminded Paula of the trout her dad use to catch fishing; Their hands were short, but the fingers – she guessed you could call them that, there were only three – ended in lethal looking black claws; it was their faces though, that really got her, they didn't have normal faces. Not even vaguely human faces. Dark gold eyes with slit pupils had gazed out at her disdainfully over a long flattened muzzle that had a rounded tip with sharp teeth that glistened in the glowing light.<p>

Noah had screamed and tried to run, but pain had made him stay still. Finn was completely unaware of everything going on, which was lucky. Upon later review Noah had decided they looked like someone had taught an alligator to stand up and painted it with the colours of a sunrise.

Who knew large amounts of pain could turn him poetical.

They'd been moved – and not too gently at that – into a different room that had no light and it was as if the rock entry had closed, sealing them in with no way out. It'd gone quiet then. No noises from anywhere at all but their own breathing.

"Watch your eyes, Noah; I'm turning on the torch." She warned him.

She heard a shuffling noise and a groan which meant he'd followed her warning.

When she clicked it on she was blinded quickly, even with averted eyes and it took several seconds, maybe minutes to readjust her eyes. When she could see once more she stood up and moved to kneel by Finn. He was still unconscious.

Paula had stuck her over shirt under his head to cushion it and it was now soaked in blood. He was breathing, his heart was strong but he wouldn't wake. As she held onto him and checked him over again she felt a square mass on his leg. With a surprise she checked his pockets and found his mobile.

Opening it up she held her breath as she turned it on, praying it had battery power left.

It jingled its happy little tune to tell her that it was turning on and Noah looked at her in awe, "It works? Where'd you get a mobile from?"

"Finn's pocket." She said happily. She stood up and moved over to her previous spot, setting the torch back onto the ground to keep Noah and herself in the light.

"Any power?"

"Full." She told him, "Wow."

"What?"

"One hundred-twenty-two missed calls. Voice mail full." Paula said worriedly, "I think they know we're missing."

"I think so. What's the date? How long we been here?" Noah went to move again but gasped in pain and sat back.

"Um, 7th of November." Paula whispered and ran her hand across her legs against the chill she felt. "Two days."

"Two days?" Noah took a deep breath. "Right, so we call the Jacks for help."

Paula sent him a look that told him how stupid a comment that was. "We've been sucked underground by alien creatures who don't speak our language – and as many times as I've said you must be an alien you don't seem to understand them either! Dumb as a rock more like it… You really think the Jacks could help us?"

"Probably not." Noah admitted sullenly, "Don't think no one could."

They sat in silence for a while, both contemplating who they could call. Eventually Noah flipped off the torch and muttered about sleeping.

Soon his steady breathing mixed with Finn's telling her that he was asleep.

A few minutes – or maybe hours, it was hard to tell in the darkness – she was jolted in fear as the phone buzzed in her hands.

She picked it up hurriedly, heart beating out of her chest and looked at the ID.

**_'Mummy!'_**

Paula took a deep breath and opened it, debating whether or not to answer it. She desperately wanted to hear an outside voice, to say goodbye and get comfort but she didn't want her to come looking for them. Finn's mum couldn't possibly handle aliens; she fought for rights, not lives.

To be honest she figured that Ms. J would probably faint upon meeting a real alien. Then again, Finn was pretty resilient…even if he was sleeping still.

She held her breath, pressed the green button and held the phone up to her ear.

_"Finn? Finn, are you there?" _

She heard Ms. J's voice steady through the phone and couldn't help the tears that fell.

"Hi, Ms. J."

_"Paula? Oh thank God, where are you three?" _Tegan asked her worriedly. _"I've been looking everywhere, I found your jeep!"  
><em>

"I…I dunno where we are." Paula sniffled and wiped at the tears on her face. "I…We lied, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. We lied."

_"What did you lie about? Where are you?"  
><em>

"We went to the mountain. We climbed it then…Noah, he….we went inside then we got sucked in…We got lost." She covered quickly. "Finn's hurt, there's so much blood and I couldn't stop it. He won't wake up. Noah's hurt and I can't fix it; he bled so much and you could feel the bone…I don't….Finn won't wake!"

_"Okay, Paula I need you to calm down and tell me how you got where you are."  
><em>

"I don't know!" She said hysterically, tears not stopping, "I swear. We went inside and then we were here. Oh god…The wall…NOAH!" she screamed as light began to ring the wall where they'd been thrown through. "NOAH!"

"What?" Noah jolted awake and screamed in pain as his arm was jolted when he moved.

"Oh God. Oh, God." Paula breathed in quickly clutching the phone in terror as the door opened completely, blinding them. "I'm sorry. We shouldn't have come."

_"Paula? Paula!"  
><em>

She dropped the phone and it closed with a click as one of the aliens from earlier entered again, something bloody in its hands as it hissed at them.

* * *

><p>-The Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>"So who gets to drive?" Rory questioned, looking at the 'borrowed' vehicle.<br>With use of the psychic paper and some of the cash Tish had left they'd been loaned a jeep from a local place and Tish really doubted if it was safer than the TARDIS.

"I think I'm the only licensed one around here." Tish told him seriously as she looked it over.

"I drive." the Doctor declared, slinging a bag into the back with a thump.

Both adults looked over at him and started laughing.  
>He wore a pink hat that looked like a flattened cowboy hat, but it was pink with tiny blue stars on it. In the band all the way around were tiny white stars that shone with glitter.<p>

"What are you wearing?" Tish asked him, reaching towards his hat.

He stepped back, running his fingers along the brim and smiling, "I wear an Outback hat now. Outback hats are cool."

"That hat should be taken 'out back' and shot." Rory declared when he caught his breath.

The Doctor glared at him, "MY hat."

"Shouldn't we take the TARDIS?" Amelia asked, tugging on his coat to get his attention. "Won't it be noticed?"

"Nah, they'll all walk around it." He looked back to the TARDIS which was parked just to the other side of a very nice sweets shop just out of view of anyone who didn't know about it. "Not likely anyone else around here knows it to notice it."

"You weren't serious about driving, were you?" Tish asked as Rory helped Amelia into the back of the jeep.

The Doctor smiled at her, "I'm driving."

Rory climbed into the other side of the back and opened the bag. From it he produced a pink helmet he strapped on Amelia's head as he buckled her in as well.

"Are you legally allowed to drive?" Rory questioned him as he buckled himself in.

"Yes." the Doctor said confidently. "I even own my own car. Two actually, one flies. Had to make adjustments to both."

"Who gave you a license?" Tish asked him, buckling in as he started the jeep.

"Well, after months of attempted ticketing and arrests the Brigadier gave into peer pressure, threats of legal action and complaints from my lab assistant and presented me with a special license that never had to be renewed and has no face." He looked quite proud. "I think it's in my fuzzy green smoking jacket."

"You're supposed to have it – WITH YOU!" Tish yelped as he pressed down the gas and sent them lurching down the road.

Rory was all too grateful he'd stuck a helmet on Amelia.

The jeep rocked to a stop not far from the bottom of the mountain. The Doctor whooped gleefully as it balanced on two wheels then went back to rest on all four.

"I feel the need to drive more often." He declared, climbing out of the vehicle.

Rory undid his seatbelt quickly and leaned out of the car, sick to his stomach.

The Doctor made a face at him as he helped Amelia out of the other side of the jeep. "I thought all medical people had a strong stomach." He remarked.

Tish climbed out as well, unsteady on her feet. "When it comes to medical things, yes. When it comes to manic Time Lord driving, no one's safe." Tish slapped him across his upper arm and glared, "I drive any time we need to be driven in an earth car, got it?"

"Fine, fine." He waved her off. "Amelia and I liked it."

"That was more fun than driving with Aunt Michelle!"

"I haven't ridden in a car that way in years." Rory groaned, rinsing his mouth out with a water bottle he'd found.

"Mum lost her license to drive when I was eight. In Leadworth we walked; in the city I ride a bike, walk or take the bus. I'm never driving with him at the wheel again." Rory pointed accusingly at the Doctor who just smiled innocently.

"Sorry, Rory. I should have known he'd be bad in a car." Tish said sympathetically.

"I'm NOT bad in a car." the Doctor protested, barely keeping from stamping his foot on the ground. "I'm bad in cars that I haven't modified. If I had done that in Bessie we would have been here in ten minutes, not thirty and I could have finished that stop without even the slightest rolling or sickness."

"Well, we're not in Bessie." Rory said, scuffing his feet on the dirt. "And if you try that again you could hurt Amy!"

The Doctor looked chastened, "Fine. Climbing time. Rory, get the bag!"

Rory groaned and pulled the bag full of hiking and climbing equipment out of the back.

Tish shrugged as he hefted it over his shoulder and grabbed her own bag; a recyclable shopping bag she'd filled with filled water bottles, protein bars, granola bars and a medical kit. If they-when they found the hikers they'd need supplies. From what she'd heard everything was left inside their jeep.

"Helmet." Rory handed her one that was green, just in case.

She stuck it on with a mock heavy sigh and tapped her knuckles against the blue one he wore. She took the last one from the bag and held it out to the Doctor. "Wear a helmet, protect your head."

He looked down his nose in disdain at the purple helmet. "I wear an Outback hat, not a helmet. Helmets are lame."

She stared at his back as he walked on with Amelia.

"Lame?" She said to herself, vowing to never let him watch children's telly in her flat again.

"Helmets are lame?" Amelia questioned.

"NO!" Rory and Tish exclaimed.

* * *

><p>-Tegan-<p>

* * *

><p>Tegan looked down at her mobile with new resolve when the call dropped. She'd been trying to get through for days and finally one call…Her son was hurt, his friend was hurt and her new daughter in law was terrified. She'd say it was just like the old days, but she hoped it wasn't.<p>

She was certain that Paula would faint if she even was encountered with the thought an alien might exist, let alone being abducted by one. Finn was 'sleeping', Noah was bleeding. Okay, that was it.

She dialled a very familiar number on her mobile and breathed deeply, sketching an area on the grid she'd acquired where she knew they would have been judging by Finn and Noah's level of skill and Paula holding them back. Tegan had two calls to make, one to locate the phone – thank you old friends with super computers – and two…

_"Tegan? What do you need?"  
><em>

"Are you in orbit yet?"

_"Breaking atmo in five. Nearly there."  
><em>

"Good. Finn's hurt."

_"Make that three…"_

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>It took them hours to reach the top. The Doctor told them 'an hour, maybe a LITTLE longer'. He'd estimated what the guide had said for experienced hikers and what he'd manage. He hadn't counted the time added by taking an Office worker who rarely hiked, a nurse who never had, and a nearly eight year old with him.<br>He was thanking himself for convincing them to leave Yumo behind in the TARDIS as a "Guard Dog" when Rory and Tish finally arrived on the top flat layer he'd stopped at.

When they'd started the sun had been overhead, now it was low in the sky, nearly set. It shone with deep bright colours that lit off the rocks themselves.

Amelia sat down on one of the rocks after making sure it was clear of any slimy creatures. Her feet hurt, her back hurt, her legs hurt and she was really out of breath.

"Doctor?"

"Yes?" he asked, sitting down as well.

"Let's just run next time. No more climbing." She said pleadingly.

"I prefer running." He admitted quietly to her as he watched the other two, "Less pain, more fun."

"Anyone got an express lane down?" Rory panted, sitting down like Amelia had.

"TARDIS. If someone climbs for it." Tish told him easily.

"Wait, we could have taken the TARDIS up?" Rory demanded, looking in outrage at the Doctor.

The Doctor shrugged innocently, "I thought climbing would be fun. My bad."

Tish and the Doctor scoured the rocks as Rory and Amelia rested and eventually found a pack resting against a rock that had a rope tied to it.

"So, question is." Tish said slowly as they looked down into the dark opening. "Do we climb down now into the creepy cave."

"Or wait till morning?" he guessed the end.

"Yeah."

"Now." He said simply, "We're already here and they could need our help."

Tish looked up at the sky, "I don't think I see this many stars at home." She looked at them and saw with clarity that felt as if she stood within touching distance of them.

"You could. The lights of London get in the way as does smog." the Doctor told her, smiling at the stars. "I could fix that…"

"If you cause a power outage in London…Do it when I'm not there." Tish finished.

He grinned and wrapped an arm around her, "I make no promises, but I'll try."

"Oh, look!" She cried as a bright yellow streak of light lit across the sky and seemed to fall to Earth, "It's a shooting star."

The Doctor pulled out his sonic quickly and pointed it in the direction it'd fallen. He read the readout and said grimly. "No, it's backup."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Abby09: We have no idea. <em>Really, we don't. <em>We have that discussion regularly and have no Earthly idea when this will end. _I say when the Pandorica opens OR when we hit 100 chapters. She disagrees. _Then we change to...well, whatever's next! Hope you like the double update. We just couldn't resist updating again on Friday the 13th! _Enjoy!_]**


	41. Torches, programable sand and Taken

"It really doesn't seem too safe in here." Rory commented as he ducked a low hanging rock.

The inside of the mountain was cold and dark. The Doctor led the way down the paths, following the rope left by the last hikers, his sonic in front of him held like a torch. Rory was certain he'd heard him making lightsaber noises earlier as he swung it around.

Tish was next, not far behind him with Amelia next to her. Amelia had her sonic out, Tish had a small torch that she kept aimed mostly at her feet or the area right in front of them so they didn't stumble.

Rory…well, it was basically a high powered key-chain torch. He was sure there was some implication there when the Doctor tossed it to him, but he refused to acknowledge that. It was actually a pretty bright light!

"More than likely it isn't." the Doctor replied as he looked around. "Probably not. When is anything 'safe'? Not even crossing the street is safe. NO where is safe and – Ow!"

He rubbed his ear where Tish had flicked him. "I mean normal life is safe. Of course." He said dully.

Tish just smiled sweetly.

They came to an area eventually where nothing seemed to be. There was a flickering broken torch on the ground, and a dead camera sitting on an outreaching chunk of rock. Rory had pulled Amelia around before she could see the large amount of blood that splattered on the floor and part of the rock wall and pooled slightly on the ground.

Tish picked up the camera and tried to turn it on, but it didn't even flicker power wise.

"Someone will be wanting this back, it's brand new." She commented, sticking it into the bag that held their supplies.

The Doctor made a non-committal noise and scanned the ground. He looked almost intrigued by what he found but nothing happened.

They stood still for several minutes as the Doctor dug around the area.

He jumped up and down in one spot then scowled. "Some programming; It wore out this area! Humph." He said running the sand through his fingers.

"Programming?" Tish and Rory asked simultaneously blushing a bit as they looked at each other.

"Well, it could have shorted out after pulling in three who fought." the Doctor mused, "It's desperately old programming." the Doctor ignored his companions as he continued examining the dirt.

"What programming?" Tish asked him again.

"Bio-programming." He went off into a long rant of techno-babble that made all of their eyes cross.

Tish held up her hand to halt him, "Doctor, say it in dummy-human talk." She said gesturing to the fact he was talking to humans, not fellow Time Traveling geniuses.

He huffed but changed his words, "They've basically trained the Earth to suck people down into wherever it is they want them. We're safe here though, it's been shorted out." He said as simply as he could.

"Good to know." Tish paused. "We're going exploring further, aren't we?" she said sighing a bit.

"Of course!" He proclaimed, scooting past Rory and Amelia, "Come along, Pond, Jones…Williams! We've got things to see!" the Doctor continued to bounce as he pulled Amelia behind him, Tish and Rory following dutifully.

* * *

><p>-Tegan-<p>

* * *

><p>She had the chart mostly figured out by now when it came to area Finn and Noah <strong>should<strong> be in but with the mobile call Tegan decided she needed a second opinion – or trace as the case may be.  
>A quick phone call later and the area was well, more baffling. Instead of anywhere inside the boxes she knew it should be it was a good ½ mile outside.<p>

It was extremely faint too, as if it were being blocked; almost as if it were underground.  
>Her sources were rarely wrong when she needed them, so she trusted the area given and tried to figure out a way to find her son.<p>

Going down into the mountain itself was deadly, stupid and outright out of the question…until she had backup. For now she had to wait, as much as she detested that. Tegan had never been very good with waiting.  
>She hadn't been able to call Finn's phone for hours, it just didn't go through. Now it buzzed, signaling a message.<p>

_'New Video message from: Finnian'  
><em>  
>Tegan opened the message and Paula's face came into view.<p>

The video was dark, obviously indoors and Paula seemed to be using light from a torch as the back lighting. Her face was tracked with tears and dirt, her eyes red.

_"Hi. Um...Hi."_ Paula's voice echoed tiredly; where ever she was it was rock and enclosed. _"I...We lied, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. We lied we...It was funny. Finn..."_ She cut off with a sob then composed herself some, _"We went to Black Mountain. I'm sorry. It was just fun. We climbed it and nothing happened. Then Noah wanted to go inside it...I don't know where we are."_

She cried, tears running freely as she recorded, _"We're inside somewhere. They're hurt...I can't help them. Finn won't wake up and Noah's arm isn't right. We're stuck and I'm sorry. Please, don't be mad?"_ She wiped at her face, "_We're somewhere inside the mountain we just went inside to look around. Oh God and I think we broke Finn's new camera he got at the wedding."_ She closed her eyes. 

_"Don't be mad? I love you all. Daddy, I know you're mad at me still because of the marriage but I hope you forgive me; Ms. J...I'm sorry. I...Finn won't wake up and I don't know how to get out."_ She turned the camera and the torch and you could see Noah reclining against one wall, blood on his arm that was quite obviously not right.

Then she could see Finn lying on the ground. He had something under his head that upon closer look was a shirt soaked in blood. He was pale and the only movement was the shallow rise and fall of his chest.

The room itself looked closed in with no way out really. Against the far wall was a pile of something that was blood red and looked vaguely like meat, beneath it the ground was red with blood.

The phone focused on her again_. "The Torch is dying and I only have one bar. I'm hoping this gets out...If not...Hell, it's not like you'll see it. We lied...I'm sorry. You were right. Oh God, Ms. J, the rumours are right."_ Paula sobbed again, tears shining on her face in the dark. _"Everything is right. I can't…I shouldn't have answered earlier. I'm sorry we laughed! I'm sorry we came; I'm sorry we lied."_

The video shut off leaving Tegan staring at the phone, tears on her own face.

She tightened her grip on the phone as if it would relieve some of the grip she felt around her heart. Tegan stepped outside, into the backyard and watched the sky. It wasn't long till she saw a streak against the night that most would dismiss as a shooting star. It came closer and closer till it seemed to disappear.

Sudden heat hotter than normal crept through the yard, unseen winds blowing around dirt and loose grass. Tiny burns were appearing on the grass that was still growing but no flames shot out.  
>Perception filtered ships, expensive but very nice.<p>

Tegan waited till the wind stopped and the heat seemed to cool some till she left the steps and walked into the yard itself.

A shimmer in the air appeared as a woman stepped out of the hidden ship and onto the ground. A very familiar woman that unknowingly had caused the Doctor's moment of depression upon realizing what two forces were meeting and that he was heading directly to what they were looking for.

Nyssa looked around then straight at Tegan. A smile crossed her face as she embraced Tegan and she stood back, "Now then, where is my Godson?"

Tegan smiled briefly as well, "He went with his wife and Noah into Black Mountain."  
>"Isn't that the mountain of death? Where people disappear and everyone proclaims aliens live?"<br>"Yes."

The woman shook her head, "You are certain he's not Turlough's son?"  
>Tegan just smacked her across the arm lightly but did laugh for the first time in days.<p>

* * *

><p>-The Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>The tunnels got narrower as they wandered through till eventually even Tish was stooped over a bit in places to avoid hitting the ceiling. The light – if there had been any before – was now all gone. The only light was what little came from the torches. The cave was cold, not bitterly so but enough that it left Goosebumps on the humans arms. It was starting to smell more like sulfur in the air; even the Doctor wrinkled his nose at it. Dread was starting to creep up on them all, as if slowly rising through the floor and into their bodies.<p>

Eventually they came to a small opening in a wall that was small enough that even Amelia would have to crawl to get through. The opening was in a large room that Tish noticed was very tall, she couldn't even see the ceiling.

As the boys looked over the wall, Tish wandered around to find the edges of how big the room really was. Counting her steps as she went, edging along with the torch lighting a small path.

"Rory, go first." the Doctor directed him.

"Why me?" Rory asked looking over at the doctor.

"Would you rather it be Amelia?" the Doctor said sharply looking at Rory then over to Amelia.

"Fine." Rory muttered but looked into the tunnel then started moving through it.

"I'll go too." Amelia said to the Doctor.

"Be safe, don't lose the sonic. Tish and I are right behind you." the Doctor told her.

Amelia smiled and nodded then followed Rory.

"Tish?" the Doctor turned to see her.

Tish looked down in front of her, "Found a giant hole." She'd nearly fallen into it, actually but 'found' sounded better. She couldn't see the bottom of the hole, it was dark and vast and she sincerely doubted there was a bottom to it at all. Dread seemed to rise out of it with a dark aura.

"A hole? Tish, get away from the edge." the Doctor said, worried about the programming and what could be in there. He walked closer to her to scan it anyway as she moved.

Tish's foot hit the edge of the hole as she turned and she fell. Her hands desperately reached for help and she felt the Doctor's hand grab hers.

She looked down and the sight flashed before her eyes, suddenly instead of the never-ending blackness she knew to be there, there were overcast clouds, grey and depressing and she could hear thunder crashing beneath her. The smell of rain invaded over the musk of the caves and a chill stronger than the one she'd felt before crashed around her.

Tish looked up to the hand that held onto her then to the face.

A sadistic smile and a flash of blond hair.

**_'Where do you think you're going?'_**

She shook her head and blinked repeatedly.

"-HOLD ON!" The voice startled her from her thoughts as she focused on the person above her.

The darkness was back beneath her and the hand that held her was the Doctor's once more.

The Doctor scrambled on the edge, lying on his stomach to hold onto her. He slowly edged back, pulling her up with him till she was on solid ground once more.

She climbed shakily to her feet and was pulled into a tight hug by the Doctor.

"Are you alright?" He asked her as he held onto her.

She held him just as tight, face hidden against his shirt. "Haven't thought about that in over a year. Definitely never going that way." Tish said absently as she gripped him tighter.

He seemed to understand what she didn't say and if it was possible he held her tighter.

"Thank you." She mumbled into his shirt.

When she stepped away she looked around the room again and shivered. "Where'd they go?"

"Into the tunnel." He replied. "You really okay?" the Doctor asked her as they walked back carefully to the hole in the wall neither looking backwards to the pit.

"Bit colder. Trying to breathe, desperately wishing I hadn't remembered that." She said.

He frowned, pulled off his jacket and set it around her shoulders before returning to the front of them, torch shining to light their way.

"Rory, do you see anything?" he called into the hole.

"Not much." Rory yelled back, "Mostly rocks, dust and what I'm pretty sure are someone's pants."

"Humans, you're like rabbits." the Doctor muttered then spoke louder, "We're on our way, keep the torch on." The doctor said walking towards where his companions had disappeared.

Tish dug through the bag she had brought and opened the medical tin that held bandages and anti-biotic ointment and pulled out a small orange pill bottle. Inside it rattled a group of small white tablets.

The Doctor watched curiously as she pulled one out, swallowed it quickly and chucked everything back in.

"How are we going to get the bag through?" Tish asked him, not bothering to explain.

"Stick it in the pockets." He gestured towards the coat she now wore.

Tish looked between the bag and the pockets dubiously then tried it, to her amazement the bag went into the front right pocket without any protest.

She looked up at him in amazement and he had time to smirk before a scream interrupted his gleeful show-off moment.

"Amelia!" the Doctor didn't stop to think, but dove into the tunnel and pulled himself through, more army crawl then anything as he tried to get to her.

"It's got me!" He heard Amelia scream terror in her voice.

"Doctor!" Rory yelled.

The darkness of the tunnel was so thick he could barely see in front of himself, even with advanced senses, so he knew Tish must be having a horrible time getting through.

When he finally made it out the other side he looked around, "Amelia!" he yelled looking around the dark cave, hoping to see the child.

He shone his sonic around the room, the side tunnels that didn't look disturbed and landed on a pink sonic, half in the ground pointing upwards.

Tish struggled through the opening a minute later and looked around. She looked at the Doctor who sat, crouched on the floor holding a tiny pink sonic in his hand.

"Doctor?" Tish asked worried at the sight.

"They went through." He said voice full of emotion.

"What?" Tish said her worry growing as she took in what she had seen and heard.

"They got pulled through. I should have known." His hand clenched tight around the sonic and he seemed to be considering throwing it, but stopped, sticking it in his pocket instead.

"What do we do?" Tish asked him.

The Doctor looked around the room once more, looked at the ground then at his own sonic. "Floor's burnt out. We find another way, another place." the Doctor said standing up and walking towards another patch of dirt pointing his sonic at it.

"Doctor?" Tish asked confused as she followed him.

"We get sucked through the earth and we get Amelia back." the Doctor's voice was angry.

Tish's voice was hesitant as she spoke, "We're going to get sucked through the Earth?" she placed her hand on his arm as she spoke, hoping she could calm him a bit.

"Yes." the Doctor said with no hesitation at all. He looked around then at the next tunnel that was big enough to walk through and held the sonic out in front of him as a light and looked towards Tish. He extended a hand to her, "Coming, Jones?"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Nearly didn't get a chapter this week; It was my birthday and I got a little distracted from writing. <em>She won't let me go to sleep until we post...it's midnight here. <em>Stop complaining. So as guessed, backup = Nyssa! Yay _...I think. I wanted to keep it secret, but she thought you should stop being teased_. Nyeh. ****So, anyone confused by Tish's actions just ask; really. _We'll get to clearing everything up by the end of this arc though.._Yeah, but confused people stop reading. _Enjoy!_]**


	42. Lost ones, fears and unlocked doors

Amelia kept her eyes closed as she regained consciousness. Her entire body felt like it'd been compressed, which it actually had been. The ground had grabbed her feet and greedily gulped her and Rory up, pressing all around them till they couldn't breathe or move then everything was dark and cold.

She was lying on the ground, she knew that much. Not only was the backside of her body cold like when you sat on something cold for a while, but a minute twitch of her fingers confirmed the _dirt_ of a cave floor as well.  
>She lay, listening. Listening for anything that could tell her where she was now. She should just open her eyes and look, but something was telling her to stay quiet and still.<p>

The ground rumbled then stopped, repeating a pattern she knew; footsteps. More precisely heavy steps caused by big people.

Whenever Henry's dad had been around his feet had made the same shakes if she were laying on the floor while he walked; Rory's dad too! She didn't know what the noise was that sounded like someone dragging something, but she knew one thing:Someone was coming.

There was a scraping noise that she didn't understand and she willed herself to stay quiet, to stay still and not move.  
>A hissing noise, two sets of people moving.<p>

"What do we do with them?" the hissing slowly settled into recognizable words as she listened.

The voice was harsh, very gruff and hissing; Amelia understood quickly that they weren't speaking English.

"With the others." A second voice, a bit deeper a baritone, replied.

_'Others! '_, Amelia thought to herself, thinking of the hikers that had gone missing, then of Rory. Rory must be with her though, they said 'them'.

A grunt and a hissing sigh and she heard one of them move. A noise of exertion and the clomping footsteps went away again along with the same dragging noise.

"By the Serpent, I swear there are more of these pests in the last few days then the last few years." the first voice said coming closer.

Two strong arms wrapped around her, one under her neck, and one under her knees and lifted her. The arms were tough; she felt the scales scrape against the skin on the back of her knees. Her cheek rested against the alien's chest, more rough scales on her cheek and something that smelled like shoes.

He was cold too, very cold against her – even colder than the Doctor!

After a few moments a scraping noise – like before – was heard and she heard someone crying softly.

A male voice moaned as if in pain and she heard a thump.

Whoever held her kneeled down, placed her on the floor and made a noise of annoyance.

"I didn't know pests came this tiny." the alien carrying her said and Amelia felt them back away.

"Stupid things, all of them, no matter the size. Worthless." the other one growled.

The duo walked away and the scraping noise came again, leaving them in darkness.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God…Noah! Noah, there's a kid." A woman said harshly; the one who'd been crying before.

"Jesus Christ!" the man swore with pain in his voice.

"Shouldn't do that." Amelia told him, opening her eyes to see nothing but darkness.

"What?" he yelped then shouted louder as if he'd hurt himself.

She sat up slowly, just in case and searched the room, spotting nothing but darkness. Amelia sighed, waiting for her eyes to adjust. "Say that. Aunt Sharon says you shouldn't say that because it's blast-a-mus." she repeated looking around, her eyes finally adjusted.

"Blasphemous?" the woman whispered.

"Uh-huh. Are you Paula?" Amelia questioned.

"I am!" Paula said quickly, "How do you know that?"

Amelia patted her pockets but couldn't find her sonic. Uh-oh, she'd dropped it! Oh, no! The Doctor only told her to hold onto it, she'd failed the one job he'd given her!

As she mentally kicked herself she felt around and found Rory. He was asleep still, but clutched in his hand – key-chain still around his fingers – was the tiny torch. "Hold on."

She wiggled it out of his fingers carefully. "Careful your eyes, I've got a torch."

Amelia flipped it on and looked around. A man sat against the far wall, something that looked like a shirt and plastic wrapped around his arm, he was extremely pale and shaking; a woman sat near him, resting on her hip, legs curled up, her eyes were red from crying or lack of sleep; another man lay against the other wall, forming nearly a triangle with his two friends, and was very still.

Rory was fine, it appeared. He was sleeping like Amelia had been, but he was breathing fine. She pulled a clean tissue from her pocket and wiped the sand off of his face carefully then looked at Paula. "I think I got it…One second." She dug into her other pocket and produced the folded flyer Rory gave her to hold onto 'cause it was important.

Amelia handed it to Paula who took it carefully. Amelia scooted across the floor to sit by Paula so she could read by the light of the torch.

Paula started laughing, but crying too as she looked over the missing persons flyer Amelia had with her. "Noah, they used the wedding photo of us three…I must say, you two look handsome."

Noah laughed weakly, "Might as well look handsome in my last photo ever, right?"

Amelia frowned, "Last photo ever?"

"Well, yeah, we're not getting out of here, are we?" Noah tried to gesture but winced. "Paula sent a goodbye out; I'm not thick, no matter what Finn might say, I know we're gonna die down here."

"That's not true!" Amelia protested. "We're going to be saved!"

"By who?" Noah scoffed, "Not like anyone can make it down here without being kidnapped as well."

"Nuh-uh, the Doctor can!" Amellia insisted firmly.

"The Doctor? Doctor who?" Paula asked her.

"Just the Doctor." Amelia said, "He's really big and strong and brave! He saves the world and everything! Just last week he got rid of the bad shadow things and before that he faced down Demanshi warriors to rescue me! Tish says he fights for everyone so he'll save us all. We came for you guys 'specially." Amelia finished with all the conviction a child could have.

"What? Why?" Noah looked at her oddly, "What would some fictional superhero want with us?"

Amelia had a brief image of the Doctor in tights with a cape and nearly smiled, "He's not fictional! And he says he never interferes unless children are crying and that you guys count as kids."

"I'm not crying." Noah said fiercely.

"He knew the names on the flyer, so he'll help." Amelia shrugged, why did no one ever believe he'd help? Shouldn't everyone know his name by now? "Your arm got hurt."

Noah looked down at his arm then at Amelia and said crossly, "You're brilliant."

"Noah, you're bickering with a child." Paula sighed, running a hand through her hair. "How in the world did youtwo get down here anyway? It's not like Black Mountain is a good place to go hiking; especially not with a child!"

"Oh! We climbed up to the top, Rory, Tish, the Doctor and me." Amelia said, eagerly telling her story. "That's cause we were eating ice-cream though and Tish robbed the bank she said but then my Rory had a paper with you on it and the Doctor yelled, spat out a cherry, whined and we borrowed a jeep with helmets, cause helmets are cool!"

Amelia tapped the helmet she wore still, "But they're not, only medieval ones are. So then we got to the top and watched the stars till they found where your bags were then we followed the ropes inside the caves. It was really cold, but it was okay cause we were all there; then the Doctor said the ground was broken so we went to another place and there was a hole in the wall that he sent Rory through cause Rory's easy to man-ip-alate and then I followed Rory.  
>"Then Tish was all yelling so we went to look back then the ground grabbed my feet. Really, I got SAND in my shoes, and they're NEW! Then Rory got grabbed to so then we got pulled down and I couldn't breathe and then we were in the room then the guys got us and we're here!" Amelia finished then took a breath.<br>Paula stared at Amelia wide eyed, "Do you ever breathe?"

Amelia smiled at her, "We're busy. But Rory's here so everything will be okay. The Doctor's looking and Tish makes him stay on track and not go wandering off to look at pretty things when he should be fixing things."

"Who are Tish and Rory?" Noah asked, still smarting literally and metaphorically. "Since the Doctor is Batman, what are they:Robin and Catwoman?"

Amelia looked at him blankly, trying to figure out what that meant.

"He means are they superhero's too." Paula clarified.

"No. Tish is my nanny, she takes care of all of us and Rory's a nurse but he's gonna be a doctor one day!" Amelia stated simply.

Noah looked over at Rory, suddenly looking a bit brighter, "Think we could wake him up? Maybe he knows how to fix this!"

They sat quietly for a little while till Amelia seemed to realize something, "You guys have been here like three WHOLE days, huh?"

"If you say so, I lost track." Paula agreed tiredly.

"Bet you're hungry." She checked her pockets but only located two granola bars. Checking Rory's cargo shorts which held a plethora of pockets produced a full water bottle and a pack of gum. She looked at Rory and found he was still breathing. With a evil thought she opened the bottle and poured a few drops onto his face, making him splutter.

"Wakey, Wakey, Rory!" She giggled then handed the bottle over to the other two who looked very grateful.

"Where are we?" Rory asked, looking around at the dimly lit cave.

"Underground. We got sucked in and the aliens brought us in here." Amelia said frankly.

"Oh, and here I was thinking we were actually in danger." Rory stated dryly.

* * *

><p>-The Doctor and Tish-<p>

* * *

><p>Tish held tightly to the Doctor's hands as they moved through the narrow passageways and perilously dark corridors. They'd found themselves facing walls too many times; dead ends; Some more steep falls into the dark nothingness and more than a few small tunnels.<p>

It shouldn't have been impossible to get darker, but it was. Now they couldn't see too much further in front of them, even with a torch to light the way.

It was colder now too even with the Doctor's jacket on, she could nearly see her breath when she exhaled; the Doctor didn't seem affected, but his skin was always colder than hers.

"Through here." the Doctor said, feeling a path with his foot and scanning with his torch. "Just a few more feet ahead here; watch your step." He squeezed her hand reassuringly as he helped her around whatever debris it was that cluttered the floor; she really didn't want to know what it was, some of the things they'd seen scared her already without stepping around them.

He helped her, tugging her into a room behind him. As they both stepped in there was a scrapping noise and a crunching thud.

Turning around quickly they saw where the opening had been moments ago there was now nothing but a solid wall.

"Amazing." the Doctor whispered, nearly in awe but quite clearly impressed. "Technologically enhanced granite! It's sealing itself perfectly with its surroundings…It's like a door that no one can open! Well, unless you have the other piece of tech that acts as a key." He mused as he stroked the granite in thought.

"Amazing," Tish agreed weakly as she shivered in the Doctor's jacket, "but how are we getting out?"

He seemed to realize her fear and smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring, "Through the floor of course!"  
>What!" Tish asked confused.<p>

He strolled to the centre of the room, torch shining around as he studied everything. As he stood the ceiling was only a few inches above his head; the walls were smooth and dark from what they could see. The dirt on the floor was stiff and clustered together like it was frozen.

The Doctor looked at the ground then back up again. He shone the torch over at Tish, clearly expecting her to have joined him by now. "Jones?"

Tish wrapped her arms around herself, just watching him and the ground he stood on. There was nothing unusual about the ground, unless you knew what lie beneath. She felt the urge to move, to stand with him but she couldn't quite move her feet to do it.

The fear had been welling up inside since she'd started but after taking her pill earlier it'd all gone away; it shouldn't be back. It should be nearly impossible to be afraid, so whatever this was, wherever it came from it was bad…

"Tish," the Doctor said softly but firmly, gaining her attention. "Look at me."

She looked up from the ground and met his eyes. Something in them turned her legs from lead back to normal and she walked forward to meet him.

He smiled encouragingly and wrapped an arm around her middle, "Now, this is going to be scary, but if you don't struggle it shouldn't hurt, okay?" he explained eerily calm.

"I'm frightened." Tish admitted to him, looking up into his eyes again to feel it lessen, "That shouldn't be possible."

"It's something they've done. They're making people afraid to come here. The closer to the source we get the more fear it projects." He said reassuringly. "I feel it too, I'm just better at blocking it."

He rolled his shoulders, straightened up more and handed the torch to Tish who took it carefully in her left hand.

He produced the sonic from his trouser pocket and aimed it at the ground. "Ready, Jones?"

Tish took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the Doctor, torch aimed at their feet. "As ready as I'll ever be."

The Doctor nodded and pressed on the Sonic, emitting a high-pitched noise and suddenly the ground trembled beneath their feet. With a jolt their feet were sunk in. She had to fight every instinct not to fight back.

The Doctor stuck the sonic back into his pocket and wrapped his other arm around Tish, holding her close just in case. "Keep calm." he reminded.

"Thinking calm thoughts—ah!" Tish yelped as it pulled them in to their knees.

"Yes, calm thoughts." He agreed, feeling just as worried but able to control it more. If one thing had come from hundreds of years of travelling and hundreds of alien invasions, wars and downright raiding parties he could handle fear, he even could handle threats but currently two emotions were duelling in him that even if he could NOT handle any fear would have completely overtaken it; Anger and worry.

Anger over the fact that they were taking people he knew, people he lov—cared about. They took Tegan's son, and that was horrible enough but now they had Amelia and that was NOT allowed!  
>Up to his waist now, Tish was clinging to him desperately whispering prayers. The Doctor wondered briefly on who she prayed to, but his thoughts were brought back to fear and anger again.<p>

If Tish was this scared while he was holding onto her and she knew exactly what was happening and that he'd protect her then how had Amelia felt? He felt like a Lava Snake was curled up angrily in his chest fighting to get out.

Up to their shoulders now…

"Doctor? Please don't let go." Tish begged him.

"Never." He promised her.

Under the ground, he couldn't breath but he knew his bypass would help for a few minutes and keep anything horrific out. Tish's hands were tight on his shirt and he tried to hold her reassuringly, but it was hard to move.

Dirt pressed in all around them and they were being pulled. He couldn't open his eyes and wasn't sure he'd want to if he could. Her nails dug into his back for a little while but then he didn't feel them at all.

Anger burst up even fiercer than before when he once against thought that this had been done to Amelia… If any of this was intentional, if this wasn't some accidental misunderstanding then their God help them, the Oncoming Storm was on his way.

* * *

><p>-Tegan-<p>

* * *

><p>"So you spoke a language you don't even know?" Nyssa asked as they drove down the road. Australia was an odd place, maybe a bit more strange than England but at least it didn't have snow. Snow was horrid stuff, nearly as bad as ice.<p>

"Yes. German. I didn't realize I was doing it and they sounded like they were speaking English to me. Perfect accent as well." Tegan explained.

"Well…" Nyssa said, "I think that means…" she trailed off as the thought hit her.

"I have a good idea what that means." Tegan said crossly, "That doesn't mean I have to like it. I swear if he got my son into anything I'll regenerate him."

Nyssa nodded and watched out the window. She noticed something and laughed quietly. "Stop and go back."

"What? Why?" Tegan stopped confused.

"The TARDIS is parked outside a sweetshop." Nyssa said with a laugh.

Tegan parked quickly, nearly causing a crash with a few other cars.

Nyssa climbed out of the car and walked up to the familiar blue box. "Think it's locked?"

"Was it ever?" Tegan replied. She reached out and opened the door, pushing it open slowly.

"He never learns." Nyssa agreed.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Nearly didn't have a chapter; it wouldn't let me upload. <em>Never doubt the persistence of a hyperactive whofan when it comes to updating! <em>****Yup! No power outages, nor internet loss or websites being pains shall stop me! _Drama queen. Love the reviews, really we thrive on them and sit up giggling - _or get woken up at 8am with 'We've got a review!' -_ or that. Enjoy the story! More next week._]**


	43. Pest control, Dreams and Nurses

Yumo snored, curled up in a ball quite contently in the centre of Tish's bed. It was quiet, warm and the bed was always just the right amount of soft when he made a blanket nest.  
>Sure they'd abandoned him to go out – he planned to get revenge for that later – but warm beds and lazy naps worked.<p>

Warm air swirled around Yumo as the TARDIS tried to catch his attention. He snuffled in his sleep and ignored it. A colder blast of air hit him and he whined, rubbing his face with his paws and snuggling into the blanket.  
>The TARDIS gave up on subtlety and tilted the mattress to around a 60degree angle sending the Uval rolling onto the floor with a thump and a growl from the uval.<p>

He scrambled to his feet, barking in annoyance at the ship. Normally it played with him, made his toys hide so he could find them and sometimes knocked things onto the floor for him to chew on, but tossing him out of the bed was MEAN!

A blast of cold air hit him to grab his attention and he stopped, listening intently.  
>Oh! Noises! New noises! People…different people. They weren't his! Different people weren't supposed to be here!<p>

He took off running as fast as his stubby little legs would carry him down the hallway, winding through the corridors following the sounds of people. Yumo scurried up one set of glass steps, bouncing and clicking with his nails on the glass.

He settled himself at the top of the main glass stairs and waited, grumbling low in his throat.

New people, new noises, this was not supposed to be. Even the ship was warning him to be a guard.

The door opened and he widened his stance, trying to make himself look big and dangerous.

"-never learns." He heard one of the new people say as he started up his predator big-Uval bark to scare them off. It echoed quiet impressively to his ears, deep and powerful.

"Has he got an alarm system now? It sounds like someone's stepped on a squeaky toy." Tegan said, looking inside.

"Better alarm than he use to have." Nyssa commented shutting the door behind them. "Well, that's not all that's new. He's redone it all." She said looking around the console room.

Tegan shook her head and focused on the small blue thing who was squeaking like he'd been trodden on. "Is that a dog?" she asked looking at the animal as it continued its squeaky alarm.

Nyssa looked at it considering, "I think it's an Uval or maybe a Duvate." She said looking over the tiny animal carefully.

"Poisonous or deadly?" Tegan asked as the Uval crept closer to her.

"No. Just annoying." Nyssa said, "Think overgrown rats or undersized dogs."

Yumo snarled at them as they climbed the steps towards him, he stopped holding his ground and growling.

"Oh it's adorable." Tegan said then smirked as another thought occurred to her. "It's small, loud, annoying and overly defensive…I'm flashing back to our adventures with the boys." Tegan continued with a grin towards her companion.

Yumo backed up slightly as they stood at the top stair. Warm air was swirling around him now, calming touches to his mind told him to behave; they were nice. He didn't like the ship talking to his head, but normally when it did he got good treats for it…A mental flick and another scolded warning with a stressed word '**ours'**.

Ours? Yumo's ears perked up at that, New People were Ours?

Yumo studied them and allowed Nyssa to rub his head and scratch his ears, arching like a cat into the contact.

"Also gives up as easily as the boys." Nyssa agreed with Tegan.

He felt slightly insulted, but…that could pass.

Nyssa lifted him up into her arms, cuddling him and scratching his belly, cooing to him about how cute he was as Tegan looked over the console.

"I don't even know how to search for him now." Tegan grumbled, running her fingers lightly over the new buttons and switches. "Everything's different."

"So do we wait here, or go searching?" Nyssa asked, looking around the deserted tardis again.

Tegan dug into her pockets and produced a sharpie and a folded flyer. She wrote a note on the back of it and stuck it to the monitor with chewing gum. She could have sworn that someone made a disapproving noise, but no one was around.

"Let's go search. He'll get that when he gets back…" Tegan said, glancing backwards.

"Okay." Nyssa sighed, patted the Uval and put him back on the ground. She paused halfway down the stairs, "Tegan."

"What?" Tegan looked back from the door.

"Either the Doctor's gotten small or…" Nyssa pointed, indicating a child's jumper resting underneath the platform with a set of crayons and some paper.

Tegan groaned, "Oh…he didn't."

"I think he did." Nyssa said, moving to look at the papers. Most were drawings of various aliens and a few planets she recognized. Some had letters as if they were being practiced still. "A while back."  
>"Great…Brilliant." Tegan stuffed her hands in her pockets, "So not only do we have to find my son, his wife and his best friend but we also have to save the Doctor and a child?"<p>

"What makes you think we have to save the Doctor?" Nyssa asked, taking one of the papers that had a sketch of what looked like a Star Whale on it.

Tegan just looked at her.

"Right…Right. Let's go."

Yumo watched as the doors shut and locked. He looked up at whatever it was they'd done, but didn't understand why the Ship was laughing and yelling.

On the floor in front of him appeared one of the Doctors bowties. He picked it up happily in his teeth and ran off to go sleep on the comfy beds again while they were gone. He could ransom the tie for treats later!

* * *

><p>-Amelia -<p>

* * *

><p>"So you know aliens then?" Paula asked Amelia curiously.<p>

"Uh huh." Amelia nodded, leaning against Rory. She wasn't sure if she was supporting him or he was supporting her but he was quiet. "I've met some too!"

"Don't make up stories." Noah said.

"I'm not! Rory, tell them!" Amelia demanded looking at her best friend.

Rory looked down at her then at the other two, "She's not. Seriously, we've been kidnapped by aliens who kidnapped us AWAY from an alien that kidnapped us." He said seriously.

"He didn't kidnap us!" Amelia glared, then her face fell as she remembered that she'd been the one who wanted Rory along.

"Did so. I'm a hos—happy person in this journey." Rory said quickly, seeing the girls face falter. "Really. Loving alien travel. Serious kick." He said gently hugging her.

"What? You're kidding." Noah said incredulously.

"We've been taken by walking alligators and you think we're joking?" Rory asked him finding a little humor in that fact.

"No, really wish you were though." Paula sighed, "If Finn was awake he could help; he's strong and smart and…" Paula bit back a sob as she sighed.

"He should be fine." Rory told her, "It looks worse. Provided we get him help soon he should make a quick recovery." He said reassuringly.

"Hello, we're trapped UNDERGROUND." Noah said loudly, "No one's coming to save us. We're going to die down here!" The anger in his voice doing little to hide the fear.

"WE ARE NOT!" Amelia yelled. Climbing to her feet, she stalked over to stand above Noah. Pointing at him angrily she yelled, "The Doctor is coming to save us and so is Tish! They know all about aliens and they'll help us. They'll get us to the surface and get you all home to where you belong. And if you don't start believing it then I'll…I'll…" she searched for a threat, "Tell him you hate fish custard!" She looked so serious that it took the adults by surprise. The moment was broken when Rory snorted then covered his mouth as Amelia glared at him.

"Okay." Noah said quickly.

"That's good!" Amelia walked back to her spot and sat down in the silence once more.

After a few moment of silence – bar Paula and Rory giggling quietly – Rory spoke calmer once more.

"I think I can fix your arm, at least partially, Noah." Rory told him calmly, "But I'm going to need you to be strong, okay?" he looked at the other man waiting for a response.

Noah looked at him in annoyance, "You can't be much older than me so don't talk at me like a child." He grumbled.

Rory paused, "Sorry, I work with children, not adults. Okay...Paula, do me a favour and come support him on his other side. Amy, keep that torch aimed at his shoulder theirs on all of us." Rory directed them, Amelia was standing far enough back it was like they were in a spot light; everything wasn't exactly EASY to see, but nor was it pitch black. It was like trying to work at five am outside.

Paula easily moved to Noah's other side and took his hand, having him lean against her. "Like this?"

"Exactly." Rory told her. He checked Noah's arm and frowned, either way he did this it would hurt the break more, but if he didn't get it fixed soon nerve damage would become permanent.

"Have you ever fixed someone's arm before?" Noah asked nervously.

"Not as the solo one, no." Rory admitted, "But I've been there and read all the theory for it."

"Great," Noah joked shakily, "I get theoretical work."

"Yes, and it will hurt. Sorry." Rory carefully manoeuvred his arm, holding onto his wrist he tried hard to keep from worsening his break by not touching the splint Noah had manufactured. "If you feel the need to pass out, don't fight it."

He moved until Noah's lower arm was at a 90 degree angle to his shoulder and gently but firmly pulled with his hand on Noah's wrist, applying weight and rotation till it was against his stomach.

Noah barely bit back an oath as pain twisted through him, both starting from his shoulder and from his lower arm that burned as if stabbed with every motion as it too twisted.

"Here's a fun fact, this method was actually started here in Australia and is the most common technique." Rory slowly moved, pushing the lower arm out to the side, keeping the elbow bent in as Noah gave in and yelled, tears easily flowing from pain.

As his lower arm fully extended to the outside of his body there was a clunk like noise and Noah slumped against Paula.

"Is he okay?" Paula asked worriedly.

"In a lot of pain, but he'll be fine." Rory told her. He undid the splint Noah had done himself and clucked his tongue in dismay, "Way to tight."

He looked around for something to use as a better wrap and located nothing beyond the shirt under Finn's head. With a sigh he pulled off his over shirt and began ripping it apart so as to work better.

"Lucky you knew how to do that." Paula told him, holding onto Noah.

"What's lucky is that it worked the first time." Rory told her, hiding his own nerves.

"What do you mean?" Paula asked curiously.

"Sometimes that takes several tries." Rory said.

* * *

><p><em>Amelia looked around the room, they were still in the cave but it was…different; everything was a little too sharp, a little too clear. It was dark, why was it clear? The door – well, wall – was shut like always but she could see a tiny light around it, minute lines to show where it could be opened.<br>_

_The air was cold, biting at her skin and the dirt was easily shifting under her feet.  
><em>

_She needed to get out. Fear was clutching in her chest, she had to get out of here!  
><em>

_She tried to scream for Rory, but she couldn't scream. It came out strained, no louder than a whisper. She couldn't scream!  
><em>

_Amelia had to find a way out, but as she dug at the door it didn't work.  
><em>

_A woman appeared and pushed her aside lightly, almost absently, like a mother whose child is in the way. The woman took Rory's phone – that Amelia hadn't even realized she was holding -, took the back off of it and pressed it flat against the door so the battery was on the light. Pressing a few different keys she hit send and suddenly the door shivered, shuddered and started sliding open with a grinding noise of stone on stone.  
><em>

_Amelia looked at the woman who knelt, phone in hand and didn't recognize her.  
><em>

_The woman had dark hair that curled around her face, pale skin and deep dark brown eyes. She looked as if she were scared or maybe surprised to see Amelia; to be where they were. She pressed the phone into Amelia's hand.  
><em>

_"Run!" she heard the woman say._

Amelia awoke with a gasp and tried to sit up. It took a moment before she could.

"Amelia? Amy." Rory corrected, moving away from Noah and to Amelia's side. "Amy, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Fell asleep." Amelia said, rubbing her eyes and holding onto Rory, "Nightmare." She whispered holding him.

"What was it about?" Rory asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"It…I don't know." Amelia frowned in thought but several things were swirling in her head, getting more and more distant. "Can I see your mobile?" she asked suddenly.

"Sure. Don't think you can do much down here but play Tetris." Rory handed it to her.

Amelia frowned and twirled it in her hands. A series of numbers were twirling in her head and she had to get them out.

She didn't understand the placement of the numbers or why they all came out but soon the phone screen was filled with numbers. They seemed random, but for some reason she felt they needed to be there. On impulse she took the back off of the phone and pressed the battery against one point in the wall and pressed send.

The wall began shaking and the sound of stone sliding across stone – a sound that made her teeth hurt – rumbled in the room.

Rory looked up sharply and over to Amelia, "What've you done?" he asked in fear and surprise.

Amelia looked down at the mobile, at the wall and then at him. "I have no idea…" she said absently looking again at the phone in her hands and the door, then she remembered one word from her dream, "run"…

"We can run!" Paula said then frowned, "But Finn won't wake up and Noah's still unconscious.

Rory frowned as well and took his mobile back from Amelia. "I can stay with them, I'm a nurse…Amy shouldn't go anywhere but she could understand…" Rory looked over and noticed Amelia had NOT obeyed rule #1. "Amy!"

* * *

><p>Amelia looked both ways and dashed down the hallway, it was cold, dirty and the stone floor echoed. The lighting sucked too. At least a path was clear. She paused and focused her eyes at a sign on the wall, eyes staring unblinkingly as she waited for the translation; why did writing take longer to translate? Maybe she'd have to ask the Doctor later.<p>

The writing didn't make sense anyway; it was all in big words she couldn't read! That wasn't fair, how was she supposed to escape if she couldn't read the words!

Amelia looked around a corner and spotted one of the big aliens walking towards her. Eyes wide she ducked back around the corner. She could hear and feel the shakes of his footsteps and closed her eyes shut in the childish belief that if you can't see them they can't see you.

The shaking turned and got closer to her till finally she got the feeling someone was standing right in front of her.

She opened one eye, flinching still, and looked up. The alien was standing with a look of annoyance on his face – well, she figured it was annoyance.

"Pests stay in the pest only area; quarantined until no viruses can be found." He paused, "And I do not know why I tell you this, pests cannot understand anyway."

"Oi! I understand!" Amelia protested. "I'm not a baby!"

He took a step back in shock, stumbling, "A smart Pest? Are the smaller ones the most mature?"

"Who're you calling small?" Amelia demanded, stomping her foot in protest.

He glowered at her, "Pests in the quarantine area."

"I'm NOT a Pest!" Amy yelled glaring at the alien.

He grabbed her arm, hauling her down the hall back where she'd come from. "Pest's are not allowed to roam unless properly screened." The alien stated looking both angry and curious at the little pest.

"I'm not a pest!" She yelled, kicking out with her foot and smacking him in the shin.

He turned to look at her, anger and shock on his face.

She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach…"Oops…"

* * *

><p>"I'm going after her." Rory told Paula, "Watch them, we'll be right back, I swear."<p>

"Rory-" Paula started.

Rory dashed out into the hallway and looked at the floor. It was stone mostly, but with some sand on it, enough so that he could see the little boot prints in it. He followed them till he found a sign on the wall.

"Pest control - block 3B: Quarantine." He read out loud to himself quietly. "Prison cells due left; Airlifts to surface area through exit 18 – right hallway...Brilliant, but she can't read…Bugger."

He left the sign and looked around for more boot prints. As he looked down another hallway he groaned and felt anger and fear bubble up inside him; Amelia was being dragged down the hallway, tiny wrists cuffed behind her back as she looked annoyed. That might be the cuffs, or might have to do with the fact she was being pulled along by her upper arm and her belt.

"AMY!" He yelled, running at them and bowling into the alien, sending them all to the ground.  
>-<p>

* * *

><p>Paula gasped in shock as Rory – with a few new bruises and a cut across his eyebrow – was hauled in, hands cuffed behind his back, slumped over as if unconscious. Amelia was dragged in as well, hands cuffed behind her back too.<p>

The Alien hissed in annoyance and his companion cuffed Rory to the wall before leaving.

Amy scowled as her cuffed hands were manoeuvred to be hung up on a hook on the wall behind her. She was sitting on the ground – as was Rory – so it wasn't that uncomfortable, but it would require some odd movement to get out. The alien looked at her in annoyance as she wiggled, testing the hook.

"Still." he commanded her as he leaned back, weight on his heels as he knelt.

"I hate sitting still. And handcuffs." Amelia replied in annoyance. Her Rory was hurt, the Doctor wasn't here yet, she didn't have her sonic and she'd failed to escape. What kind of companion did that make her?

He made a noise of annoyance and shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and pressed his left hand down onto Paula's leg to push himself up. But as he stood he stumbled as a cracking noise was heard and the woman screamed.

"What in the Goddesses name was that?" the alien looked baffled. He leaned down and pressed on her leg again creating another cracking noise and a louder shriek.

"Karjon! Come and see this." He called out of the cell to his fellow guard. "The humans make funny noises when you press them." He laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: So no Doctor or Tish this week, don't worry, they'll be back. <em>Next week! <em>Yup. For now we end on a dramatic note! _At least we got this fic out, my partner's stuck in a blizzard, we're lucky she hasn't lost power._ Don't tempt fate. Once again, love reviews, hope you love the story and any questions will be answered - bar spoilers. _Thank you for reading!]_**


	44. Captains, Commanders and Strikes

Tish sat up gasping for breath as she awoke. She raised a hand to her throat as she looked around. DARK room. The only light came from the flickering torch she'd be holding.

She wheezed in breath and tried not to cough, so much for not suffocating horribly.

Tish grabbed the torch and shone it around finding only dirt and rock walls. The Doctor was passed out on the floor not far away, his face and body covered in dirt. She touched her own face and discovered it was oddly clear of dirt then realized he'd shielded her mostly.

"Doctor?" Tish said softly, patting his arms to try and awaken him. "Doctor?" she said shaking him and checking him for any sign of awareness. He was still, his chest unmoving, and there was no signs of breath.

"Doctor!" Tish desperately resorted to her brother's favourite wake up technique and smacked him across his face just hard enough to sting.

The Doctor sat up hard, choking and coughing. He leaned over and spat out a mouthful of dirt.

"Blurgh." the Doctor complained, wiping at his face and motioning his disgust.

Tish looked around and realized she'd stuck the bag in the coat. Reaching into the pocket it took her several moments to locate her first aid bag and produce a bottle of water for him.

He rinsed his mouth out and made faces, "Worst bypass after-effect ever. Even worse than the odd taste from gas." He continued as he checked himself out for damages.

"Bypass?" Tish asked relief and confusion in her voice.

"Respiratory bypass. Keeps me from suffocating or being poisoned to death by gasses. Apparently it also works on dirt." He wiped off his faces and straightened his bowtie. A look of horror came across his face as he reached up and encountered…hair? "My hat!" He yelled panicking as he felt his head, then looked around hoping the hat would appear.

"I think it's trapped in the dirt." Tish looked upwards at the ceiling they'd come through.

"Oh…" he frowned and glared at the dirt. "I'd try to bring it through but we might cave in." He said sadly glaring harder at the dirt.

"You can buy another one." Tish offered, before her eyes went wide as she realized she'd ENCOURAGED him to get another horrendous hat.

"I can. Maybe a fez…Fezzes are cool." The Doctor conceded thinking hard.

"Not if your name isn't Abu." Tish smirked, looking at the doctor.

He looked at her quizzically then scowled, "I'm not a monkey!" The scowl only intensified at her response.

"That wasn't what I meant but my point is not invalid in that comparison."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her and waved the sonic at the walls till he found what he was looking for: the exit.

"Now, this might hurt your ears a bit, so you might watch out." He warned her as he pointed the sonic at the wall.

Tish covered her ears as he pressed the button and the sonic started the mechanics in the stone moving.

The screeching scrape of unused hinges combined with the sound of rock scrapping against rock set her teeth on edge and sent a chill down her spine. The wall however was moved and a large passageway shown.

"I guess they don't use this one too often." the Doctor said, "That patch wasn't worn out…I doubt anyone's made it this far before. Come along, Jones." He held his left hand out to her which she took as she followed him down the corridor.

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" she asked him, shinning the torch ahead to light the way; he held the sonic out as a weapon, just in case.

"I haven't got the faintest idea." He admitted, "We're underground though. Quite a ways under. Maybe Silurian? But they tend to favour warmth; this is a bit too cold."

The Doctor continued to examine their surroundings, moving the sonic around as he walked.

"Silurian?" Tish asked following him.

"Homo-reptilia." He said easily, looking around. "Previous owners of the planet. Met them a while back when I was younger but older." He said continuing to examine the caves around them.

"So what do you suppose these ones will look like?" Tish asked him, leery of the surroundings.

"Oh I – like that I suppose." He finished weakly as the light landed on a very angry looking Alien. "Hello, I'm the Doctor, this is my friend Tish." The Doctor said waving at the alien in greeting.

The alien blinked in surprise and stared at him, "A talking pest?" the alien looked cautiously at the two time travelers, "Second one I've heard about today…" he mumbled.

"Doctor, what are they?" Tish asked moving closer to the doctor.

"Oh they're fantastic, brilliant, **gorgeously **evolved creatures." He gushed as the Alien just watched him, clearly baffled. "They've got more names than I do! Kanmare, Tulloun, Takkan, Kurreah, Wawi, Bunyip, I believe Brisbane calls them Targan and—" he rambled and would have continued if not for the alien yelling.

"Enough!" the alien's eyes were crossing and he shook his head, "Pests stay in the control area! How did you even get down here?" he commanded glaring at them.

"We fell through the floor," Tish gestured behind them vaguely.

The alien looked a bit surprised, "Through the floor? Traps…I did not know they came this far in or this far down. It doesn't matter anyway, pests to the pest control area." He dug into a cloth pouch on his belt to produce a set of restraints.

The Doctor looked at the alien and then distastefully at the restraints, "We'll come peacefully without those." He reached out, taking them from the alien and handed them to Tish to the other mans annoyance. "Never ends well when those things come out…Anywho, we're looking for a child, about yay tall." the Doctor gestured with his hands, fingers fluttering crazily as he tried to act normal and not annoyed. "Would've come in with a man about this tall, stupid hair, big nose? No? Other people too, would be here a few days…Taken from inside?" The Doctor stopped to breath, giving the alien time to process.

The alien looked at the Doctor strangely, as if trying to understand what a toddler was babbling on about. "A smart pest who speaks almost eloquently, if insanely, in our language? Interesting…Come with me."

"About the child…" The Doctor started.

"Pests stay in the quarantine rooms until dubbed safe. If your little pest is here she would be in there with any other pests." The alien started walking towards the Captain's quarters, if anyone could deal with these strange pests he could.

"So uh, where are we going?" Tish asked, tucking the restraints away into the pocket of the Doctor's jacket.

"To speak with the Captain. He'll know what to do with smart pests." The alien said as he continued to walk.

They passed through many dark hallways that were not quite bright enough to see clearly, but not dark enough to cause too many complications. The Doctor reasoned as he whispered an explanation to Tish that they must have better eyesight in the dark and since they were in the prison area it wasn't unlikely that they dimmed the lights to mess with 'the pests'.

They passed down one corridor and Tish stopped in surprise as she looked into an open door.

Inside a man stood – quite human – talking to himself, just mumbling nonsensical things as he cleaned the floors with a broom. He had long matted greying hair that was dark at the bottom as if he'd never cut it since it started going light; his beard was matted as well and the same dark colours.

He wore clothing like Tish had seen on British PCs. His shoes weren't shiny, they were scuffed and covered with mud and various other things; his trousers were stained, torn and held up with a belt that was looped in on itself showing a tremendous loss of weight. His shirt was buttoned up, but sagged everywhere and his badge, one most PC's pinned and shined with pride, was dull.

"Sir?" Tish questioned cautiously.

His head jerked up to look at her in shock. She noted his eyes were like his badge.

"Tish, what's -" the Doctor froze looking into the room and eyed the alien with anger, "Why is he here!"

"He's a pest. They're too stupid to leave on their own." The alien informed him.  
>"So you use them as slaves?" The doctor asked a warning tone in his voice.<p>

"They're more…like unwanted animals. If they won't leave at least you should put them to work."

"How do you know they're not smart enough to leave?" Tish snapped.

The alien rolled his eyes at her and looked straight at the other man. "Go. The lifts are right down the hall, two lefts, one right and through the double doors. The password is locked at 9-7-2-5-1; hitting button 4 will take you to the forest. Go on…Go. Get!"

The man flinched back and went to sweeping again, ignoring Tish and the Doctor.

"See? Stupid, the entire pest population." He gestured for them to follow him again.

Tish ignored him and stepped into the room, reaching out to the man who flinched. "Hey. We'll get you out of here and back home. The Doctor's going to make everything okay."

He looked up at her and Tish noticed his skin was not quite right; in fact it looked rather pale and yellow. As she watched him a tear rolled down his face. Tish's heart clenched and she undid her watch, aware of the Doctor's gaze, and grabbed his hand. "We'll come back, okay? We've got to go sort all this out but then we're going to come back for you so we can all get out." She fastened the watch around his wrist and smiled at him, "I have to come back now; I don't have my watch."

The man looked down at the watch, ticking away on his right wrist and back up at her. He let go of the broom and brought his hands down and dug into his pocket. From it he produced a leather billfold that looked a lot like the Doctor's psychic paper and handed it to her.

She opened it and found it was his other badge, the one that held his ID. "I definitely have to come back, you'll be needing this."

"Tish…" the Doctor said softly.

Tish looked back at the Doctor and nodded. Turning back to the man she squeezed his hand in comfort, "We'll be back," she smiled at him , a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, and addressed him with the name from the billfold, "Emmett."

His face flashed different emotions and settled on a small smile.

The Doctor reached out and took her hand, pulling her back to him. "Sorry."

"We'll come back for him, right?" Tish asked softly as they walked back to follow the alien.

"Of course." the Doctor assured her. "We'll get everyone out."

Tish nodded and hoped he wasn't lying.

* * *

><p>The alien who'd been leading them had taken them somewhere a bit warmer than where they'd been before, the paths weren't all dirt and were actually some sort of stone. He paused in front of a large wooden door that was intricately carved with different designs and patterns before knocking loudly.<p>

"Come in." an annoyed voice announced from inside.

The alien seemed timid as he opened the door, "Captain Marwen?"

"What is it Tryscali?" the captain growled.

"Two of the pests – " Tryscali started.

"Yes, yes, I heard about the small one that came through; Pests have young ones too." Marwen snapped irritably.

The Doctor and Tish exchanged a look, "that'd be ours."

Tryscali looked at them quizzically, "Your young?"

"Yeah…No!" the Doctor said as the implications hit him. "No! Just…no, ours but not ours!"

Tish blinked and looked at the Doctor, "Is it that bad a thought?"

"Yes! Your mother would murder me!" The Doctor stated firmly shivering as the image of what Francine…or worse MARTHA would do to him.

"Point. Not our young, we're fostering her." Tish explained.

"Who are you talking to? Come in!" Marwen ordered.

"Hello!" the Doctor said happily, waving as he shoved the door open, "I'm the Doctor and this is my companion Tish."

"Hey." Tish waved weakly.

"Talking Pests?" Marwen said in surprise, standing up behind his desk.

"I'm not a pest." the Doctor protested.

"All humans are pests." The captain stated.

"I'm not human!" he said gleefully. "I'm a Time Lord."

Marwen snorted, "Time Lords are a myth."

"So are Targans." The Doctor smirked knowing they were annoyed by the different names.

"Do not use that name!" Marwen snapped, his teeth flashing in the light.

The Doctor waved off his anger when Tish flinched. "Then do not call my friends pests."

"Fine. Humans." The way he said human sounded like an insult but the Doctor let it slide for now. "How are they loose?"

"They got themselves out! They say they came through the floors in Sector 42." Tryscali said sheepishly.

"Hmph. Those stupid traps are everywhere. They use to fall through the ceiling in the dens years back."

"Speaking of those traps." the Doctor said, clapping his hands together, "You don't want the humans here, correct?"

"Yes." Marwen stated carefully, not sure what this Time Lord wanted.

"And the traps are malfunctioning and shorting out?" the doctor continued.

"Yes." Marwen nodded.

"I think I might have a solution for you." the Doctor smiled, looking quite smug.

* * *

><p>-A little while later -<p>

* * *

><p>Tish sat, curled up with her back against the wall of the little office. She'd been offered a chair, but none of their chairs had backs and after the third time she'd nearly fallen off of one she'd given up and just sat on the ground.<p>

The Doctor and Marwen had started talking animatedly about how to fix the traps and end the humans and random animals falling through. She's also given up trying to understand them and taken to digging through his pockets for entertainment. She'd located a yo-yo that after the fifth time she'd smacked the Doctor with it he'd taken away.

"Tish?" The doctor questioned looking over at his companion.

She looked up guiltily, hands in the pockets of his coat, "What?"

"We're leaving." He said gesturing towards the door.

"Going home?" She asked hopefully, climbing to her feet.

"No, we need to talk to the leader but with the Captain here leading us we should get to that easily and with some convincing we'll go home oh…within the next hour." He said easily.

Tish smiled and followed him easily out of the office. She paused in the hallway, an odd look on her face.

"What Now?" The Doctor asked seeing her stop.

She pulled her hand out of one pocket, pulling with it a lacy pink bra, from the other pocket she withdrew a can of something that looked suspiciously like a deodorant can.

Tish looked at the Doctor, not saying a word as he flushed, stuttered and snatched the can, muttering something about 'dangerous' and 'nitro'.

"Any explanations you care to give?" Tish asked, holding the bra by one finger as they walked, Marwen pointedly ignoring the 'misbehaving' humans.

He grabbed it from her and looked at it with a strange look and stuffed it in his pocket with something akin to annoyance and embarrassment. "None."

"You're red." Tish grinned

"Am not." The Doctor said his blush growing.

"Are too!" she said, poking his neck where it was red.

"Am not!" he ducked away from her.

"If the humans would **behave** when we meet the Commander." Marwen said, clearly exasperated.

"The human will." Tish said in reply, "I can't say anything about the Time Lord's behaviour."

The Doctor stuck his tongue out at her but straightened his face as they entered the large circular office. The floors were shiny and white, they looked like marble. The walls were smooth stone shined till they glowed, reflecting the lights all over. Large glass windows that curved outwards and covered an entire wall and looked down onto something Tish couldn't see from the door.

"Captain Marwen, what are you doing here? Why have you brought pests in?" a large alien – one whose skin was paler than Marwen or Tryscali's had been, nearly white – asked, walking from the windows to stand near them and examine them.

"Forgive me, Commander Lydelan, but they know how to end the pe—humans falling through and they can SPEAK."

"What? A smart pest?" Lydelan waved it off.

"Call me a pest one more time and I'll start calling you a Targan." Tish threatened.

Lydelan's eyes narrowed at her, "Smart? You consider insults smart?"

The Doctor stepped in front of Tish, shoving her backwards lightly, "Ignore her, she's a little unhappy since her charge was kidnapped by falling through the floor…Of course I'm rather unhappy about that as well and around one step from just collapsing the entire place…"His face went dark for a moment and anger made them shiver. Then his face lightened up again and he smiled at Lydelan nicely and clapped his hands together in anticipation; "Now, about the humans falling through the Earth…"

Tish zoned out again as the Doctor and now TWO other aliens started conversing in technobabble that made her eyes cross. She would dig through the pockets again, but that could prove to be a scary venture after last time.

It wasn't until she heard a loud door clunk and a strange hissing noise that she stopped idly playing tetris on her phone and went to look at what the noise was. She took an automatic step back as she saw what was on the other side in the circular room. Down at least 50 feet was a large snake. Large as in it curled up around the entire room below - which had to be at least 100 feet in diameter - and looked like it was starting to overlap itself.

It was beautiful, she guessed if you liked snakes, an array of rainbow colours that lit up brightly when it moved. It took a moment to locate but when she saw its head she shivered. The head alone was the size of Leo's new TV, one he'd bragged about for ages because it was '42inches and HD!'

What caught her attention secondly was the clanging of a gate as two of the aliens walked in, carrying something in-between them. Tish didn't recognize what it was till it was thrown into the room with the snake and the gate locked again: It was Emmett.

"Doctor!" She screamed, dragging him from his conversation as he darted to her side in an instant.

"What?" his breath caught as he looked down into the room, "What is that? Why are you feeding HUMANS to it?"

Commander Lydelan looked into the room and didn't notice anything worth yelling about. "That's the Rainbow Serpent." He said, hands out to his sides, palms up. "Our goddess. She looks after all of us , created the mountain and is responsible for all."

"Why are you feeding humans to it?" the Doctor asked again, angrily.

"Get him out of there!" Tish demanded, trying to find a way to get to him, but the Doctor's hand on her wrist kept her from going too far.

"Well, there must be something done with the dead pests." Lydelan said, still not seeing anything wrong.

"That man was alive earlier." the Doctor growled, "Not even two hours ago."

"Pests…Humans," he corrected himself, "drop like flies around here. Stupid things…They refuse to eat healthy good meat, they will not drink the water we provide and they even harm themselves. I see no point in trying to save them, but nor do I want them around. Stop the traps and we won't have to feed the dead to the Goddess." He shrugged as if it didn't matter.

Marwen looked uncomfortable and shifted on his feet as the serpent below shifted and slithered across the floor towards the body.

The Doctor jerked Tish backwards by her wrist and held her against his chest so she couldn't see into the room at all. "I'll stop the traps, but that's strike two." He said, pointing to that room.

"Strikes?" Tish asked the random words making her pause for a moment.

"American metaphor I blame on Captain Jack. Three strikes and you're out." the Doctor's face was clouded with anger…no, not anger…It was rage, Tish realized without even looking. His whole body was vibrating with it, his hands tense. "One more thing…ONE more and I'll end it all, not just the traps."

Tish felt him start to relax, his hands didn't grip her as tight and he actually let her step away towards the door, but not near the windows.

"Now, where is my frie—" his voice stopped, his body stiffened and his head tilted towards the door. He heard it first, it echoed moments later and Tish heard – faintly – a woman screaming in pain.

The Doctor growled and threw the door open, running down a corridor, Tish on his heels. They were half way towards the sound when they heard Amelia scream as well.

The Doctor put on a burst of speed that left Tish further behind as he ran.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: is being a bit of a brat, but it gave me time to finish the last...oh 1000 words I needed written so I could post. <em>Lucky we got to post today at all!<em> Yeah, I really need to keep on top of updates. _Maybe we should try to get a couple weeks ahead again..._No Amelia this week...I feel like a soap opera: "Stay tuned next week to find out what happens to _" _You're the one who wanted to do the chapters like this. _Yup. I like crack and cliffhangers. There should be a support group or something. _Enjoy the chapter!_]**


	45. Rescues, Doctor Rory and Dangerous mums

He slid to a halt in a long dirt hallway, allowing Tish to catch up as he spun in circles to look around and orientate himself. He hadn't been down here before, "AMELIA!" the Doctor yelled loudly.

No response, the screams had stopped approximately two minutes ago.

"AMELIA POND!" he bellowed louder waiting a second for a response.

"Doctor," Tish panted, out of breath whereas he looked like he hadn't just sprinted down dozens of hallways that took several minutes. How he did this constantly and how Martha had done it was baffling. "Are we lost?" she asked worriedly.

"No." he said quickly, "We're finding them." He continued looking around for any sign of where the screams were coming from.

"Doctor, wh-what are you doing?" Marwen gasped for breath, clearly not use to running either as he stumbled to stand near them.

"Looking for Amelia. Where is quarantine?" He demanded looking over to Marwen.

"Do-Down the hall." Marwen said, hand over his chest, "Third on the left, just past the water bucket."

The Doctor dashed down the hall, ignoring Marwen and Lydelan trying to speak to him and was intercepted by two hulking guards.

"Let go of me, now." He said dangerously, nailing them with a glare that made Tish shudder.

They released him, obviously afraid and turned to Marwen and Lydelan, both talking animatedly about something he ignored.

The Doctor opened the jail cell with his sonic and when the door opened instead of being greeted by an excited Amelia he was faced with Rory a few feet away standing with a sharp piece of wood pointed in his direction.

"Rory?" He asked looking into the dark room.

"Doctor." Rory lowered his weapon. "Tish?" Rory asked looking at her.

"Right here." Tish peeked over the Doctor's shoulder. "What happened to your shirt?" She asked, looking at him.

"I needed medical supplies." Rory stepped back and knelt on the floor next to a very pale looking woman.

A man sat on the floor, arm tied tight to his chest with bits of Rory's shirt looking half asleep.

Another man lay against the far wall, but he didn't move at all, a piece of cloth that lay under his head was soaked in blood.

Amelia stood up from her spot on the floor and ran to the Doctor, diving into his arms and crying.

"Rory? What's happened?" Tish asked as the Doctor got a babbled near hysterical review of events from Amelia.

"Apparently, bones are bubble wrap for lizard people." Rory said sarcastically. He held the woman's left hand tightly in his own and Tish could see her bare legs were completely covered in bruises up to where the flesh disappeared into the cloth of her shorts. It looked like Rory had been in the process of trying to create some sort of splints with strips of cloth that didn't quite look like Rory's shirt; they was bright pink with what looked like tiny purple hearts.

"What's that mean?" Tish asked him quietly as the woman whimpered.

"Pop pop pop, go the bubbles." she whispered, her voice harsh. Her eyes fluttered open and looked into Tish's, tears and pain shining in them. "I want my dad."

Tish pulled a clean tissue from her pocket and wiped away the girl's tears and sweat. "We'll get you home. I promise. The Doctor has worked out a deal with them. We're going. My name is Tish, what's yours?"

"Paula. Paula Henderson." She said, breathing heavily.

"I couldn't do anything for pain. Not for her really and there hasn't been enough time for anything to work anyway." Rory told Tish, "While pressure points might work to deaden his arm for now, "He indicated the man who was sitting, "I can't really kill sensation to her entire lower body." His voice sounded a bit sad as he looked at his patient.

"You can deaden someone's arm?" Tish asked curiously then shook her head, "Never mind that for now. Paula, we're going to have to move you in a few moments and it'll hurt some but then we'll make you better." She said as she shook her head, clearing it of her thoughts.

"I don't trust the Doctor with healing." Rory told Tish strongly, "I'll do anything needed and if it becomes an absolute that someone else need be there before we can get her somewhere safe we will call in your sister's ex." He said thinking, as he continued examining his patients.

"Her ex?" Tish asked confused for a moment.

"He's an Orthopaedic surgeon." Rory said dismissively and Tish wondered why he knew that.

Rory turned to look as the Doctor lectured the guards making them both look as chastened as Rory thought a reptile person could look. Amelia stood nearby looking worried, tiny sonic clutched in hands protectively.

The Doctor sent them one last scathing look then walked over, "Rory, I'm going to go get the TARDIS and bring it in the cell. That way they don't have to be moved too far."

"Do you have a stretcher?" Rory asked quickly. "Anything we can use to keep her legs straight and stable? If possible I'll need two actual splints. I don't want to give her any of your medications until I know for certain what she's allergic to."

The Doctor looked curiously at Rory, as if seeing him for a first time.

"Doctor?" Rory asked seriously, his attention focusing on how to best care for the others.

"Yes. In the med-bay there are a few instruments for emergency medicine. I'll grab them. Tish, are you staying here or coming with Amelia and me?" the Doctor asked her, as he turned to leave.

"I'll stay here." Tish told him, squeezing Paula's hand lightly, "You two hurry back though."

"In a flash." he promised her, holding Amelia's hand again. The Doctor stopped, took one last look at Rory before leaving with Amelia, a look of determination on his face.

"What brought you to Australia anyway?" Tish asked trying to keep her focused on something else. "You don't sound like a native, you sound more American!"

"Dad moved here for business years back. Got married not even a month ago to Finn, he's a native, this was a honeymoon trip… " She laughed shakily, "So much for a honeymoon adventure."

Tish looked at Rory questioning quietly who Finn was. He indicated the man lying down. Tish half shrugged and indicated the man.

Rory's face looked grim but he nodded.

So her husband was still alive...for now. Tish kept her fingers crossed that all three would survive.

After a few seconds her phone rang and she looked down at her pocket oddly, pulling it out.

"You get service down here?" Rory asked in amazement.

"I get service everywhere, it's part of the companion packet." Tish said offhandedly as she opened the text message. It said simply, _**'Get all into one space. Emergency pick up, can't stop.'**_

Tish tucked her phone away, "Okay, Rory, I need you to move Finn over hear next to us."

"But – " he started…

"Doctors orders." Tish said interrupting him and walked over to the other man. "Hey, can you move?"

"With a great deal of pain." Noah said grudgingly but seemed surprised when he moved and he didn't feel pain. "Hey, maybe nurse boy does know what he's doing."

"Yes, he does." Rory said irritably as he lifted Finn by his upper torso and half carried half dragged him to lay by Paula, kneeling so Finn's head was supported by his lap.

"Why are we moving?" Noah asked her.

"Doctor's orders. Something about an emergency." Tish said and realizing that they had to hurry for a reason she knelt, one foot on the ground just in case there was running. "Everyone just stay calm, okay? He's coming back—"

A whooshing and wheezing noise was heard signifying the TARDIS coming into existence but they couldn't see it yet.

"Oh my God." Noah whispered looking up and around.

Tish looked where he had and realized the TARDIS was indeed coming into existence and landing…but it was becoming corporal where they sat.

"Oh God." Paula whimpered as the TARDIS walls closed in and they landed in a heap on the floors near the door of the console room.

"Why did you do that?" Tish demanded, climbing to her feet and helping Noah up.

"Emergency." the Doctor dashed around the console, flipping switches and hitting levers sending them spiralling into the Vortex. Tish noticed as she took in his appearance he had singe marks and charring on the back of his shirt and his braces were down around his legs not done up.

"What happened to you?" Tish asked suspiciously.

"Nitro-9 with a short fuse!" He proclaimed, "They annoyed me, I set it in the weapons and control room, set it to explode, got distracted by a crack and had to run."

"A crack?" Tish dashed up the steps to stand by him. She remembered vaguely him telling her something about cracks and Amelia had told her time ate clerics in the forest but… "How can you get distracted by a crack?"

"Quite easily when one of the idiot guards touches it and disappears," the Doctor said, "And when you realize it's going to consume a mountain quickly unless you do something."

"Where's Amelia?" Tish asked looking for the little girl.

"Over here!" Amelia said arms full of objects as she walked towards them. Tish helped separate out what she had and located several splints.

"Rory, here." Tish said, taking the stuff over to him.

"Amelia, second job for you." the Doctor told her as he rested briefly and dug where his pockets should be only to frown as he realized his jacket wasn't on. "Tish!"

"What?" Tish questioned.

"Mobile, upper inside left pocket." The Doctor demanded looking at the coat she wore.

Tish opened the coat and dug into the pocket and located mobile. She tossed it up to him quickly and went back to holding Paula's hand as Rory attempted to splint Paula's legs.

The Doctor opened it, scrolled through the numbers and chucked it over to Amelia who fumbled but did catch it. "Call that number. Give them a message for me."

Amelia listened carefully and then pressed the call button.

* * *

><p>-Tegan-<p>

* * *

><p>"Hello?" Tegan answered the phone hopefully.<p>

"Hi..." a child's voice said, a little girl. "Are you Ms Jovanka?"

"Yes. How can I help you?" Tegan slowed her steps, causing Nyssa to pause and wait for her.

"Um...Do...My daddy says you need to get to Cairns Base Hospital...I-I guess that's Cooktown?"

"I know where it is." Tegan said, heart stopping as she grabbed Nyssa's hand and put the phone onto speaker. "Why do I need to get to Cairns Base Hospital?"

There was a crying noise in the background and the sound of a thump followed by a yell. "Just...Daddy says you need to be there."

Someone was crying and nearly yelling in pain, but the voices faded as if the girl or the person was moving away from the other.

"Who is there? Who's hurt?" Tegan asked her again, heading for her car as she shook. Nyssa eyed her friends condition and weighed her ability to drive with her own and took the passenger's seat.

The little girl spoke to someone Tegan couldn't hear as she started the car. A moment later she spoke into the phone sounding worried, hesitant and almost near tears. "Um...I'm sposta tell you 'Just get yourself and Nyssa there already...A&E sector.'"

"What!" Tegan yelped, looking over to her friend, but the phone clicked off showing the other person had hung up. "I'm going to kill him."

"I'll help." Nyssa said calmly, "And then we'll deal with the other aliens."

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>As Amelia spoke on the phone the Doctor dashed back through the TARDIS and snatched his medical bag from the infirmary. Well, Grace's medical bag, but she'd left it full of alien medication so he claimed it now. He slid down the hall and hopped the last few steps to the floor near them.<p>

"Let's see…" he dug through the bag and produced a tube with weird symbols on it, he went to give it to Finn but Rory stopped him, hand clutching the Doctor's forearm strongly.

"No." He stated firmly glaring at the doctor.

"No what?" the Doctor asked, taken aback by the change in behaviour.

"You're not giving him anything until we know what would hurt him and nothing I don't know."Rory continued.

"Rory, if I don't give him this he won't wake up." the Doctor countered seriously.

"Test it first." Tish tried to interrupt the boys before anything bad happened.

"How? Why?" The two men looked at her for a moment, their argument on hold.

"A little on his hand. If after a minute it doesn't do anything he can take it. We don't want it working on him like it did on Amelia." Tish reasoned hoping the two could agree.

"Fine." the Doctor did as told then helped Noah up. Noah's arm wasn't deadened anymore and each step caused a cry of pain. He slipped trying to work on the stairs and fell onto his butt, jolting his arm.

The Doctor looked anxious, "Erm, just sit there."

He looked up and caught Amelia's eyes.

"She wants to know why." Amelia said, holding the phone away from her.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, always questioning that one. "Just tell her to get herself and Nyssa there NOW, A&E sector."

Rory looked at the splints and got them undone. "This is going to hurt. A lot."

Paula gritted her teeth and Tish moved to support her so she could relax as best she could.

"I could give her something -" The doctor said.

"NO! Give me a hand putting these on, but no alien pain meds." Rory said, standing firm.

The Doctor nodded and moved the splint to where all they had to do was slide it under her leg. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Rory insisted.

"Take a deep breath." the Doctor warned Paula, "and if you feel faint don't fight it."

As Rory grabbed the splint to move it quickly the Doctor lifted her leg carefully amid screaming.

He heard Amelia in the background moving quickly out of the console room.

When he looked up Rory was finishing the straps to keep the splint on and Paula was unconscious. "It's probably best." the Doctor said, helping Rory fix the other one on before moving on to Finn.

"Hah! See?" He held the boys hand up to show the spot was clear, no reaction and before Rory could protest again he'd poured half the bottle into Finn's throat and made him swallow it.

"Doctor! I told you…what if that's bad for humans!" Rory almost growled.

"Relax, I've used it on plenty of humans." the Doctor said trying to calm Rory.

"Won't it be suspicious if he shows up completely healed within the hour?" Tish questioned, not as put out as Rory.

"It's not going to heal that quickly. I'm smarter than that. This is just making sure he does wake up and nothings permanently wrong with his head. Did you see the note?" the Doctor stated, a bit of relief in his voice that he'd given the medicine.

"What note?" Tish asked.

The Doctor jerked his thumb over his shoulder indicating the console and Tish went up past Noah to check what he wanted.

Stuck to the console with what she thought was gum was a…nice little note. "Well, points to her for creative use of a rusty fork. Can she really do that?"

"She'd try and it would hurt." the Doctor said sulkily dashing up to stand by her. He glared at the note and actually seemed a bit nervous. "Make sure they don't get thrown around, we're landing."

"Landing where?" Rory demanded.

"Cairns Base Hospital. Not the best one in Australia, but the closest to his mum and the mountain. She'd murder me if I took him further away. Now hold on!"

Noah screamed as he was jolted, hurting his arm as the TARDIS bounced. Paula was still mercifully unconscious as was Finn.

When they landed the TARDIS went quiet and Amelia reappeared, handing him back his phone. Yumo was tucked in her arms looking sleepy. "What do we do now?"

"We? We do nothing. You go to your room and wait—or the library, or the kitchen, wherever out of sight – while Rory, Tish and I get these three into the hospital and Rory makes them think he's a Doctor."

"What?" Rory nearly squeaked.

The Doctor hung back once he brought the trio inside along with Tish as Rory with medical jargon and a psychic paper convinced them he knew exactly what he was doing and was a Doctor.

It was impressive to watch, actually and was gaining Rory a lot of respect points. So much for useless annoying fainting scrawny git who'd he kidnapped. He was now just an annoying, scrawny almost-companion…less hostage, more parolee.

He heard Tegan and Nyssa arrive before he saw them and quickly tugged Tish out of sight, "Go, TARDIS, now. I'll grab Rory."

"What?" Tish asked.

"They're here! Rusty forks, Tish, RUSTY FORKS." The doctor said a bit of panic in his voice.

"On it." Tish said, jogging down the hall to the side door.

The Doctor snuck up behind Rory, grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged him out of the way as well.

"Doctor—" Rory asked, looking at the Doctor curiously.

"The mum is here, we run now." He told Rory seriously.

He dragged Rory all the way back into the TARDIS by his wrist and shoved him in.

"Are you really afraid?" He asked slightly amusedly.

"Not sure if he's afraid, outright terrified or if he's nervous more than anything." Tish told them.

"Hell may have no fury like a women scorned, but no man should fear anyone more than he fears the mother of a child she thinks he injured…especially if said mother is an ex-companion!" the Doctor said, and despite his look there was a bit of amusement in tone he was hiding.

Tish laughed outright, "You mean they travelled here? With you?"

"For a few years." He agreed, "Still have rooms…somewhere…Amelia, are you okay?"

"Fine." Amelia told him, Yumo sat and watched him and the Doctor was planning to lecture him and the TARDIS later about letting ex-companions with murderous intent inside. "Are we just leaving?"

"Yes." The Doctor said firmly, beginning to hit controls on the console.

"Why?" Tish asked, amused and curious.

"They're safe now." The doctor said stubbornly.

"But…They're hurt." Amelia said joining the conversation.

"They're in a hospital, they'll get better." the Doctor assured her.

"I know but hospital means goodies from people who know!" Amelia stated, looking sternly at the doctor.

"What?" The Doctor stopped to look at the child confused.

"She's right, Doctor." Tish said with a smile. "When Martha broke her arm her room was filled with gifts, balloons and there were lots of treats."

Rory made a noise and decided why not? If he could use his past to screw with the Doctor why not? "Every time I was hospitalized for anything I got treats. I got a TONNE of sweets and brownies, biscuits and ice lollies every time I saw a psychiatrist too."

"Really? All I got were feelings of guilt and the occasional boiled sweets." Tish protested mockingly. "Though Martha and Mickey got married out of the deal…" she smirked, knowing the reaction the Doctor would have to that.

The Doctor looked distinctly uncomfortable. "You mean we should bring them things?"

"Yes!" Amelia nodded. "Gifts. Stuffed animals, lots of baked things and other good treats."

"Is this an excuse to make the kitchen a mess?" Rory asked.

"No. But Tish's stove makes brownies in 5 minutes!" Amelia said eager to show Rory.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: If he thinks he's getting off this easy he's obviously not learned from his past mistakes...er, adventures. <strong>_**Sorry it's late, but not as late as usual! That's a good thing, right? **_**Of course. More next week, complete with people getting smacked, questions of parentage (see also getting smacked) , exploding brownies and TARDIS Casts. **_**She's insane. Can we commit her yet? Enjoy!**__**]**_


	46. Hospitals, heart to hearts and humans

LATER

* * *

><p>Cairns Base Hospital had been calm really, without any major trauma cases for weeks. So when the three emergency cases arrived they'd been overwhelmed but quickly the staff rose to the occasion to deal with them as quickly as possible, starting triage as soon as the patients were rushed in by what appeared to be a young couple, including a young doctor on vacation, a strange man, and a young child, none of whom stayed to tell the staff very much, except the young doctor who knew not much beyond the patients names and what they believed to be wrong.<p>

The least hurt, a young man named Noah Jenkins was released at the end of the first day with a pin in his arm and a shiny purple cast, but he stuck around the hospital for his friends; both were scheduled to be airlifted to a hospital in Brisbane as soon as they were stable so to be closer to their families and their regular doctors.

The second man, Finn Jovanka had his head scanned so many different ways till they concluded there was nothing wrong with his brain, it was just a skull fracture and they believed he would wake up once medicated properly. That fact astounded the Doctors to no end when they were informed just how long he'd been hurt and how long he'd been unconscious for anyone else would have been dead.

The last, and worst patient Paula Jovanka, had a lot more problems, beyond dehydration and sleep deprivation like both boys had, her legs were covered in bruises that nearly looked like handprints and oddly enough – so the Doctors thought – seemed to coincide with the bone breaks underneath.

She had been hauled into surgery as soon as possible to fix the damage and hours later had nearly twenty screws in each leg and metal to hold them in different places. With multiple fractures in each leg, it was amazing that was all they had done.

About thirty minutes after they had been brought in, the mother of Finn Jovanka arrived, and the strange doctor had disappeared.

* * *

><p>Noah, Tegan and Nyssa had taken to alternating between staying in Finns room and in Paula's room waiting on them to wake up.<p>

Tegan had been sitting quietly, leafing through a book. She was halfway through and didn't even know who the main characters were or what the premise of the book was, let alone the title when she heard Paula make a small noise.

"Paula?" Tegan asked softly, sitting on the side of the bed carefully to avoid hurting the girl. Both her legs were in traction being held still, both wrapped nearly completely up to her thighs in bandages. "Paula, look at me?"

The girls eyes fluttered open, she was still under the effects of anaesthetic - to a small extent - and a lot of major pain killers. "Hi, Ms. J. You're fuzzy." Paula mumbled, her voice clouded by the medicines.

"Sorry." Tegan smiled at her and held Paula's hand between both of hers, "Paula, I need to know how you got hurt."

"I got hurt?" Paula looked confused and looked around then spotted her legs and looked upset, "Oh…Yeah...Hurts lots. Am I gonna go hiking again?"

"I don't know, sweetie. How did you get hurt? We saw the video you sent and you were fine." Tegan told her. If she spoke quickly she could avoid anything that was alien being mentioned to the Doctors or police.

Paula looked near tears, "Shouldn't have sent the video. Scary. Didn't want to scare you with aliens and stuff; wouldn't be nice." She mumbled something incomprehensible after this.

"I know all about aliens," Tegan assured her, looking over at the amused yet worried looking Nyssa who stood near the door. "Can you tell me what happened?" She asked softly as she gently took the girl's hand.

"Bubble wrap." Paula told her confidently, nodding as if it all made sense. Her eyes were blurry and Tegan wasn't sure she was firing on all cylinders.

"Bubble wrap hurt you?" Tegan asked confused.

"No. Like bubble wrap." Paula used her other hand and pressed - without much strength after all the pills - on Tegan's arm in different spots, each time saying 'pop' with almost a cheerfulness.

"You mean someone did it on purpose?" Tegan asked, clearly appalled.

"Yeah." She nodded and seemed to dizzy herself this time. Paula tried to sit up further quickly but hissed in pain. She turned to her mother in law and looked upset. "Shhh though." She covered her own mouth with a finger and tried to whisper – failing miserably. "Shhh. Mustn't tell." Paula continued getting agitated and causing some of the monitors to emit worrying sounds.

"Why not?" Tegan asked her, gently pushing the button that dispensed more medicaton to calm her, while encouraging her to go on.

"Was an aci-acen-not them trying first. Then was funny to them. "Paula's words were getting a bit slurred. "Didn't un-erstan them, but girl did. She made them stop. Doc'or took us away." Paula said drowsily, the medicine starting to take effect.

"Doctor?" Nyssa asked, moving closer to the bed in a mix of curiosity and anger. "The Doctor?"

"Mhmm." Paula didn't even blink at the new person , in fact she seemed to be drifting even closer to unconsciousness. "He made them let us go. Shhh, though. Must'n tell. NO one knows 'bout aliens." She giggled, "She said he's a superhero and the girl with him was robin."

"We won't tell." Nyssa promised her.

"Good." Paula blinked then seemed to have issues opening her eyes again. "When I wake up, will I be here or underground again?" she sounded genuinely confused and upset by the idea.

"You'll be here, I promise." Tegan said squeezing her hand as she fell asleep again.

"Death by previous threat or shall I start plotting worse?" Nyssa asked Tegan.

"Regeneration by first, and a few more deaths after." Tegan growled.

* * *

><p>-Tish's apartment.-<p>

* * *

><p>The kitchen was covered in flour, brownie pieces, cocoa powder, several boxes of empty baking mixes, egg shells with yolks messily scattered were crunched on the floor and the trash bin was filled with just as much with shining chunks of glass lying on top.<p>

On the tables sat various empty and filled dishes, all covered in different substances.  
>In the living room several baskets full of different goods sat on the coffee table with one very annoyed Rory sitting on the floor wearing borrowed trousers and no shirt.<p>

The Doctor sat on the couch, giggling at him wearing only his boxers – all clothing in the wash thanks to a bit of an incident – and munching on 'almost cooked' biscuits.

"Rory's in girls trousers." He snickered, spewing crumbs on accident.

Rory glared at him, "Not funny!"

"Topless, in girl trousers." the Doctor was obviously getting a kick out of this.

"Shut up." Rory glared, knowing it was true, but not wanting to let the Doctor win the argument.

"On a floor! Without goodies." He munched on his biscuit and looked around for something else to mock. "Oh, have you got pants too?" The Doctor teased looking at his newest companion.

"At least I can get into girls trousers!" Rory snapped, realizing a bit too late that was a horrible comeback on several levels.

When Tish came back into the room the two were rolling on the floor, covered in bits of biscuits and both looked highly aggravated.

"Not even going to ask." She sighed, stepping over them into the kitchen once more. With both boys cleaned off and Amelia in the shower she finally focused on the kitchen. "Worst mess ever."

It had been clean enough, till the Doctor decided to sonic a pan to cool it faster, accidentally hit the wrong button and shattered a Pyrex dish into a million pieces, sending them running out of the way and Yumo yelping away. Poor little Uval had a tiny burn on his ear that was miniscule and being milked for all it was worth by the manipulative biscuit lover. Yumo, last she'd seen, was hiding on a blanket in her room surrounded by a few 'toys' he'd acquired and a hoard of biscuits.

All of them had tiny burn marks or cuts, none deadly or requiring more than some antibiotic and a plaster.

The floor was swept, the brownie mix cleaned up and finally all glass dishes were in the dishwasher when the boys appeared in the doorway, both red, out of breath and with marks all over them.

"Done acting like infants?" She asked them, wiping the counter.

"Yes." the Doctor nodded, trying to mess with his bowtie and scowling that it wasn't there.

"Good. You two finish up in here, NO SONIC. I'm going to go take a nice long bath. Leave the other bathroom alone, Amelia's in the shower. Got it? "Tish commanded in her best nanny voice, hoping that tone would work.

"Yes, Ma'am." Rory said contritely.

Tish left the two alone and the Doctor looked around at the dishes, "How do you do them with no sonic?" he asked staring at the dishes as if he'd never seen them before.

"Don't you do dishes?" Rory asked amused.

"No. My ship does. Martha used to in 1969 and any other time I just leave them wherever I used them." The Doctor stated still staring.

"You're such a transient moron." Rory sighed, finding cleaning supplies.

"And you're a hairless ape." the Doctor looked at him pointedly as he said it.

Rory had just finished drying a bowl a few moments later when he looked back at the Doctor, "Why did you have to park by the shops? I need a shirt."

"It was quicker and I didn't know we'd end up spattered in brownie. How could anyone know that?" The Doctor stated stubbornly.

"Tish put on an apron because of that." Rory stated pointedly, showing the Doctor how to do dishes.

"Oh, who asked you?" The doctor replied flicking water at Rory.

It wasn't until an hour later that Tish reappeared from her bath. To her surprise the boys were sitting on the couch – opposite ends – with Amelia curled up in-between them in an overlarge shirt and shorts.

"You finish cleaning?" She asked surprised.

"Yup." the Doctor waved at the kitchen to show her.

"Thank you. No appliances meddled with?" she asked cautiously not wanting a surprise the next time she used the kitchen.

"None." He nodded in agreement.

"Shiny." Tish smiled and went to check on the laundry.

She turned around from checking to find the Doctor looking at her curiously, obviously studying something.

"What?" Tish snapped, tired of being stared at.

He reached out and poked her shoulder, right next to her tank top strap, moving it aside slightly as he did so. "I could fix that."

Tish looked down at the spot and at the series of interlocking circles set in a pattern all too familiar. The marks were raised slightly, like a scar, but a bright red colour that never faded that covered an area about the size of a pocket watch. If you looked closely you could see a dark black outline – impossibly thin – around parts of it. It was a tattoo – more scar with ink mixed in – and a never ending reminder from the year that never was: A perfect replica of _his _ring.

"You could?" Tish asked, moving the strap back to recover half of it.

He nodded like a child, eager to please. "Yes."

"Would it hurt?" Tish asked cautiously.

"Most likely." He nodded, this time not enthusiastically.

"I'll think about it. We've got stuff to deliver." She told him, changing the subject, "Get the baskets together while I grab a jumper."

"Fine, fine. But I demand trousers before I walk to the shops! It's cold!" he whined.

"Get them out of the dryer." Tish yelled back at him.

* * *

><p>-Outside-<p>

* * *

><p>"I like dryers." the Doctor decided as he spun around outside in clothes still fresh and warm from the dryer. His arms were full with a large gift basket, the smaller ones being split between the other three as Tish held onto Yumo's leash, the Uval was gaining odd looks but they weren't sure if it was because he was blue or because he had fairy wings attached to his harness thanks to the Doctor.<p>

"Are they cool?" Rory asked sarcastically, extremely grateful to be in his own trousers once again.

"No, Williams." the Doctor looked at him as if he were a child, "They're warm. Humans. So…limited."

"Not too brilliant?" Tish said, eying Rory's blush.

"Not at all. I'm not sure why I like you all so much." the Doctor clucked his tongue in dismay.

Amelia paused her steps and looked up at him, "You don't like us?"

"What? Course I do." He froze and looked back at her.

Tish looked between them and shifted her baskets into Rory's arms and stole the one the Doctor held. "Come on, Rory. Let's get these inside." She said tugging on Rory's arm.

"What, but-" Rory's voice trailed off as Tish dragged him away.

"Come ON, Rory!" Tish urged him, the hissing threat in her tone as she nudged him with her foot.

"Right…coming." Rory followed her and Yumo down the street to the TARDIS, looking back on occasion.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked Amelia, crouching down to her height.

"You don't like humans?" she asked, eyes shining a bit.

"I do!" he protested, hands waving in a vast attempt at trying to figure out what to do. "I was just saying that to be funny! I swear. I meant other humans, not you humans." Suddenly the Doctor was flashing back to several similar conversations with his wives…At least one of them had only used these conversations to tease him…What did he do in those situations? Okay, those tactics might not work this time.

"But they didn't like humans and they hurt humans and –." Amelia's voice wavered, tears evident in her eyes.

The Doctor tugged the crying girl into a hug, "Is that what this is about?"

She clung to him trying not to show she was crying. "I thought you might have gotten taken too."

"I did." He told her, holding her tightly, "But I let myself get taken. Tish and I came through the floor, just like you did. I even sacrificed my HAT to save you."

"Your hat?" she sniffled.

"Yes. A perfectly good hat gone to waste in the middle of a mountain." He tried to sound sulky and like he wasn't panicking. It had been a couple hundred years since he'd had to deal with crying children all alone.

"I'm sorry." Amelia sniffled.

"Don't be." He looked around and realized with a scowl they were attracting attention. The Doctor stood up fully, lifting Amelia with him and strode to the side, ducking into an alley. "Now then, Amelia Pond, there's something you need to understand," he told her firmly, "Beyond the rules, beyond the fact I'm a mad man in a box there's something you've got to understand about me." He said seriously.

"What?" Amelia sniffled looking at her Doctor.

"I'd sacrifice any hat for you." His voice was deep and serious.

"Even a fez?" Amelia pulled back to look at him and wipe at her eyes.

"Even a fez. A fez with embroidery. A PURPLE Fez." He added, "I'd lose my purple bowtie AND the glowing green braces if it meant saving you. Understand?"

"Understand." She hugged him again, face against his shoulder. "I was scared. Good companions shouldn't be scared."

"Who said that?" the Doctor asked, clearly confused.

"Hero's aren't scared of anything." Amelia stated, the tears drying on her face.

"That's not true! Being a hero or a companion doesn't mean you can't be scared. It means that you're scared before, you're scared after but never scared when you're doing what needs to be done. Were you scared when you broke out?" The Doctor asked.

"Some, but I knew I had something to do." Amelia thought for a moment about the information the Doctor was interested in.

"Then that means you're a true companion in training. Sorry, but until you're at least 14 you can't count as a companion." He set her down on the ground and held out his hand for her to grab onto. "Now, I saw a shop that had toys in the window and I do recall you saying sick people need sweets and animals, right?"

"Yeah." Amelia held his hand and stood close to his side.

"So let's go find some proper stuffed animals for our friends." The Doctor grinned waiting until she took his hand and then began running.

"What about Tish and Rory?" Amelia asked as they exited the alley and went down the street.

"They can wait. There's more important things at hand." the Doctor stated. This was the bit he was good at. He wasn't good at the hysterical children, nor with sick children, but the comforting after bit? That he'd always been fantastic at…And it did put off returning to Australia briefly.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Okay, a bit of a shorter chapter than normal, but it's been a chaotic week. If I can swing it - written wise and convincing my partner - there'll be a second update before next Friday. <strong>_**If she can finish writing it by then. This week it's lateness is NOT my fault. **_**Yeah, yeah...Hope we finally covered the upset reunion bit that it's thought we didn't last time. _If not then...sorry? Enjoy! _]**


	47. Visiting, New Rules and Parentage

_-Three days later -_

* * *

><p><em><em>Since the three young hikers had been admitted to the Brisbane Hospital, things had been rather…quiet and uneventful. All three had been looked at, by doctors, one released and the other two were settled in a room for treatment without any bumps or strange happenings.

All their surgeries had gone well and the doctors expected both of them to make a surprisingly full recovery. Finn was due to be released sometime during the day after only a few days in the hospital, surprisingly little damage had been left on his head after the first few scans and Tegan had hidden beliefs as to why that was. Paula was expected to leave in a week, provided she could work with the wheelchair and crutches.

Noah had gone home for the night to sleep but Nyssa and Tegan were still hanging around the hospital. Not much was happening at 2:30 in the morning, so they'd gone down to get tea while Paula and Finn slept. They didn't have to stick around, but until they knew for sure the threat of whatever had hurt them was gone they didn't want to leave them alone. The looming threat of the Doctor's involvement also was a factor in their sticking around.

Finn had no idea what had happened; he'd been unconscious the entire time and neither Noah nor Paula would speak as to what had happened beyond they'd 'gotten lost'.

"It's like they've been warned to keep quiet." Tegan said worriedly. "But by who I'm not sure."

"Surely the Doctor wouldn't have forced them to keep quiet." Nyssa assured her, "He knows their connection to you." She frowned at the thought.

"That leaves the aliens. That's not too reassuring." Tegan said as they continued to walk towards the young adult's room. They were halfway up the hall to the room Paula and Finn shared when they heard talking and paused a moment, listening to the voices that didn't belong to either were echoing out from the room. Sharing a look they quickened their pace.

* * *

><p>The TARDIS landed quietly in the corner of its intended room. The doors opened slowly and the Doctor peeked out and looked around carefully. Two beds sat in the room; a curtain was pressed against the wall right between the beds that could be used to separate the two sides of the room if needed.<p>

Both beds were currently occupied, one inhabitant fast asleep and the other awake and wide eyed watching him.  
>He smiled and waved, "Hello! We never did get properly introduced. I'm the Doctor!" the Doctor left the TARDIS, hands empty to hurry forward and shake her hand. "You're Paula, right?" He asked excitedly.<p>

"You're…I was really beginning to think you were a dream." Paula said as she shook his hand. "That means there are others? Rory was real?" she asked looking at the Doctor as if he would disappear.

"Real and suffering from the loss of two perfectly good shirts and the waistband of a great pair of boxers." A voice said from behind the Doctor. Paula looked over and saw what must have been Rory hidden behind a large armful of gift baskets. The baskets were all wrapped – badly - in different colour crinkly paper and tied with overlarge bows and stuffed with sweets, baked treats and toys.

He dumped them out onto a table and turned to face her with a smile. "How're you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm not feeling much from my bellybutton down. I've got some good medication." Paula admitted, looking anxiously down at her legs, both of which were still covered in a mixture of plaster cast and cloth bandages, held still by splints.

"I'm sorry." Rory winced, hugging her lightly in greeting.

"Not your fault." Paula shrugged looking at him.

"No, it's mine." Amelia said guiltily, peeking out from the TARDIS. "I'm sorry." She said quietly staring at Paula.  
>Paula struggled to sit up more and was assisted by Rory moving the bed for her. "It's not. It was an accident." Paula stated trying to calm the little girl.<p>

The Doctor looked at her curiously, "You're not mad?"

"I'm mad at the one who did it." Paula replied, "But not at the little kid who couldn't do anything if she'd tried."

Amelia edged closer to the bed, something white and fuzzy in her arms. "Really?"

"Really." Paula nodded. "You got him to come save us."

"Actually, he came because he -oomph!" Rory grabbed his stomach where the Doctor's elbow had hit him.

"I can't stand to see people in trouble." the Doctor proclaimed, eying Rory with annoyance.

"He's also terrified of Finn's mum." Tish piped up, closing the TARDIS door behind her as she exited.

The Doctor glowered at her, Tish responded by smiling sweetly.

"You know Finn's mum?" Paula asked confused.

"Yup." Tish sounded gleeful, "Well, I don't, but he does."

"Does that mean Ms. J knows about aliens?" Paula asked curious now.

The Doctor's lips twitched, "I'd say she knows a bit." He held his hands up, fingers close together, "Just a little bit."

"Here." Amelia handed Paula the stuffed animal she had. She was sure it must be some sort of animal. It was tiny, white, fluffy and square with a pair of tiny arms and legs and a big happy face. "The Doctor says it's an Adipose. They're small as babies."

"Thank you?" Paula squeezed it and smiled as it poofed back out to its normal shape.

"Wha's goin' on?" Finn asked groggily as he fought to sit up in his bed.

"Alien's have invaded." Paula told him with a smile, "And they know your mum."

"Aun' Nyssa?" Finn squinted and turned his bed lamp on. "Who're you?"

The Doctor grinned brightly and bounced over, offering his hand. "I'm the Doctor. You're Finnian Jovanka."

"I know…" Finn looked him over, "You look different than I've heard."

"I do change. Why do people forget I change?" he nearly whined.

"That sounds like what I've heard." Finn said dryly. "Does mum know you're here?"

"No!" he yelped, "And we're keeping it that way! Want a biscuit?" he indicated the gift baskets, changing the subject quickly as Tish giggled.

* * *

><p>The Doctor looked up quickly as he heard footsteps. "Oh…not good." He nearly whimpered.<p>

"What's wrong?" Tish asked, looking up from painting Paula's nails. Rory'd refused to let her redo his nails any colour but clear and Paula found them funny. Finn's were blue, not that he'd noticed yet. He'd gone back to sleep and was ignoring them for now in favour of that medicated blissful sleep.

"They're coming." the Doctor twirled in place, looking around for something. "Right. Amelia, TARDIS now!" he urged her.

She hopped down off the end of Paula's bed carefully, sticking her markers back into her bag and hurrying across the room. Paula looked down at the drawing Amelia had been working on across her cast and smiled brightly at what looked like a group of planets and the bright blue box—like the one sitting in the corner of the room - floating between them.

"What about us?" Tish asked, finishing up with the polish.

"You…I don't know!" the Doctor dashed across the room, tugged the curtain closed and hid behind Finn's bed, counting down to his doom as Amelia hid in the TARDIS. "Be inconspicuous!"

"It's like hide and seek with toddlers." Rory said, looking under the curtain and seeing the Doctor's shoes.

"Yes, but with less reward with the finding. I didn't know he knew that word…" Tish acknowledged and looked at Paula. "Shush, okay? See how long it takes him to be found out."

Paula nodded and smiled, "Sounds like fun. Normally it's Noah or Finn getting into trouble. Or me…She's got a keen sense of when something's up."

"I bet she honed it on him…Hi!" Tish said, waving her hand at the two women who entered the room.

"Who're you?" Tegan asked her, eying her critically.

"I'm Tish, this is Rory. We're the ones who brought these two in. Well, three, but Paula said Noah's been released already." Tish offered her hand to them in greeting.

"Hi." Rory said when prompted. "I'm erm..."

"The Doctor who took care of us." Paula lied. "He kept us alive till the A&E got us."

"Technically I'm a nurse." Rory mumbled, blushing with either pride or embarrassment.

"We brought goodies and –," Tish was cut off as both women dug into their pockets and removed matching glowing keys.

Nyssa looked at it then over at Paula who was trying to tug a blanket back over her cast with some issues at it snagging on splints. Nyssa nudged the blanket back aside, showing of Amelia's drawing and gestured at Tegan, "He's here."

Rory looked at the women curiously and Tish began shaking with silent laughter. She moved back to the seat she'd been in and made a shushing motion at Rory.

Tegan sent her the mother's glare and Tish squirmed slightly in her seat.

"Ti—" Rory started only to be interrupted quickly.

"Shh!" Tish glared at Rory.

"Bu—" he tried to protest.

"Shh!" she insisted.

"Bu—" he tried again.

"SHH!" Tish said louder, finger over her mouth.

Rory sunk back into his seat sulkily.

Tegan looked at Tish seriously, "I'm not playing this game." She said using her best mom glare on the younger woman.

Tish sighed and reached down and dug a key out of her trouser pocket. The key didn't look much like the other two, but it was glowing just as brightly as Tish held it up so they could see.

"Where?" Tegan asked pointedly.

"Marco." Tish said cheerfully, trying not to giggle.

"Pol-No!" Came a voice from behind the curtain.

Tegan pulled the curtain open and saw the TARDIS and the hiding man. "Doctor?"

"Hello, Tegan! I meant to— ." the Doctor started trying to back away only to be stopped by the door of the TARDIS.

The curtain was pulled back, blocking the two from sight and a loud crack echoed around the room that made Tish wince and Rory cringe.

"That's three for four with mothers now." Tish mumbled, making a mental note.

Rory shook his head and looked up at Nyssa. "Is he going to die?"

"Regenerate at very least." Nyssa said angrily.

"I can explain!" the Doctor yelped, sliding out from behind the curtain and nearly falling, catching himself last minute on Rory's chair. "It wasn't my fault! They got lost on their own." His face was bright red on one side and Tish was fairly certain it was in the shape of someone's hand.

Paula didn't say a word, biting her lip to keep from interrupting. They had gotten lost on their own, but she didn't want that glare her mother-in-law held aimed in her direction.

"Go argue elsewhere." Rory ordered the Doctor, his voice stern…well, okay, it sounded extremely wobbly but it was the attempt that mattered he reasoned. "You'll wake Finn back up and probably scare Amy!"

The Doctor glared at him but didn't say a word.

"Not likely, Finn could sleep through most anything." Paula offered.

"Who's Amy?" Nyssa asked him suspiciously.

"No one!" the Doctor said quickly. Eying the TARDIS door he noticed it was open slightly and he could see someone peeking out. Realizing she'd heard him he winced and looked at Tish pleadingly.

Tish followed his line of sight to see the TARDIS door shut the rest of the way without a sound.

"Go argue elsewhere. I'll deal with the Time Princess." Tish said sarcastically, trying hard to dig a deeper hole for him, mainly because he'd just hurt Amelia's feelings even if it was on accident. That and well, the past few days of mistakes and running had **not** been fun. Honestly, how hard could it be to get to Brisbane! It'd taken him five attempts. Four out of the five had landed them in the same place at that. If it weren't for intervention from his 'high up' friends they'd still be in jail…

"Time Princess?" Nyssa asked.

"Elsewhere." Rory repeated, hand on his temple.

Tish rolled her eyes and stood up. "I want a detailed analysis of any injuries, got it?"

The Doctor looked nervous as she entered the TARDIS and shut the door behind her.

"There won't be injuries." He looked at the two women who still looked infuriated. "Of course there won't be…Can't be…Will there?" he asked nervously.

Rory moved across the room to sit on the chair next to Paula's bed as the Doctor was shoved and pulled out of the room by the duo.

"So, planning to go to university?" He asked nonchalantly, ignoring any noises from outside the room.

"I, um," Paula eyed the door but looked back at Rory, "Yeah. I'm starting full time this Autumn. Are you still in Uni?"

"Medschool." Rory nodded, not even looking as a loud thump and a yelp came from outside. "It's interesting and challenging. But worth it in the end."

"I bet! You're a nurse now, right? So who do you work with?"

"Mostly children." Rory raised his voice slightly over the shriek that came from outside and the raised voices. "I specialize in paediatrics and hope to one day be specialized in that field."

"But you travel with aliens?" Paula could help but look at the door, not that she could see through it and without a large deal of assistance she wasn't going to get up to go near it. The voices on the other side were slightly worrying.

"Yeah, well, that's not exactly part of the plan." Rory admitted, "That's more…abduction than desire."

"What do you me—" Paula started, being cut off mid sentence as the Doctor threw open the door and tried to run in, only to be hauled backwards by his braces. Rory had to smile slightly at the fact his bowtie was lopsided and he had no jacket on.

"I really hope they didn't destroy that jacket." Rory said with a long suffering sigh, "It'll be hell dealing with his whining if it got damaged."

"Shouldn't we be more worried?" Paula asked finally.

"Probably but if Tish doesn't think it's worth stopping then…" Rory spread his hands slightly and did smile this time, "Who am I to stop my abductor from being beaten by two older women?"

"Explain that, please? You were abducted by aliens?" Paula said, returning to their previous conversation.

"LONG story." Rory ran his hand through his hair and started figuring out how to tell a non-incriminating version of how he came to travel with the Doctor.

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>"Amelia?" Tish called, entering the TARDIS. She looked around and didn't see her. Yumo was sitting on the glass floor watching her with a look of annoyance. "Yes, I know, I know. You're mad we left you behind." Tish sighed and scratched his ears, "Now, where's Amelia?"<p>

Yumo looked up at her but turned around and trotted down a hallway, Tish following behind him till he led her to Amelia's room.

"Amelia?" Tish knocked on the door and opened it slightly to look.

"You can come in." Amelia said.

Tish entered and spotted Amelia instantly. The girl was sitting on the bottom bunk of her bed, head resting on her palm as she stared at the carpet. "Are you hiding or just waiting?"

"A bit of both." Amelia admitted under Tish's glance. "I'm not 'no one'."

"Of course not!" Tish joined her sitting on the bunk. "He was just speaking quickly and couldn't come up with a good lie. He knows those two so they probably know most of his good lies."

"Oh…He really didn't mean it…I know that." Amelia said, "He'd give up a fez for me, he said so."

"He said that?" Tish smiled, only those two… "Well then, he knows you're not 'no one'. Want to come visit some more?"

"Can I?" Amelia asked almost eagerly yet hesitant. "I thought I had to hide when others came around."

Tish smiled and reminded Amelia of a cat stalking a small bird. "They already know you're here…they came in the TARDIS earlier and just heard about another person. Just keep a bit quiet and only answer questions if we say so, okay?"

"Okay!" Amelia said excitedly, hopping up off the bed. "Should we bring anything?"

"Grab a cold compress. The Doctor might need one." Tish giggled as Amelia went to find one and looked down at Yumo. "Am I a bad person?"

Yumo barked and held a paw up to her.

"A little bit? Some friend you are." She rolled her eyes and patted his head. "Now I'm talking to the Uval…At least it's not the spaceship. No offence, dear." Tish patted the wall as well as she left.

* * *

><p>-Hospital-<p>

* * *

><p>"Alien abduction…I thought that was only in movies." Paula shook her head at Rory's story, "So you really saved a hospital from an alien invasion."<p>

"Yup!" Rory bragged smirking.

"No." Tish shut the TARDIS door and nailed Rory with a look. "He helped. Has he been bragging?"

"Yes." Paula nodded, "He told me about how he saved a hospital and helped locate us."

Rory blushed and Amelia giggled, climbing into the other chair in the room. "Rory's a great helper."

"He also said he was abducted because of his knowledge." Paula said, giggling at Rory's face as he was caught.

Tish just looked at him blankly, "Yes, he's deeply intelligent and we just could not live without his great help."

"We couldn't?" Amelia looked confused. "I thought he was here cause –."

"Rule 4!" Tish said quickly.

Amelia thought about it then looked at her quizzically, "What's rule 4?"

"Rule 4 means…erm…no answering questions that could jeopardize the TARDIS crew."

Amelia thought about it then nodded, understanding if she told the truth about Rory they'd know the truth about her. "Okay. Don't forget to tell the – dad the new rule."

"New rule?" the Doctor asked quickly as he skidded into the room, sliding in his shoes and coming to a stop quickly. "Who made a rule?"

"Rule 4: No answering any question that could jeopardize the TARDIS crew." Rory informed him.

"I...I like that. Rule 4." the Doctor grinned.

Tish looked him over and noted the red marks, the wild hair, the misplaced bowtie, the partially untucked shirt tails and his jacket which was slung over his shoulder. "Made up with your friends?"

"They realize now it was not my fault." The Doctor said simply.

"This time." Tegan clarified and the Doctor looked at his feet as if they were extremely interesting. "It doesn't help his case that he didn't come near us for a week after injuries."

"We would have been here sooner, we **AIMED** for sooner. We actually aimed for you." Tish explained, "But for some reason we kept ending up at Heathrow."

Tegan looked at the Doctor who was smiling slightly and blushing a bit and started laughing as well. "Brilliant. You finally managed to get where I wanted to go?" Tegan asked.

"A few years late." He acknowledged, "If it's any consolation I was arrested several times and am no longer allowed on the premises."

"We had to call for help from some military person who laughed a lot as the Doctor yelled like a child behind bars." Rory added helpfully.

Nyssa looked at the Doctor, then at Amelia and back at the Doctor. "Tegan," she nudged her friend, "I think we finally know what the woman who's shopping we stole for years looks like."

Tegan looked at the child as well as the Doctor spluttered denials. "Time Princess." She repeated the words and Tish smirked.

"No! She's not Sarah's! Or Donnas'. She's not anyone's, I swear!" the Doctor squeaked.

"She has to be someone's." Nyssa pointed out logically, "I doubt it was mitosis, she's not got your hair."

"Oi!" The Doctor Yelled, "Nothing wrong with my hair!"

* * *

><p>-<em>Later-<br>_

* * *

><p>"Hmm. Not enough curls to be Sullivan's...The Brig have darker hair..." the Doctor mused, dodging thrown things from both females as he looked the boy over. He found this funny; he'd gotten to reverse the roles. Tish and Rory had disappeared into the TARDIS with Amelia to 'get tea', but he was almost certain they did it to force him to have alone time with his previous companions and who was he to use that time in a 'normal' way.<p>

He was having fun trying to figure out who Finn's father was, the girls were having fun throwing things at him so where was the fault?

He lifted his hand to examine the nails. "Benton maybe? Okay, not Benton." he rubbed his head and scowled at Nyssa. "Australian...I don't know humans here and highly doubt you'd go for one. Turlough?" the Doctor barely managed to duck from the plastic cup thrown his way. "I give up." he threw his hands in the air and looked at Tegan, "Is he Nyssa's?"

He couldn't dodge the pillow that hit him between the eyes and he stumbled backwards slightly, catching the pillow as it fell. "Fine, not Nyssa's. That's it. Mitosis."

Finn groaned and opened his eyes slightly.

The Doctor grinned and leaned over him, "Maybe you could tell me!"

* * *

><p>"Got kicked out?" Tish asked.<p>

"No, I voluntarily left." the Doctor said sulkily.

"Rusty fork?" Tish asked, smirking as she remembered the threat.

"Rusted tin can opener." the Doctor winced.

Tish winced in sympathy. "Could be worse."

"Could be…" He nodded.

"Hey, Doctor, can I ask you a question?" she asked looking at the Time Lord critically.

"Sure." He shrugged, sitting on the edge of the counter as Tish made coffee. Rory and Amelia had gone back to visit and take them 'proper tea' and not 'hospital trash, no offense, Rory!' "If anyone's earned a question it's you."

"Did you let them catch you earlier?" Tish asked, putting the cup down and watching him. "Because I know a bit about Time Lords, I'd like to think, and if you hadn't wanted them to get you they couldn't have gone near you…"

"Yeah…" he looked around to make sure no one could possibly be listening in. "I did."

"Why?" she asked wanting to know why he would put himself in danger like that.

"It made them feel better…I deserved it? Take a pick." the Doctor shrugged and picked up an orange from the counter, peeling it and flicking the pieces of rind towards the bin. "It didn't hurt."

"I wouldn't think that it could." Tish acknowledged, "I've heard that brag too often _'ten times stronger than a human'_." She dropped the mock imitation voice. "But you pretended it did."

"It did sting a bit. It made them feel better." He repeated with a smile. "Any humans who actually want to hurt me generally use a book…"

"Any humans?" she asked curiously.

The Doctor made a weird motion with his hands and concentrated on getting a small piece of rind off of his fingers. "The UNIT boys, mostly, Sarah Jane and on occasion Liz or Jo. You have no idea how many times I got hit with an encyclopaedia in the 70's."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Sorry, a bit later, but more words than usual! <em>Blame the tornado. I had to hide in the basement for a few hours. <em>****Yes, we were a bit worried and once it died down she started beta-adding again. _Couldn't miss an update..._Rain, nor blizzard, nor power outage or internet lossage can stop the updating!...why would a tornado? _Enjoy!_]**


	48. Shops, Shock Collars and Schooling

"Rory, I don't know the answer." Amelia said with a sigh, shoving the worksheet that she'd been working on for nearly half an hour towards him.

"Hmm?" Rory looked over at her, jerking out of his own little world. "Here, let me see." He took the paper and held it up to read it. "'If Jrexel has twelve ktre treats and shares four with Glarax, how many treats does each head get?'." He stared at the paper uncomprehendingly as he tried to decipher the words., "Yeah, you're going to have to ask the Doctor…or Tish.". He smiled apologetically, handing back the paper.

Amelia sighed and looked at the paper again moving onto the next problem. "'If Adam had twelve mars bars and eats five what does he have left?" she read, glad at least she recognized the words.

"A bellyache." Rory muttered watching her fill in her sheet.

Rory and Ame..Amy were sitting at a small table by the pool in the library. It was the designated homework area…Did it count as homework if you didn't go to school? TARDIS work maybe. Rory sighed, living here was giving him a headache.

Tish was hiding. He was sure she was pretending not to, but ever since Australia she'd been acting differently, a little quieter and a bit more withdrawn. Once they'd gotten back she'd gone to hide in her room under the guise of having a bath and getting rid of stress.

He and Amelia had been doing school work, making tea and playing games mostly on their own or with the Doctor occasionally. With Tish hiding and the Doctor 'fixing' things it'd been rather quiet. He suspected that the Doctor was just trying to avoid dropping him on Earth once again.

Rory wasn't going to tell anyone about Amelia…Amy. No one would believe him anyway. He could tell Sarah Jane but for some reason it just seemed like the wrong thing to do and made his stomach hurt to contemplate. He really needed to do his schooling though, and work was important too. He'd found a copy of his medical books in the library and was studying them religiously while Amy did her work.

The Doctor couldn't hide anymore though, they were completely out of milk, bread, marmalade, bananas, apples and cereal. Last night he'd watched the Doctor try to use melted ice cream as milk and as hilarious as it had been to watch him gag and choke they did need to fix that.

So he'd cornered the Doctor earlier and demanded they make a trip to Earth to pick up shopping, let him get some of his own clothing, go to work, go to school and in his final demand he'd ordered him to go talk to Tish because he couldn't locate her himself.  
>Once the Doctor had stopped laughing at Rory's 'commanding' tone for the first few requests he'd actually looked serious at the last request and with a groaning sigh agreed to the last one.<p>

Rory was relatively certain that Tish could get the former requests granted as well.

"Jimmy's ship is broken. He needs ten Zeus plugs to make it run again, and he's only got four. How many more does Jimmy need?" Amelia read, breaking Rory out of his thoughts

"What's a Zeus plug?" Rory said bemused.

"I think it's some sort of engine thing." Amelia shrugged and wrote down her answer.

Rory moved closer to the table to help her with her work, pushing other thoughts away and hoping the Doctor had actually agreed to talk with Tish. If Tish was out of sorts then there was no hope of EVER getting the Doctor to do anything.

* * *

><p><em>-Tish-<em>

* * *

><p><em>"I want my mum." A teenaged boy cried blood smeared across his face mixing with tears as he clung to Tish.<em>

"_You don't scare me anymore." A woman with dark hair yelled, "You couldn't even scare Nyssa! They're safe! Nyssa and Turlough got all the children away, you can't do anything." Her laughter mixed with a roaring scream and then silence._

"_You think you've won?" An older woman laughed, but the humour didn't reach her eyes. "You've only got me because I let you catch me. I had nothing left to stay for. I'm sure this will all be fixed soon…After all, Hope walks the Earth."_

_"Tish! Stay with me! LETITIA! Come on, Tish…wake up! Stay here!" Martha's screams pounded in her head, "TISH!_

"TISH!" The voice startled Tish out of her thoughts as she jolted and nearly fell off her bed as the Doctor's voice echoed in her room, interrupting her sleep. "Yes?" she asked looking up from her new position on the floor.

He opened the door and peeked in, "Are you okay?"

"Never better." She said placing a hand over her heart as if she could still the pace of it, and getting back up to the bed. "What do you need?" She said as she watched him walk in.

"Rory had demanded I take him to the shops, to school, to work and to get his clothes." the Doctor said sulkily as he plopped down on the end of the bed, laying back across it and glaring at the ceiling. "DEMANDED it." He repeated, pouting as he looked at her.

"Well, we are out of a lot of things…and his work and school are important." Tish said, not really thinking on it.

"But you're supposed to side with me!" he whined, leaning up to look at her. The Doctor noted the flushed appearance and the racing heart he could see pounding at her throat and frowned. "You're not okay." He stated looking at her carefully.

"I'm fine." She brushed him off., moving her hand away from his when he tried to grab it and check her pulse in a more effective manner.

"Hey! I'm the only one who gets to lie around here." the Doctor said sounding just as sulky as before.

"I'm not lying." Tish protested. "We really should go to the shops and not swiping from your friends either, real shops!" Tish continued trying to change the subject.

"Doesn't your mum's kitchen count as a shop?" the Doctor pleaded.

"NO!" Tish said, "Real shops, using real, time current, money to purchase items by ourselves!" Tish explained.

He rolled his eyes, "Fine. We'll go to the shops of despair…but I'm not shopping, you can do that…it's too human and dull." The Doctor pouted grumpily.

"Right, I'll go get Rory and tell him." Tish stood up to leave but was jerked backwards onto the bed by her belt loops as the Doctor grabbed her.

"Not so fast! Something's wrong with you and Rory has also demanded I find out what's wrong with you." the Doctor declared.

"Rory demanded?" Tish nearly yelled, fighting to get up but the Doctor had her in his grip. "Let me go, I'm going to beat him." Tish struggled trying to get out of the Doctor's grasp.

"Nuh uh! You're going to tell me what's wrong!" He moved to keep her from getting up and ended up sitting on her waist, pinning her hands with his. The Doctor shifted at her complaints and settled on her waist. "Now, are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?"

_"You have to tell me what's wrong."  
>"You're my sister and I love you and as a Doctor I respect you, but because you are both of those there are some things I'll never tell you."<em>

She glared up at him, wriggling her hands in his to try and get loose but gave up. It wasn't like there was anyone else to talk to. If anyone would understand it would be the time traveler who was a few hundred years old…

"How do you handle seeing someone alive and well when the last time you saw them they were dead or dying?" Tish said reluctantly.

"Hmm." He paused, obviously not expecting that and she could see his eyes change and he looked down as he thought about it. "Time Travel or…?"

"That year." Tish revealed quietly.

"Ah…" the Doctor let out a breath that made his bangs move and frowned. Shifting as if unsettled was silent a moment before responding. "Well, I personally hug them a lot, babble and get odd looks. Jack tries to seduce everyone. Not sure how Martha handles it, but she did get engaged…" The Doctor started babbling.

"I don't think any of those are an option for me." Tish said sighing.

The Doctor frowned again, thinking it over then grinned. "Well, if I recall correctly from years of females yelling and traveling a spa day generally is a requirement for bad days." He said thoughtfully.

"You do spa days?" Tish nearly laughed.

He blushed some, "They painted my nails pink and I had curls…" it was obviously an experience he didn't want to repeat anytime soon.

"Sounds…painful?"Tish nearly giggled at the expression on the Doctor's face.

"What brought this on anyway?" the Doctor asked curiously. Normally when anyone got upset he saw the reasons for it in advance.

"The hospital." She sighed, closing her eyes and relaxing in his grip. "Seeing people that last time you saw…you know." She said in a whisper.

"Yeah, I do." He made a face. "I babble. Also I did let her hit me several times, AND I got a hug."

"Yes, hugs make everything better." Tish agreed dully.

"Tish? I – " Rory pushed the door open slightly and peeked in before promptly flushing red, "Will come back later." He grabbed Amelia and hauled her backwards, covering her eyes with his hands.

"It's not what it looks like!" Tish protested loudly, trying not to laugh.

The Doctor released her hands and sat up fully waving to Amelia and Rory who stood back on the other side of the door. "What does it look like?" he questioned.

"Get off me!" Tish shoved at him and finally did laugh when he moved off of her.

The Doctor grinned as she took off to chase after Rory and Amelia. He was baffled as to why Rory blushed, but hey Tish was smiling again!

"Any ideas?" the Doctor said aloud, bouncing on the bed. He got a distinct feeling of the TARDIS laughing, but no response. "Fine. If we're letting Rory loose on Earth I'm going to need some security." He thought hard, his brow furrowing and finally an idea came to him. "I'm brilliant! I'm fantastic! I'm amazing. I'm—"

"An egotistical Time Lord with delusions of standing." Tish interrupted smacking him gently on the arm.

He looked up quickly to find Tish glaring mockingly at him. "What?"

"I thought we were stating the obvious. Now, shops or no?" Tish asked, thinking of everything they'd need.

"I've got something to do first. Go call your mum and declare spa weekend." the Doctor said, hoping to distract her long enough he could get his evil plans done. "Oh, why not…call your female relatives; I'll get it set up."

Tish looked at him, obviously leery of the over eager tone. "You're plotting something."

"Am not." He said with fake outrage. That was true…it was already plotted.

She rolled her eyes at him, "Out of my room. I'll call my relatives and you go…alert our fellow travelers that a shop trip is coming soon."

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor hauled Rory by his arm down a corridor and flung open a door. He'd unceremoniously grabbed him a few minutes ago and had taken off walking, not saying a word as to where they were going.<p>

The Doctor pulled Rory into the room, shoved him into a chair and shut the door behind them.  
>Rory found himself sitting in a dark sunk in chair in a dark room that looked vaguely like a Super Villains study. He half expected to be handed a brandy and hear a cheesy one-liner.<p>

"So…Rory Williams." the Doctor drew his name out, stressing the first and third syllables. "Rory Williams…Med student from Leadworth…" He sat down and Rory's eyes went wide as a chair seemed to appear out of nowhere to catch him before he hit the ground. The Doctor leaned forward in the chair, fingers pressed together, touching his chin.

"Doctor?" Rory repeated quizzically.

"I've come to a conclusion about your situation."

"What's that? Are you going to let me go back to Earth?"

The Doctor stood up and the chair disappeared again. The Doctor fought back the urge to do a happy dance that his TARDIS was actually HELPING in his little power act and made a mental promise to shine the thermal couplings later. He paced the floor, hands behind his back clasped. "See, I can't let you run around spilling secrets; outing time travel. Telling people about Amelia, myself or Time Travel."

The Look he shot Rory nearly made Rory shiver. "Now, I could prevent that by keeping you with me, but I've been informed that isn't too good an idea. We do have to return to Earth sometime. I could just kick you into a supernova, but Amelia would be upset."

"So, what are your plans?" Rory asked still confused and just a bit afraid.

The Doctor dug into his pocket and produced a silver band with blue lights on it. He grabbed Rory's arm and slapped it around his wrist tightly. Rory jerked his hand back and felt it move. It wasn't too tight as to cut off movement or circulation, but it wasn't loose enough he could slip it off. The blue lights flickered and settled into a steady blue glow.

"What is this? What've you put on me?" Rory asked, trying to move it.

"That is a tattling deterrent." the Doctor said confidently. "'The Doctor', 'TARDIS', 'Amelia Pond' or 'Kidnapped' will set it off and you will be shocked. Of course it's set to react to Sarah's presence or the presence of police officials. Say any of those words to Police or Sarah Jane and you will be shocked." the Doctor gained an evil grin and he sunk back into air to once again be caught by a comfy arm chair. He rested his hands on the arm rests and looked quite smugly out from behind the fringe of his hair.

"We'll drop you off on November 1st. You will be picked up November 8th no later than 6pm. If you set off your bracelet I will know. Now, go get Amelia to the Console room and say goodbye for your week."  
>Rory took off with a look of horror on his face.<p>

The Doctor grinned to himself and clapped his hands. "That's right, I am brilliant. Who the man!"

The chair disappeared from under him, sending him spilling onto the floor. "Everyone's a critic."

* * *

><p>"So, what's the plan?" Tish asked as the Doctor bounced around the console energetically.<p>

"First stop, boot Rory off. Second step drop you off at your flat, third step I'm unsure of but the fourth promises fun!" The Doctor said as he bounced around the TARDIS.

Tish looked at him oddly, "We really need to limit your American Telly time." She said as she continued watching him.

He made a face at hurt and the Console room shook, sending them stumbling. They landed easily and the Doctor grabbed Rory, leading him to the door. "Remember what I told you." He said quietly, tapping the wristband. Rory looked out the door in surprise; they were actually in his flat!

"His aim has improved." Tish heard Rory comment as the Doctor slammed the door and dashed back to the console. Tish smiled, she'd heard of the bracelet but when she'd questioned out loud if it actually did as promised she'd gotten cold air. She wondered what it REALLY did, but wasn't sure she wanted to know because she was nearly certain the TARDIS had giggled when asked.

"He's coming back, right?" Amelia asked, holding on to the railing as the room spun.

"Of course." Tish assured her, catching her balance. "We're picking him up when you pick me up again."

"Okay." Amelia nodded, assured. Tish never lied to her.

"So, what's your promise?" Tish asked the Doctor as she hefted her bag full of laundry over her shoulder.

"Making bad days good again?" The Doctor said cheerily.

"Ah, right." He handed her a slip of paper, "Four reservations under 'Iain McCrimmon.' Tell Martha and I'll raid your shoe cupboard." The Doctor grinned.

"You wouldn't dare!" Tish gasped, feigning horror.

"Don't tempt me." He said with a grin.

"Aren't you coming with?" Tish asked, opening the door to her flat.

"I'm off to acquire shopping like an adult." the Doctor said stiffly.

"You're avoiding my mother." Tish smirked knowingly.

"I'm off to acquire shopping like an adult." He repeated.

"See you in a little bit!" Tish blew a kiss to the duo, "Behave!"

The Doctor shut the door and dashed back up to the Console.

"We're not getting shopping like adults, are we?" Amelia questioned.

He looked at her, "Would I disobey a request from Tish?"

"Yes." Amelia said giggling.

He grinned and hit the buttons to send them flying again.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: You're lucky you got this today. <em>Yeah, my partner got very very ill and it was nearly up to me to write it! Yeah, you wouldn't have gotten it till next week. <em>She writes way slow without much detail. Sorry, love you but it's true. _Yeah, yeah...More fun this week! The Doctor really is lucky that on occasion the TARDIS decides to help him out. _On occasion. Enjoy!]**


	49. Weekends alone, good schools and Venice

The room was carved magnificently of stone, an elegant building not unlike a church with brilliant stained glass windows and large archways. Stunning brass fixtures shone casting shadows and light to reflect off the shiny marble floors, unlit candles on top waiting for darkness so they too could shine. Only a handful of people milled around, waiting for what he wasn't sure.

In the centre of the room sat an elegantly detailed throne of gold, backed by velvet drapery trimmed in golden ropes. In it sat a regal looking woman in extravagant clothing, a young man stood at her side, arm resting atop the throne as the two looked at the audience in front of them with nearly matching looks of disinterest and disdain.

Guido stood in front of them, in clothing a lot plainer, obviously nervous as he bowed. Isabella stood next to him, just as nervous as she curtsied. Both were nearly terrified for various reasons.

"Signora," Guido began, clearing his throat to keep from croaking. "Your school offers a chance for betterment, for escape from a lower life. My daughter…" he felt the need to do something, anything to still his hands so he removed his cap, twisting it in his hands anxiously. "Isabella is seventeen now; what prospects can there be for the young daughter of a boat-builder?" Guido had never been ashamed of his job before, but if it meant getting Isabella a better life he would curse it and disparage the entire profession. "There is no future for us. No future but you." He pleaded looking at the Lord and Lady in front of him, his heart breaking at the thought of what he was doing.

The woman watched him then spoke, choosing her words with great care and attention, her voice level and almost melodic. "I am…moved by your concern for your daughter. I believe protecting the future of ones progeny is a sacred duty to be fulfilled at all costs to one's self." She reached a hand up and rested it over the hand of the young man affectionately.

"Signora, she is my world." Guido stressed the words, holding his daughters hand hopefully as she stood closer to his side. She was his everything; there was no one else in his life. If he could get her into this school then the world was open for her. He could deal with being alone, as long as she was taken care of.

"Then we will take your world." The woman said simply, nodding towards her son.

"I knew it! Oh…" Guido and Isabella both laughed in relief, hugging each other tightly. Nothing else mattered now.

The woman stood, brushing her skirts lightly to get rid of imaginary lint and looked at the display of affection. "Say goodbye to your daughter." She said her voice devoid of emotion as if giving an order to a servant.

Guido's heart fell and he felt a lump rise in his throat. "Now, signora?" he asked, clutching his daughter tighter.

"Why wait?" she asked briskly. "Time ticks." With another nod, this one to the man who had led in the man and his daughter she dismissed the situation as handled.

Guido caught his daughter's hand and hugged her close once again, kissing her cheek. "Be brave, my girl. Make me proud." He whispered to her and squeezed her hand one last time as they were pulled apart and he was escorted away.

"Step into the light, my dear." The woman's voice interrupted any sad thoughts Isabella had as she stepped forward, her insides quaking. She couldn't resist another glance backwards to her father as the door shut, effectively locking him out and her inside. She stood up straight to be brave, to make her father proud.

The woman and the younger man both circled her, giving her the feeling of a school of fish being rounded by a shark or a tailor examining new fabric. "What say you, Francesco?" The woman asked him easily, coming to a stop to Isabella's left. "Do you like her?" Isabella shivered at the tone in her voice as the man began circling her again.

Francesco gained a predatory smile that made Isabella shiver harder. "Oh, I do, Mother. I really do." He opened his mouth, a row of sharp fangs glinting in the sunlight.

Isabella screamed and the world went dark.

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>"Amelia, grab anything you want to take on an outing." the Doctor told her quickly. "And wear your trainers!" He insisted as he noticed the red rain boots she was trying to pair with the green and yellow polka dot jumper.<p>

Amelia ran out, returning ten minutes later to the console room, trainers laced up tight, now in jean trousers and a bright purple hoodie Amelia was certain she was ready for anything. Her sonic was stuck in her trouser pocket and the camera the Doctor gave her in the front pocket of her hoodie, Yumo trailing behind her on his purple leash and harness. "Where are we going?" she asked, nearly bouncing.

"You see, that is a hard question to answer when you have everything I have at your fingers." He proclaimed, bouncing around the console. "I mean, you can go anywhere you want, any time you want. I could go to the Moulin Rouge in 1890 – though Jack is banned. I could go back to the first Olympic Games! Those were fun. A bit…nude." He made a face and shook his head. "How about…Venice?" he asked looking over at her.

"You think you could reach it this time?" Amelia teased him.

"Oi!" the Doctor leaned over and tweaked her nose. "I always get where I want to go…eventually. Hold on!" The doctor said smiling as both of them held on tight and he flipped the switch to send them spinning into the vortex.

The TARDIS materialized in the centre of an extremely busy market by the seaside. The Doctor exited and opened his arms, twirling in circles as if he could embrace the entire country. "Venice! Venezia! La Serenissima! The impossible city." He cried to Amelia as she exited the TARDIS and looked around in amazement. "A preposterous city. Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the marsh, but it became one of the most powerful cities in the world. Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding…Constantly…Just BEAUTIFUL!"

He threw his arms wider and laughed, obviously enjoying himself. "Oh, you have gotta love Venice. So many people did! Byron, Napoleon, Casanova. Ooh, that reminds me." the Doctor looked at his watch quickly as he calculated. "1580…Whoo, we're good. That's all right. Casanova doesn't get born for another one-hundred and forty-five years. Really don't want to run into him. I owe him a chicken." He admitted to

Amelia who was standing mouth wide as she looked around, taking in the sites, the sounds and his babbling, focused on the last question of hundreds floating through her head.

"Who's Casanova?" Yumo followed behind her, tentatively testing the ground with his paws and looked deeply concerned by the cold stone that he was supposed to walk on.

The Doctor blinked and his face nearly fell, "A very strange man who could give Jack a run for his money." He said hoping not to have to elaborate.

"Oh. Why do you owe him a chicken?" Amelia asked her mind focusing on the next question.

"LONG story." He grinned, happy she'd obliged him. "We had a bet." He smiled at her, and took her hand starting to walk only to be interrupted by an official dressed in black standing in the Doctor's way.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he said blocking the three of them from going down the street. "Papers, if you please. I need Proof of residency and current bill of medical inspection." He held his hand out expectantly.

The Doctor looked at him strangely, dug into his pocket and pulled out the psychic paper. He held it up and handed it to the official. "There you go, fella. All to your satisfaction, I think you'll find."  
>"I—I am so sorry, Your Holiness." The official stuttered, "I didn't realize." He continued stuttering as he looked between the paper and the people in front of him.<p>

"No worries." The Doctor took the paper back from him. "You were just doing your job…What exactly IS your job?" he asked curiously.

"Checking for aliens." He said cheerfully, not really noticing both people do a double take and the Doctor shove Yumo behind him quickly. "Visitors from foreign lands what might bring the plague with them." The man continued.

The Doctor's eyes went a bit wide, no…first time alone with Amelia…Tish wouldn't forgive him if she caught the plague! Noticing the Doctor's look the Official backtracked quickly, "Don't worry," he bowed to the Doctor. "No, we're under quarantine here, no one comes in, no one goes out, and all because of the grace and wisdom of our Patron, Signora Rosanna Calvierri." He smiled proudly and pointed to the crest that was imprinted on the box he carried with him.

"Interesting." the Doctor mused, fiddling with the psychic paper and ignored Yumo worming his way around his legs. "I heard the plague died out years ago." He stated looking once again at the man in front of him in curiousity.

"Not out there!" the Official said, horror in his voice. "No, Signora Calvierri has seen it with her own eyes! The streets are piled high with bodies. She's said!" He said, looking as if he was going to faint at the mere thought of that happening in his town.

"Did she now?" the Doctor's eyebrows lifted as the official walked away to question someone else.

"What's the plague?" Amelia asked him curiously as she reached for the psychic paper.

"A very bad illness that hurt a lot of people." the Doctor told her , untangling Yumo's leash from his legs before continuing on their way exploring.

"This says I'm your ward. What's a ward?" Amelia examined the paper, holding tight to Yumo's leash to keep him from running off. The Uval seemed to like the stones now and kept trying to pounce on particularly shiny parts of the path. He looked like a cat bouncing after string, or a child playing in puddles.

"Someone who's under the care of someone else." He grinned and pointed out stalls full of different seafood. "Think they have fish fingers?" he asked, getting distracted from the conversation at the thought of his favourite food.

"Probably no custard though." Amelia said sorrowfully. She pulled out her camera and snapped a photo anyway, catching one of the Doctor grinning like a loon and one of Yumo licking the path.

"Doctor, how do I get my photos? I can't take them to the shops like Aunt Sharon." Amelia asked looking at the camera as the thought occurred to her.

"They'll print automatically on a machine that's in your room by now…probably." He looked curious for a moment. "I'm relatively certain the TARDIS put it in your room. We'll have to look when we get back." the Doctor said looking at her thoughtfully for a moment.

He snagged the camera from her with a laugh and snapped one of her. "In the meantime…let's see what all they've got here."

There were so many different sights and sounds that it was almost overwhelming. Merchants selling fish, fabrics and spices; one man even had what looked like pottery. The Doctor had quickly run from that one when he almost dropped a vase. They stood on a walk now, looking over the fence at the canals.

"How'd they make them?" Amelia asked him, leaning over to look down and take a photo of their reflections.

The Doctor held the back of her hoodie to make sure she didn't fall in and peered over himself. "Some were natural, some hand dug." He looked around as if checking to make sure he wasn't overheard. "Want to know a secret?"

"Yes!" Amelia nodded enthusiastically, pulling back from the railing to stand on her feet again.

"Some of them were created by Chuvale." the Doctor said conspiringly, nudging Yumo who'd nearly gotten his head stuck in the gaps of the wall that lined the canal.

"Shovel?" Amelia mangled the pronunciation.

"Close enough." He laughed. "They eat dirt and live off of tiny bacteria found in the soil. They leave behind nice little caverns in the ground."

"That's cool! Aliens helped build Venice." Amelia mused then grinned brightly. "Aliens' are everywhere, aren't they?"

"Yup." the Doctor agreed, "We've invaded and we're staying. We like it here. There are bowties and fish fingers. And tea."

"Don't forget crayons and pudding." Amelia added to his list.

"And some very neat humans. Not all are cool." He looked sideways at Amelia, "You can be cool. Tish…on occasion. Just don't tell her."

"What about Rory?" Amelia asked frowning a bit, Rory was cool!

The Doctor snorted and drew from his slang vocabulary picked up over the years from his traveling companions. "Rory's a dork."

"Hey!" Amelia yelled offended.

"But he's your dork, so he's…" the Doctor gulped as if the words pained him, "On the lower end of the cool spectrum." The doctor said hoping that would appease the young girl.

"What's that?" Amelia pointed across the canal where a group of young women had appeared inside a gated court yard. They were lined up in rows of two and all wore white gowns. The gowns made Amelia think of the old princess in the movies and covered them almost completely. What the gowns didn't cover gloves did. Even their hair was covered by something white that hung off of a hat.

"Veils down, Girls."They heard a woman call.

"Probably a girl's school." the Doctor told her as they watched the girls move. They all lowered their veils as one completely covering their faces and people on the street stopped what they were doing to watch them.

"Probably teaching them to read, write, dress properly and enunciate." He made a face at that.

"Sounds like preschool." Amelia shook her head, watching all the same.

A large black man stormed through the gates, shoving aside guards and running towards the girls. "What do you want!" the same woman from earlier yelled.

The man ran through, searching the girls and lifting their veils. "Isabella? Where is my Isabella?"

"Get away from there! What do you think you're doing?" The woman demanded.

The man ignored her, and continued on, struggling to find Isabella. He lifted several more veils, all the while calling for her. The final veil lifted he seemed to find who he was searching for. The woman under the veil flinched backwards as if in fear or pain and his face faltered, "It's me!"

Another girl came forward, shoving him aside and hissing. Even from across the canal the Doctor could spot the two rows of fangs that showed when she hissed. The man fell backwards on to the ground, hand on the front of his chest in horror.

"Girls, come along!" The woman said again, the girls following obediently, quickly moving back to the procession they'd been in before, as if nothing had happened at all and hurried away. A large man walked over to the fallen man and stepped on him, boot planting hard onto his chest.

"She's gone."The way it was said was clearly a threat and bragging at the same time as he spun to walk away, cap swirling out at the bottom.

"Isabella! It's me!" the man yelled, climbing up of off the ground and onto his knees. Two guards grabbed him under his arms and started hauling him away.

"What happened?" Amelia asked him.

The Doctor seemed torn, he obviously wanted to go see what was going on, but he also wanted to stay with Amelia and keep her safe.

"You can go." Amelia told him, aware of his conflict. The Doctor always had to go save people, that was fact almost as much as the rules. "Yumo and I can play here!"

He still looked a bit torn but edged towards go. "Stay here, stay with Yumo and yell the moment anything happens."

"Understood." Amelia nodded.

He hugged her and kissed her forehead quickly, "Sonic?"

Amelia pulled it out of her pocket, shifting Yumo's leash to do so. "Got it."

The Doctor pointed his at it and did something Amelia wasn't sure of. "Unlocked settings 53-a, 72 and A64."

She nodded, "Okay?"

"I'll be right back." He promised her, once again kissing her forehead. He looked down at Yumo and made a face, "You don't get a kiss. Watch her!"

Amelia laughed as he bounced off, "He's brilliant, Yumo."

The Uval yipped and bounced, his paws resting on her knee as he begged for attention. She brushed a hand through his blue hair and tugged at his harness. He'd been chewing on it again…"Purple doesn't suit you much." Amelia mused as she straightened it. She'd taken the fairy wings off of it so he could go incognito in Venice. "Maybe we should get a pink one! Would you like a pink one?"

Yumo barked, small tail wagging happily.

Sometimes Amelia wondered if Yumo could understand her or if he just was a vocal animal. "We'll ask Tish when we go back for her."

She looked around and scuffed her feet against the ground. "It's going to be cold sitting here…and he said stay here…Here is a general area, he said so when Tish yelled at us for wandering…If I stay close to 'here' we won't get in trouble." Amelia mused, digging into her pocket and producing the psychic paper. "We should go get him a gift!"

Yumo seemed to roll his eyes and he hopped down, landing on the stones again and lolling his tongue out, watching her.

"We could get you a gift too." Amelia rolled her own eyes. "Maybe they have cool bowties! Oh! We could find what's going on, like those kids in the cartoon. They have a dog that helps too. He's not very brave, but he does things for food too."

Yumo's ears perked up at the mention of 'food'.

"Let's go!" Amelia laughed, tugging lightly at the leash.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Once again another week in which a chapter might not have been possible. <em>Lots of stuff going on. Third chapter in a row that's been a 'ahh! Might not get posted!' <em>In our defense first week was illness, second week was dog getting sick, this time I had to go to the human doctor (not the fun one!) cause of another illness. _Very fun...More Yumo, since we were getting demands for him. _Enjoy!]**


	50. Vampires, Photos and Plotting

The Doctor bounced down the streets, dodging a few pedestrians to find his target. He pushed any worry he had for Amelia back in his mind, she had her sonic, Yumo could protect her and she wasn't going to wander off, she knew better. Seeing his target a smile crossed his face as he leapt and landed on a step behind the man, startling him slightly. "Who were those girls?" He asked curiously.

The man stopped in his tracks, looking at the Doctor and clearly wondering about his sanity. "I thought everyone knew about the Calvierri school." The man said frowning slightly at the doctor's dress and questions.

The Doctor ignored him, shrugging, and hopping down from his step landing rather close to the man. "My first day here." He looked him up and down, "Parents do all sorts of things to get their children into good schools. They move house, they change religion, some even lie about species." the Doctor ignored the mans odd look and lowered his voice. "So…Question is, why are you trying to get her out?" He questioned.

"Something happens in there." He replied, looking around to make sure he wasn't overheard. He looked rather afraid under his anger. "Something magical…Something evil. My own daughter…my Isabella, she didn't even recognize me! That girl, the one who pushed me away? Her face it was…" he waved his hands, stumbling to find a word to describe it. "It was like an animal." He said sadly, remembering how close he and his daughter had been.

The Doctor nodded and wrapped an arm around the man's shoulder companionably, walking and leading the man. "I think it's time I met this Signora Calvierri." He declared, Amelia would stay put…right? Then he'd come back, get her and they could explore!

* * *

><p>-Calvierri-<p>

* * *

><p>The courtyard was dim, despite the afternoon sun. The stones were dull and grey, a counterpart to the inside that everyone normally saw. Signora Calvierri knelt in the center of the courtyard, drinking thirstily from an ornate golden goblet her servant had poured for her. He stood back, hands tucked at his sides, awaiting further orders. A loud door closing interrupted the silence.<p>

"Mother?" Francesco yelled, searching for a reply.

"Mummy's hydrating, Francesco." Signora Calvierri called back to her son, motioning for the goblet to be refilled.

Francesco searched around and bounded down the stairs. "And we never interrupt Mummy when she's hydrating." He acknowledged like a small child repeating the rules. He sighed and went on anyway. "We were accosted…AGAIN." Signora Calvierri sighed as well, placing the goblet out of harm's way and leaning back against the wall. Francesco sat down quickly as well, lying back with his head on her lap, still upset but trying to relax. "Some man made a grab for one of the girls. The longer we wait, the greater our risk of discovery. Mummy, we've already converted more than enough. Surely it's time we introduce them to my brothers?" his plea had a whine to it that was easily recognized.

She shook her head, all the weariness of a long suffering mother. "I shall decide when we have enough." The bite of her voice was cut by the soft stroking of her hand through his hair.

"If it's more girls you want I could take the girls into town tonight and-" Francesco started pleadingly.

"We follow the plan." She told her son sternly. " Let them hammer on our door…They'll beg to be taken." Signora Calveierri said a small smile on her face.

A loud bell tolled through the courtyard and Francesco stood up abruptly. Signora Calvierri gestured and her son and servant helped her to her feet. "Those bells will be the death of me." Signora Calvierri squeezed her son's hand in solidarity before leaving with her servant.

Francesco sighed and left in a separate direction.

* * *

><p><em>-Amelia-<em>

* * *

><p>The street was narrow, like someone cut an alleyway in half, but the stone all around and the archways were neat. Yumo kept bouncing at each really shiny stone and Amelia was snapping photos of anything cool.<p>

"This is the least running or fighting we've ever done." Amelia told Yumo as they walked. "We're always running anymore." She said with a hint of sadness as she looked around.

Yumo made a noise and scratched at the stones before continuing their walk. Amelia frowned and looked up at the sound of wings fluttering, like that of an oversized butterfly. Even Yumo looked up.

"We're hearing things." She told Yumo. "Venice….In 1580! This is before Rory got to come!" Amelia said happily to Yumo. "We get to see things no one from my time sees!" She said excitement creeping back into her voice.

Yumo wound his way around her other side to lick at the wall. He made a face and sneezed. Amelia laughed, tugging at the leash, "Come on then." She said wanting to explore more.

They passed a stairway on their trip, but neither Amelia nor Yumo noticed Francesco lounging at the top of it in the shade.

A young woman selling flowers passed him on the stairs and smiled at him shyly, holding out a small flower. "Flowers, signor?" she asked.

He shook his head as she passed by, down the stairs. His face turned to watch her and had she looked back she would have seen the predatory gleam in his eyes.

Francesco got to his feet and stepped lightly down the stairs and ducked under the archway. She held out the flowers to him again, this time a slightly smaller smile.

He took them in his hands and smiled back.

Amelia laughed as Yumo looked at her. "Oh, come on. Sit pretty!" she begged the Uval, wanting a good picture.

Yumo huffed what sounded like a long suffering sigh but sat up, paws in the air. The camera snapped with click and a scream sounded.

"What was that?" Amelia looked at Yumo who growled. The two ran towards the scream and skidded to a stop. Francesco lifted his head up from the girls neck, his mouth opened wide to show fangs. Amelia fumbled with her camera and clicked the button as the Francesco hissed and walked away quickly, holding his cape in front of him.

Amelia stepped backwards away from him in fear and ran over to the girl. She wasn't really moving, but when Amelia placed her hand on the girls chest she could feel a heartbeat and the chest move slightly with each breath. "She's okay, Yumo…Where'd he go?" she asked looking around and trying to follow the strange man, but found nothing but a path that ended with an abrupt fall into the canals.

"I think we need to go find the Doctor." Amelia told Yumo, pausing long enough to snap a photo of the water before pulling out her sonic just in case and backtracking to where he'd left her.

* * *

><p>-The Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>Guido went at the guards, trying to reach the gates. "You have my daughter! ISABELLA!" he yelled loudly, pushing and shoving against the guards.<p>

The guards shoved him back quickly. "You're not coming in, stop there! " They demanded.

"We've told you-"the other began as Guido fought with them, screaming for his daughter still.

Relying on Guido's distraction the Doctor slowly slunk around the side, pressed up against the stone. For some reason he felt the urge to hum, but fought it.

"ISABELLA!" Guido hollered, "I demand you let me see my daughter!" Guido's screams covered the noise that came from the Doctor's sonic as he opened the canal gate and slipped inside.

"Isabella! It's me!" Guido yelled desperately, "It's your father!" he yelled desperately.

"I will arrest you." The Guard snarled.

Guido looked over their shoulders and saw the Doctor had made it and gave a slight nod. Guido turned away and stormed off.

* * *

><p>The Doctor looked around, hand trailing on the stone walls as he stepped down the stone steps. What was it with this age and stone? He supposed it was better than wood, and did keep things warm or cool, but still! It was hard to sneak on stone, you clicked.<p>

The chamber downstairs was also stone as well, his boots made softer noises as he looked around. On one wall he spotted an ornate gold mirror that shone in the low light. "Well, hello, handsome." He grinned, checking his teeth in the mirror and straightened his bowtie.

"Who are you?" A voice floated to him from the darkness.

The Doctor jumped, turning around quickly. He hadn't heard anyone enter, but now several girls stood behind him as if they'd appeared out of nowhere. He looked back at the mirror but…impossible! Their reflections…They had none! "How are you doing that?" He demanded. "I…am…LOVING it! You're like Houdini, only five scary girls…Course, he was shorter. Will be shorter." He gestured with his hands, his gigantic grin never wavering. "I'm rambling. Hello!" He smiled turning in circles to look at them.

"I'll ask you again, signor: Who are you?" all five spoke as one.

"I think this will answer your question." He said easily, pulling out a wallet and holding it out to them. When it didn't work he looked at it and sighed in disgust. Really? His library card? How long had that been floating around the TARDIS? "Library card." He tucked it back way. "Of course it's with Amelia…I really need to find the spare. Okay, so pale and creepy girls who don't like sunlight and can't be seen in mirrors."

He looked back at it and if anything he smiled wider. "Am I thinking what I'm thinking? I can't be thinking what I'm thinking…The city though, why shut down the city? Unless…" He rambled not paying too much attention to the girls around him.

"Leave now, signor, or we shall call for the steward... if you are lucky." The girls said, a salacious smile gracing their faces.

"Ooh!" his eyes went wide and he nearly clapped his hands, how often did weird things like THIS happen?

The Girls hissed, baring fangs and advancing on the Doctor with evil intent.

He moved quickly away, running up the stairs and pausing halfway up, turning around to speak. "Tell me the whole plan!" It didn't work, they just came closer. Why didn't that ever work. "One day that will work! Works in all the films… Listen, I would love to stay here. This whole thing... I'm thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas!" He said giddily, clapping his hands before retreating back upstairs again.

* * *

><p>-Together-<p>

* * *

><p>It was dark when the Doctor and Amelia met up where they'd left each other earlier.<p>

"Doctor!" Amelia yelled, nearly dropping Yumo's leash as she bounded his direction.

She did drop the leash as he lifted her up in a hug, spinning her around in his excitement.

"I just met some vampires!" he exclaimed.

"I think I saw one too!" Amelia said nearly bouncing as she held the Doctor's hands.

They babbled excitedly, voices overlapping as they explained what each had seen.

"I can't believe you actually went to their house!" Amelia proclaimed. "Did they have coffins?" She asked remembering bits from the old movie her and Rory had seen once before Aunt Sharon turned it off.

"I didn't see any." He said regretfully, "But they didn't show up in a mirror!" He babbled back excitedly.

Amelia bounced and picked up Yumo's leash again. "I got a photo! Do they show in photos if they don't show in mirrors?" she questioned curiously.

"I'm not sure." the Doctor admitted. Then he frowned as it dawned on him; "How did you run into vampires? I thought I told you to stay put with Yumo." He looked down at the Uval with a glare, "Did you let her run off?" He demanded of the dog.

Yumo whined and ducked his head.

"I just wanted to look around!" Amelia protested, "I brought Yumo and we were just looking! I was going to find you a gift." She smiled sweetly at him, a tactic that always worked with Aunt Sharon, and even Big Rory.

"A gift? From Venice?" The Doctor grinned.

"Uh huh." Amelia nodded, "I was careful, I promise. I took lots of pictures." Amelia said a full smile growing again on her face.

"Okay." He nodded, "I'll yell later, but first thing first, we need to get back in there somehow." He said contemplatively.

"How do we get inside again? They might know how you did it last time." Amelia questioned.

"Amelia, I think you need to come meet my new friend." He told her, grabbing her hand to lead her to Guido's home.

* * *

><p>The home was small, but cozy with a warm fire going in the small upstairs room where they had been lead. The place smelled of smoke and something Amelia couldn't quite name. Guido had a big map of Venice spread out across a large oak table and was showing the Doctor his plans and path.<p>

Amelia knelt on a chair to see the map as well as the two men who towered over her. Yumo had flopped down with a yawn, tired from a long day of bounding around after shiny stones and was snoring near a large stack of wooden barrels that were kept shut with large iron bands around them.

"As you saw, there is no clear way in." Guido explained logically, tapping the map. "The House of Calvierri is like a fortress. But," he said quickly, "There is a tunnel underneath it, with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but there's a trap door locked from the inside. I had to turn back." He traced the tunnels path to show the Doctor the way.

"You need someone on the inside." Amelia said but was interrupted by the Doctor.

"No." the Doctor said calmly.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" she protested.

"We pretend you're an applicant for the school to get you inside and tonight you come down and open the trapdoor to let us in." he replied, studying the map.

"Oh." Amelia frowned, "Maybe you do know. But how else do we get in?" She said concerned.

"We'll find a way, you're too young." The doctor insisted.

"But the kids on the telly do it! And the kids in the books. Hermione Granger is only eleven and she can do things all on her own, I'm nearly eight! And I've seen aliens before!" Amelia protested, relying on stories Tish had been telling her.

The Doctor scowled, "Yes, but Hermione Granger isn't my little girl." He said without really thinking about it.

"There is another option." Guido interrupted, gesturing in Yumo's direction and the barrels. "I work at the Arsenal. We build the warships for the navy." He said firmly.

" Gunpowder." the Doctor said, making a face as he sniffed the barrels and absently patted Yumo's head. "Most people just nick stationery from where they work. Or test tubes…Sometimes neat technology…" he recalled nostalgically. "Anyway, I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosives. Especially around children." He growled just a bit at the thought of gunpowder near Amelia.

"What do you suggest, then? We wait until they turn MY little girl into an animal?" Guido demanded.

"I'd only be there a few hours!" Amelia cajoled, "And I can be sneaky." She continued trying to sound grown up and not too eager.

He smiled at her persistence but shook his head. "No, no, no, no, no, no. It can't keep happening like this. This is how they go." He sat back in the chair, hands wound in his hair. "We need someone old enough to defend themselves, someone smart enough to know what they're doing, someone who we can convince to help us who won't hurt me for having a child with me in such a danger situation…Tish is at the spa, Rory wouldn't be convincing in drag…" his head shot up, "Guido, if you would excuse us till the morning, I have a friend who could help us out with this situation." He said an idea both horrifying and brilliant occurring to him.

"Really?" Amelia asked curiously.

"Yes…" He nodded, running a hand through his hair which only served to make it stand more on end.

* * *

><p>"So where are we going to get someone?" Amelia asked as she leaned against the fencing around the console. Yumo let out a breath and flopped down on the glass, stretching on his stomach happily.<p>

"Earth, 2009." He replied, pressing buttons to dial it in. "November 6th." He stated firmly.

"We were just there! I thought we couldn't use Tish or Rory?" Amelia frowned, remembering what he had said earlier.

"I can't, but there are more friends on Earth than just Rory and Tish." He told her with a smile. "Many more…This one however is…well, you're staying in the TARDIS till I can talk my way out of any injuries that are coming my way. Deal?" the Doctor said seriously holding out his hand for the girl to shake it.

"Okay." Amelia nodded seriously shaking his hand.

"Good!" He hit the last switch and the TARDIS shook. "Rule 1: Do as I say!" he reminded smiling.

She laughed and held onto the railing.

* * *

><p>-Tish-<p>

* * *

><p>Tish counted to herself as she put some simple clothing into her bag. Other clothes from the TARDIS had been chucked in a pile and labeled 'do later'. Somehow not only had the Doctor gotten her access to a rather expensive spa in London from Friday till Sunday, but he'd gotten her access for four people.<p>

Martha, Francine and Shonara were currently sitting around her living room as she finished packing. A nice calm, quiet weekend with her family was all she needed to relax, he was right. Plus this way Martha would see she was fine and that would set her at ease.

Shonara was nervous leaving Keisha with Leo but Tish had persuaded her otherwise. She zipped up the bag and took it to the livingroom, setting it down on the coffee table.

"Ready to go?" Martha asked her.

"Think so." Tish nodded, looking around. She counted to herself, ticking her list off on her fingers, "Clothes, keys, phone, purse…dirty laundry in the baskets…Oh." Her eyes went wide as she realized what she'd forgotten. She'd told the Doctor to get his shopping like an adult and to not steal it from her mother. What she hadn't said was that it had to be Earth shopping and that he had to do it himself.

No…he wouldn't take someone just to do his shopping. She was only going to be gone three days what could possibly go wrong…

"What's wrong?" Shonara asked.

"Just realized I forgot to make Iain his shopping list and detail exactly what shops they come from." Tish fought the urge to call him.

"He's a grown man; doesn't he know how to do his own shopping?" Martha looked surprised.

"No…He never does it." Tish said, "He hires someone to do it, I do it or his wife gets it when she's around." That wasn't a lie, he did steal from her often enough. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He'll probably end up doing takeaway all weekend till I do the shopping, but they should be fine." She said more to reassure herself than anything.

Really, he wouldn't do anything stupid. Honestly, what sort of man would kidnap someone in the three days she'd be gone?

With those little lies to herself she pushed it to the back of her mind and tried not to think about it.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: We were done early this week! <em>We're almost two weeks early. <em>I'm...this is nearly unheard of..._If anyone can guess who it is he's gone to get correctly we'll post the next chapter early. Note, go finish the next chapter. _Yes, yes...I'll get right on that! Right after Lion King. _Enjoy, everyo__ne!]_**


	51. Age of consent: Bonus chapter

The TARDIS landed and the Doctor dashed down the steps two at a time, nearly slipping on the last step.

"No going outside, stay here. If the door opens and it's not me hide! No coming out till I say it's clear, got it?" The Doctor stated firmly looking down at his charge. Hoping that this would not go horribly wrong.

"Got it." Amelia nodded. It must really be dangerous outside if he was this scared.

He slowly edged the door open and slipped out, slamming it behind him as if shielding the inside from view. He locked it quickly and looked around; frowning disappointedly as he saw no one in the attic the TARDIS had landed in.

"Master!" The mechanical voice caused a large grin to appear on his face as he turned to see K-9 crowing happily, scooting across the floor of the attic towards him.

"K-9!" the Doctor greeted him happily with a pat on the head as he cooed like K-9 was flesh and blood. "Where's Sarah?" he asked his former robotic companion looking once again around the deserted attic.

"Sarah Jane is out of the house." Mr. Smith informed him icily, the second mechanical voice causing the Doctor to turn around and frown at the open computer terminal that wasn't there before. "Where's she gone?" he asked petulantly.

"She is out with a friend for lunch." Mr. Smith intoned, the orders to not help this particular alien drifting through his memory banks.

"Mistress will return soon." K-9 sounded enthusiastic, his metal tail wagging, ignoring the uppity computer.

The Doctor scowled, "When I need her she's never around, when I try to avoid her she's behind every corner!" He kicked the step and grimaced at the pain, resisting the urge to clutch his foot. "Where's Luke and his friends then?" The doctor asked K9.

"Master Luke is serving detention with Master Clyde." K-9 tattled easily to his master. "Mistress Rani should be returned from school."

The Doctor nodded, "Thank you, K-9." He said patting the mechanical dogs head again and turning to stick his tongue out at the computer.

He dashed downstairs and leapt the last two for fun landing with a sound thump on the floor below. It wasn't a perfect idea – like his many other ideas - but he did need help and it was a small section of his original plan…Looking around outside through the windows as he moved through the house the Doctor did spot his target and grinned.

The Doctor opened a window from the living room and hung out of it, sitting on the sill, "RANI!"  
>He waved frantically to catch her attention and nearly fell out into the bushes catching himself at the last moment on the frame. "RANI!"<p>

She looked up to see who was calling her name curiously and frowned at the man hanging out of Sarah Jane's house. "Who're you and why are you at Sarah Jane's?" she yelled, crossing the street hurriedly, backpack held tight as she glared at the stranger.

"It's me! The Doctor!" He said happily, "I've changed my face, sorry, wasn't my fault. Well, it was but still…Hasn't happened yet. Act surprised when it does. Come in!" He motioned at the window.  
>She did the smart thing and went around and through the door with the key Sarah Jane never thought to remove from the rock garden.<p>

"So you've changed your face?" Rani asked, looking him over and ignoring how bizarre it was. "How can I be sure this isn't some sort of alien trick?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm alive aren't I? K-9 would have shot me if I weren't the real me just in case a me that wasn't me showed up. It's a safety protocol. Don't tell Sarah," He whispered conspiringly. "She doesn't like guns."

"So why are you here? Sarah Jane's out and Luke's in detention." Rani sat her backpack down by the door and studied him more. He looked younger than he had last time. He was stockier too, but not in a bad way. Still quite fit, even if he did dress like a child trying to look grown up.

"Actually it's you I'm after." the Doctor bounced on the soles of his shoes, rocking back and forth with undisguised eagerness.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well, see I need help. I was here for Sarah Jane but she's not here and even if she was here I was still for you because I need a young girl to go incognito and undercover inside a school full of vampires so they could sneak downstairs into the dungeon after it gets dark and open a trap door so I can sneak inside, kidnap a soon to be vampire and free the school from the grip of alien's I haven't met yet." He said quickly in one breath.

Her eyes went wide, "What?"

"Exactly! Go look, the TARDIS is in the attic." the Doctor said, pushing her lightly in that direction with a hand on her back.

He went to follow her upstairs then paused on the third step and turned around making a quick detour. When he arrived in the attic he had his arms full with a carton of milk under one arm and a loaf of bread balancing on top of a jar of peanut butter.

"Why are you stealing food?" Rani asked him suspiciously as she watched him balance the groceries in his arms precariously.

"I'm out and shopping sounds dull." He told her easily, opening the door just far enough to shove the shopping in and close it again. "So, will you help me?" he asked turning to look at her.

"Don't I have to ask first?" she asked him carefully.

He frowned and pulled out his phone, pressing buttons frantically. It beeped back a moment later and he rolled his eyes. "No! You can do as you please, I've had younger companions." He said simply still staring at her.

"You'll have me back in time for Tea?" Rani questioned. "Before people notice I'm missing?" She insisted.

"I can have you back five minutes ago." He brushed the question off.

"Make sure you drop me off back here, not some random location? I don't fancy Aberdeen." She said with a hint of a smile.

The Doctor's ears turned red. "Right here, in the attic. I won't miss." He said frowning a bit internally grumbling about Sarah telling stories again.

"Promise I won't get turned into a vampire?" Rani asked calmly, only the brief flash of fear on her face betraying her true thoughts.

"I…Make no absolute guarantees on that matter but will promise if you do become one I can turn you back to human." He offered. "Or will find a way to turn you back into a human." The Doctor said, still waiting for an answer.

Rani nodded, "Okay." She said smiling.

"You'll help?" the Doctor's face lit up as he ignored the repeated singing from the phone in his pocket. He knew that ringtone and he was NOT answering it, Jack could wait.

"Sure." Rani said her grin growing; after all she'd wanted to do this since Sarah Jane had first told them about Time Travel.

"Mistress Rani, Mistress would object." K-9 said reproachfully, as much as he loved his master, his mistress would dismantle him if he let anything happen to the young mistress.

"Yes, but Master is over riding Mistress's objection." the Doctor said smugly.

"Override not written in." K-9 said as if reading from rules. "Override is not allowed." K9 stated.

"Rani, it is a bad idea to go with him." Mr. Smith agreed reluctantly with the dog.

"Oh, who asked you two." the Doctor said, making a face at them as he opened the door to let Rani in. He stopped and stuck his tongue out at the two robots before he ducked inside.

Mr. Smith sighed wearily, "Calling Sarah Jane…"

* * *

><p>-Sarah Jane -<p>

* * *

><p>"Glad you could make it, even if it is a late lunch." Jack said happily, relaxing in his chair. A long weeks work in Torchwood and he finally got a weekend he could disappear without causing chaos. Really, he was just having lunch with Sarah Jane and having fun in London…He was not hiding! Seriously, he was not hiding from an angry pregnant woman or an annoyed medic, really! Him being in England had nothing to do with a fireworks accident or the baby fiasco. Plus, Martha was heading to London anyway so he just gave her a ride.<p>

"Always a pleasure." Sarah Jane agreed. Luke and Clyde were stuck in detention for a prank gone wrong involving fireworks and bonfire night so she didn't have to supervise them or worry about them deciding to track her to play super-agent spies once again. Haresh could keep track of them for a few hours and Rani wouldn't get into anything without them around.

The lunch was actually calm and quiet for the most part, no angry Torchwood agents yelling at them, no teenagers ending up covered in alien gunk or hurting themselves just quiet music playing in the background against the clinking of silverware and glasses and murmurs of conversation. They should have known it was tempting fate when an hour passed with nothing going wrong, not even a waiter tripping.

"But how was I supposed to know it was the Pope!" Jack laughed, gesturing with his hands as Sarah Jane laughed too. "He looked just like-" the phone in Jack's pocket interrupted his story as it beeped loudly in a pattern anyone who knew Morse code could tell you meant 'IT'S THE DOCTOR! RUN.'  
>He frowned and pulled it out, "One moment." Jack opened the text, reading it quickly. His eyebrows shot up and mouth fell open.<p>

_'Age of consent in England 16, Y or N?'_

"What's wrong?" Sarah Jane asked him in concern taking a sip of her drink.

"The Doctor is questioning what the age of consent is in England." Jack said, clearly at a loss for words.

"What!" Sarah Jane said, spitting out the drink she had taken moments before.

"Maybe he didn't mean it that way." Jack sounded hopeful as he texted back. Even the Doctor couldn't be that ignorant of Earth culture. 'Yes, is 16. What did you do?'

No answer.

He was starting to get rather concerned at the lack of answer and texted again. No answers. He nearly gave up and in a last attempt called instead.

Sarah Jane's phone went off as well in a fanfare Jack didn't recognize. "What do you need, Mr. Smith?" She answered sounded cautious. Sarah Jane paled quickly, "What?" The tone in her voice caused Jacke to turn and stare at her in concern as she paled. "We'll be right there."

"What's wrong?" he asked dreading the answer.

"The Doctor's taken Rani." Sarah Jane growled, sticking her phone into her purse.

"Maybe it's not what we think?" Jack offered, snagging his coat and throwing some cash onto the table.

"Either way he's about to regenerate…again!" Sarah Jane insisted.

* * *

><p>-TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>"Wow…It's changed!" Rani said, twirling to look at the entire console room in awe. Last time she'd seen it was before he'd regenerated; right after Sarah Jane's false wedding actually.<p>

"Yeah, we both regenerated." the Doctor said patting the console. "Quick question, Rani. Do you own a pocket watch?" He asked cautiously, he really should have asked this before…

"No. I think my dad might." She considered, "But I don't." Rani said confused for a moment then shaking her head, the Doctor was an odd one.

"Any weird lockets you can't open?" he added in a concerned tone.

"I've got one locket my Gran gave me." Rani offered, "it's just got a picture of us inside. Why?" she asked concerned now about what he was asking.

The Doctor looked quite relieved, "Knew someone who went by 'Rani' once. Killed me and tried to use humans as lab rats…" the Doctor explained, his grin growing again.

"Yeah, not me. Sorry?" Rani laughed slightly.

He looked at her then returned the smile and laugh. "Now, Rani, there's one condition of this trip." He stated seriously.

"What's that?" She asked, standing against the railing looking around.

"You can't rat me out." He said sternly.

"About what?" She asked again smirking as she thought of the one thing he could be talking about and his comical face as he tried to form the words but they didn't seem to come out right.

"Oh, you mean about the fact you kidnapped a kid and haven't figured out where to return her to yet?" Rani said grinning taking pity on the Doctor.

"I…" he opened and closed his mouth repeated. "How do you know that?" He demanded glancing around as if she or Sarah Jane had hidden cameras somewhere.

"Luke. He needed someone to cut his hair so he could pretend he wasn't gone." Rani offered. "I blackmailed him into telling me in return. Don't worry, neither of us has told anyone else, I promise." She said smiling.

"Does that mean I can come out?" Amelia asked, peeking around the door, a small blue face resting near her ankles looked out curiously too.

He turned to look at her in exasperation. "If you couldn't come out they'd know anyway!" the Doctor sighed.

"Sorry." Amelia said happily as she skipped out from behind the door.

"Yes, you can come out." He sighed. "Amelia, Rani, Rani, Amelia." The Doctor said smiling as he saw the happiness in Amelia's eyes.

"You're Luke's friend." Amelia said, offering Rani her hand in greeting.

"Yes, I am. So are you." Rani smiled and shook Amelia's hand. "I hear you got to meet Winston Churchill." Rani said kneeling to the little girl's eye level.

"It was cool!" Amelia agreed.

"Ahem!" the Doctor cleared his throat to catch their attention, ignoring the ringing phone. "We have vampires to stop."

"Grab hold." Amelia told Rani knowingly, latching an arm around the fencing.

Rani did as told and realized why when the TARDIS lurched and nearly sent them all to the ground.

Amelia laughed as Yumo slid on the floor, yelping in protest as he dug his nails in for traction before he came to a stop against the railing.

"Venice!" the Doctor proclaimed as everything stilled. He turned and leapt down the stairs, gesturing for the girls to follow. It was still dark outside and the light was just beginning to peek over the horizon. He frowned and turned to Rani apologetically, "It's more impressive in the daytime."

"I'll take your word for it." Rani said with a laugh, looking around in awe. "I'm in Venice. What year?"

"1580." Amelia told her, looping Yumo's leash around her wrist, she grabbed the Doctor's hand with her other one. "The vampires have taken over a school. It sounds really like preschool, they just learn to read and write, the Doctor said so."

"Lots of schools existed like that clear to the early 1900's." Rani told her, still looking around as she followed the Doctor. "Girls weren't given as good an education as boys and were just expected to marry into a rich family and sit around growing old and have lots of babies."

Amelia wrinkled her nose clearly not liking the idea, "Really? Gross."

The Doctor looked at Rani curiously, laughing slightly at Amelia's reaction "How do you know that?"

"Report for school on education through the ages." Rani told him. "I like history class."

* * *

><p>Guido was pacing by the dying fire when they returned to his home. "I was beginning to think you would not return."<p>

"Just a small detour, I promised." the Doctor said in greeting. He stood aside and motioned to Rani, "This is Rani, our way in. Rani, this is Guido. He's showing us the way in to save his daughter."

"Nice to meet you." Rani waved, ignoring the odd looks she was getting.

"We will need to get her proper clothing." Guido murmured, "Something fitting of a school girl."

Rani looked confused, "This is a school outfit."

Amelia shook her head, "The school girls here wore stuff that showed no skin at all. Their skirts look like they'd make you trip."

Rani made a face, "Floor length skirts?"

"Uh huh, and long sleeves." Amelia agreed as Guido searched for proper clothing and the Doctor tried to convince Yumo his shoes didn't need chewed on.

"Ugh, sad." Rani shook her head, "I've saved the world in this before!"

"I once saved the world in a rah-rah skirt and kitten heels," the Doctor shrugged, "Doesn't mean it was acceptable to the locals."

Rani looked at him, torn between laughing and horror. "I want to know that story!"

"No, no you don't." he shook his head seriously.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Okay, we got four guesses that were semi-correct so we decided - <em>you decided - <em>to post early anyway. _I protested but...eh, she_'_ll just have to write more to make up for it._ Like I wasn't writing already. **_**Yes, but now you have to write a whole chapter in a day and a half when you're busy with company and interviews. **_**Nyeh! I'll manage it! Even if we post at midnight on Friday...Enjoy!]**


	52. Undercover Teens, Angry Mums and School

Rani stood awkwardly, trying not to act nervous. Isabella was a few inches shorter than her so the skirt fit a less than perfectly, but it would do in a pinch. The outfit was quite simple, a light brown skirt that almost showed off her ankles, a cream colored peasant blouse and what felt and looked like ballet flats; her hair down and resting around her shoulders, she felt like when her parents made her dress for her Grandmother.

In front of her Francesco and Signora Calvierri waited, listening to the lie the Doctor had constructed. They knew Guido, they knew the Doctor, the only choice they had was to have Rani present herself and hope for the best.

"So,both of my parents are dead from the plague." Rani tried hard not to stumble, relying on practice from class debates to get by. "My Brother was a gondola…driver…until his death and even then money was a bit tight. So basically I'm all alone. Going to your school is the only choice I have, signora," Rani bowed her head slightly to look contrite. "And I hope you consider me worthy of your school."

Francesco looked at her in interest, circling her like he had with Isabella. She tried hard not to show any fear.

"Well, she does have references from the King of Sweden." Francesco mused, looking her up and down.

"Let me see." Signora Calvierri held her hand out awaiting Rani's obedience.

Rani stepped forward, trying to maintain the slightly cowed attitude while internally ranting against the entitled act of the wealthy. "Signora." She nodded again, handing her the psychic paper.

Signora Calvierri examined it and a slow but predatory smile spread across her face. "Well, now I can see what got my steward so excited." She handed the paper back to Rani who took it gratefully and ducked backwards again. Signora Calvierri examined her in earnest now, not the slightly bored attitude she'd portrayed before.

"Certainly young enough. Pretty." Signora Calvierri acknowledged, watching Rani react. "What say you, Francesco? Do you like her?" she asked acknowledged her son who was staring at the young girl.

"Oh, I do, Mother. I do." Francesco's voice never changed in level but contained dueling notes of desire and brutality that made Rani's skin crawl.

"We would be delighted to accept you. Have you no one to say goodbye to?" Signora Calvierri said smiling creepily at Rani.

"No one, Signora." Rani told her, "Thank you for accepting me." She would have to get a message to the Doctor as soon as she was alone. It seemed while she couldn't call home to talk she could send a message from her phone to the Doctor's phone and that should be enough to get him to the right spot at the right time.

* * *

><p>Signora Calvierri's steward led Rani through the school easily. The entire thing was made of stone it seemed and was oddly cold. The only light was from the few windows or candles in holders that hung on walls or stood in corners.<p>

She couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched no matter how few people were around. Finally he opened a door to a large room that housed several beds and a few trunks. It was quite opulent and the roof was domed, obviously they'd put a LOT of money into the girls room. Turning to her Carlo nodded towards the room. "There are clothes on the bed. Get changed and wait here." He ordered.

Rani looked around. The room was impressive. "Blimey…this is private education then…" she muttered to herself.

She didn't even make it too her bed before the room cleared, leaving just her and one other female who sat on her bed staring into the distance.

"Hey. Hello." Rani said, moving to introduce herself. "I'm Rani. What's your name?" she asked putting on a smile for the other girl.

"I-Isabella." Isabella replied, voice quiet and timid, she seemed like she wasn't fully awake as well.

Rani sat down on the bed next to Isabella and took her hand before speaking urgently. "Listen, we're going to get you out of here – your dad and my friend are working on it - but I need you to tell me what's going on. What is this place? What are they doing?" Rani started whispering urgently.

**"**They, um... they come at night." Isabella said mechanically, staring at the floor as if she couldn't see Rani. "They gather around my bed and them they take me to a room... with this, this um green light and a chair with... w-with straps, as if for a surgeon." Her voice wavered a bit as she started getting lost in the memories.

"What happens in there?" Rani prodded gently, almost afraid of the answer.

"I don't know… I wake up here. But it's different…I, I can't…it's like my mind isn't here and the sunlight burns my skin like candle wax." Isabella told her, rubbing her own arm like she was reassuring herself the skin was okay.

Rani just sat there for a moment, holding her hand. "It's going to be okay, I promise. Your father is coming for you, we'll get you out." She said, attempting to calm the other girl.

A bell tolled somewhere in the school and Isabella stiffened.

Rani looked around warily, "We'll be OK, Isabella." She said trying hard to make herself believe it.

* * *

><p>-The Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>The underground was nearly as dark as it had been outside, not long after Rani had left them he had got a text message from her saying she was inside. It was night now, so if all went according to plan she'd be downstairs opening the trap door for them.<p>

The Doctor sat back in the gondola with Amelia as Guido guided them along the canal. They'd made a brief stop by the TARDIS to drop Yumo off, it was too dangerous to take him underground. He'd stop and grab him when it was all over.

His phone was still buzzing, not letting off as it had been all day.

"Can't you quiet that thing?" Guido demanded.

The Doctor pulled it out of his pocket. He didn't need to look at the screen to know who it was, only one person was set with that ringtone. He flipped it open and put it to his ear , "Hello, Sarah." He said in his cheeriest voice, pulling the phone away from his ear at the loud yell that started as soon as he answered, and winced.

Amelia looked at him curiously and he shook his head.

"Calm down, Sarah, you're echoing." The doctor said quietly as they continued through the tunnel.

_"Where is she? I want to talk to Rani." Sarah demanded angrily.  
><em>

"She's not available right now." the Doctor said, choosing his words carefully. "Try her phone?" he said patting himself on the back.

_"You know damn well her phone won't call through time. What year are you in? Where are you?"Sarah Jane continued.  
><em>

"Venice. 1580." the Doctor said simply.

_"Where's Rani?" Sarah Jane's yelling got louder again at the Doctor's evasions.  
><em>

"Uh, a few hundred feet away forward and up. Going to get her now. She'll be fine." The doctor said trying to calm her.

_"You can promise me that, can you?"_ _Sarah Jane snapped,_ _"I did travel with you. Why did you take her?" she continued, her anger and disappointment evident even to the Doctor.  
><em>

"Because I couldn't find you and I needed a female to get into a school full of alien vampires. It's an all-girl school, they'd already seen me and I had no one else to sneak in. She'll be fine." He repeated.

_"I want her back here, now. Safe, sane and unharmed. This isn't a request." Sarah Jane said coldly, her tone promising a regeneration if he didn't.  
><em>

The Doctor winced at the tone, feeling more chastised then his mother had ever made him feel. "As soon as I thwart the invasion and actually have her once again I will get right on that. Have to go now, coming up on where we need to get her. Guido is looking annoyed at me for talking when I should be rescuing his daughter! Bye, Sarah!" He hung up quickly and slipped the phone into his pocket. Oh, he was going to regret that later…

* * *

><p>-Rani-<p>

* * *

><p>Rani snuck down the stairs cautiously, searching for the room Isabella had mentioned and the trapdoor she needed to let the Doctor in. Dressed in a white nightgown and with only a lamp to light her way it was slow going and quiet cold. She passed mostly stone and empty chambers along the way.<p>

She slowed and looked around at a corridor, choosing to go right, mercifully the lamp didn't light the wooden chest to the left, nor did she notice the slight glance of a skeletal hand that hung out from it.

* * *

><p>-The Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>"We're here." Guido said as the gondola stopped.<p>

The Doctor hopped out of the gondola and offered Amelia hand. "Coming, Guido?"

"No, I'll stay so we can leave quickly." Guido replied, "Go and save my Isabella."

The Doctor nodded seriously and with Amelia's hand in his and a torch in his free hand they left Guido behind, stepping into the darkness.

"Right, OK…I'm going first." the Doctor told her. "If anything happens to me, Go back…"

"Is Luke's mum going to hurt you." Amelia asked innocently, not liking the idea of it, but she sure sounded mad through the phone._  
><em>

He stopped at the base of a set of wooden stairs. "No, I-I'm-Probably." He admitted finally. "More than likely." He went up the stairs and tapped lightly on the wooden door, testing it.

"Really badly?" Amelia asked quietly.

"She'll stop short of regeneration." the Doctor replied offhandedly.

* * *

><p>Rani stepped down the stairs quickly and walked across the courtyard. It was barely recognizable from where Francesco and his mother had lounged earlier in the day, bathed in darkness with the sole light coming from Rani's lamp. She set it down quietly next to the well in the center of the courtyard and with some effort released the bar that locked the grate shut.<p>

She picked up the lamp once again and started to sneak inside, but as she turned around she nearly walked straight into Carlo.

With a frightened shriek she dropped the lamp.

* * *

><p>The passage the door had hidden was dark, so dark that Amelia was clinging to his hand in near fear, the only light coming from his torch, though it didn't show much more than darkness did.<p>

"So we shouldn't have taken Rani?" Amelia asked curiously, clinging to the Doctor's hand tighter.

"Probably not." He acknowledged, "but it was the logical choice."

"Will Tish be mad too?" she asked not wanting either of the to get in trouble with their favorite companion.

The Doctor froze in place, "I hadn't thought of that." She might be really mad at him…Oh God, she could tell Francine! Francine could hit him. He resisted the urge to rub his face at the memory of that particular incident. "We'll have to check on that."

A strong gust of wind blew through the passageway, nearly knocking them over and blowing out the torch.

He felt Amelia's hand tighten around his. "Want to go see the vampires now?" he said hoping it would distract the girl, her grip was starting to hurt.

* * *

><p>Rani gasped in fear and pain as Carlo forced her down the stairs by her arm, His fingers holding tight and digging into the skin. He was leading her back down the path she'd traveled earlier when searching, deeper and deeper into the underground.<p>

"Control yourself, child!" Carlo chided her; no proper female would make such noises of protestation when a man was leading them.

The room was dim, lit only by a few candles, but she could clearly make out Signora Calvierri, Francesco and some of the girls from earlier standing around waiting for her.

"Get your hands off me!" Rani demanded, struggling against his grasp.

"Psychic paper." Signora Calvierri said heatedly. "Did you really thing that would work on me?" she asked angrily.**  
><strong>

"I- I don't know—" Rani stuttered, not sure what to do in this situation.

A hum of power interrupted Rani and filled the chamber with noise as suddenly they were all bathed in a green light.

* * *

><p>The Doctor pushed the grate open with a loud clang and peeked out. All clear. He struggled to climb up, digging his fingers into the grate and the surrounding area to pull himself out. He landed with a flop on the ground and peeked back into the grate. "Come on." He pulled Amelia out easily. "There we are…"<p>

He looked around, it was nearly completely dark, the only light coming from what little moon was above. "I can't see a thing…Just as well I brought this!" He said dramatically before pulling out a large torch that looked almost like a lightsaber from his jacket. "Ultraviolet. Portable sunlight." He explained for Amelia's benefit.

Amelia dug into her pockets and produced a small pencil torch. "I should have brought a bigger one."

The Doctor laughed quietly and took her hand again before leading her away to find Rani.

* * *

><p>Rani struggled against Carlo's hold, but he'd moved to hold her tighter.<p>

Signora Calvierri circled her much like Francesco had, but with more curiosity and less lechery. "Where are you from? Did you fall through the chasm?" she questioned.

"Mother this is pointless." Francesco whined impatiently. "Let's just start the process already." He demanded.

"Hold your tongue, Francesco!" She replied sternly. "I need to know what this girl is doing in a world of savages with psychic paper." With a gesture of her hand two of the girls scooted a large wooden chair with leather straps tied to it into the middle of the room. "Who are you with? I scarcely believe that you've come all on your own." As she spoke her son and the girls readied the room. Francesco hung a large hook from a steel loop in the ceiling and one of the girls attached an IV bag to it.

"So I repeat, what are you doing in my school." Her voice continued gaining a tone of impatience and anger.

Rani looked around nervously but steeled herself, Sarah Jane wouldn't be nervous or afraid , so she wouldn't be either. "Okay, I'll tell you…I work for Ofsted." She said flippantly.

Signora Calvierri laughed dryly, "Put her in the chair."

Carlo pushed her forward and into the chair. As Rani fought against them they still managed to fasten the straps around her arms to hold her down.

"NO! Get your hands off me!" Rani yelled as Francesco held her head straight from behind the chair.

"Oh, make sport of me, will you?" Signora Calvierri snarled, "Teas me as if I were your dog? Well, this dog has bite, girl!" Signora Calvierri turned around to face Rani and showed she indeed did have fangs.

"Doctor!" Rani screamed in terror as Signora Calvierri leaned in close to Rani.

* * *

><p>As the Doctor prowled around searching one side of their immediate area, Amelia searched the other.<p>

They hadn't found Rani yet, they hadn't found anyone at all. It was quiet. She shined the light from her torch around and it landed on a chest. She nudged it open and jumped back with a small yelp before she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth to silence it.

The Doctor was at her side in an instant, "What's wrong?" He caught sight of the skeleton in the chest and scooted Amelia backwards and behind him.

"What happened to them?" Amelia asked, head buried against the back of his jacket.

"They've…They've had all the moisture taken out of them." He replied frankly.

* * *

><p>Signora Calvierri pulled away from Rani and stood up straight again, licking her lips as she turned away. The girls backed away as if they'd heard something and disappeared out the doors. Rani stayed still in the chair, breathing shallow and her eyes glazed. Francesco leaned down over the back of her chair and ran his finger along the puncture wounds on her neck, she didn't stir.<p>

"Mother... when you drink from her, may we share? I'm so thirsty." His voice held a deep whine.

"Of course, darling." She replied sweetly.

* * *

><p>"That's what vampires do, right?" Amelia asked quietly, clutching his jacket. "They drink your blood all up till it's gone." She asked recalling the few vampire movies she'd watched.<p>

"Yeah, except they haven't just had their blood taken, but all the water in their bodies." He said.

"Why did they die? Why aren't they like the other vampires? That's what happens, right?" Amelia asked curiously.

"I think that maybe not everyone survives the process."He looked up and at Amelia seriously, "We need to find Rani, now."

"Who are you?" several voices asked in unison, making Amelia and the Doctor jump.

The girls appeared from separate archways, moving closer to the duo with malevolent intent. The Doctor held up his ultraviolet light against them, making them flinch backwards.

"We should run." the Doctor told Amelia urgently. "Run!"

With her hand in his and with him waving the light ant any that came near him they ran for it through one of the archways.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Wow<strong>, **an early chapter...on a week where we added a bonus chapter..._Unheard of! _I know! _Great day seeing as my partner here got a job! _I'm working minimum wage at a takeaway joint. _Hush, a job is a job! _Yes...And I'm thrilled. Anyway, enjoy the chapter! No guessing games for a bonus this week, you'll just have to wait!] **


	53. Storks, Twilight and Flirting

"This is how it works. First, we drink you until you're dry." Signora Calvierri explained sadistically, words drawn out and measured, a soft smile on her face. "Then... we fill you with our blood. It rages through you like a fire, changing you, until one morning you awake and your humanity is a dream... now faded." She continued walking around Rani who was tied to the chair.

"Or you die." Francesco chuckled, brushing hair away from Rani's neck almost tenderly. "That **can** happen." He said almost happily as he breathed in her scent.

"And…And if I survive?" Rani asked, finally coming out of her dazed state. "Then what?" she tried stalling as she waited for the Doctor to rescue her.

"Then there are 10,000 husbands waiting for you in the water." Signora Calvierri said pleasantly.

"Yeah, sorry…I didn't like reading Twilight;I'd rather NOT live it." She lashed out as best she could her legs kicking out at Signora Calvierri, a cracking sound making her smile a bit as her foot connected hard with the side of the older woman.

As she did so Francesco leapt forward to hold her still in the chair. An electrical hum filled the air as Signora Calvierri looked brushed aside a portion of her cape to reveal a strange piece of technology clipped to her belt. Her image flickered in front of Rani's eyes; one moment she was the human she'd seen all day and the next she was well…alien.

She was tall, a bit taller than she was as a human, with an almost insect like body with the head of one of those fish Rani had seen on TV that you only found in the deepest section of the ocean. Within seconds her human image had returned. Before either Francesco or Signora Calvierri could do anything to her however, the sound of shouting voices and running footsteps entered the chamber. The duo looked at each other and took off running upstairs, leaving Rani all alone to try and escape.

* * *

><p>The Doctor ran, Amelia's hand in his, down the corridor to escape the vampire girls who seemed intent on eating him, killing him or… worse! As they entered a square section with several doors their process was halted when Francesco and Signora Calvierri stepped in their way.<p>

"Cab for Rani Chandra." the Doctor offered with a cheeky smile.

* * *

><p>As Rani struggled suddenly a hand reached over and grabbed the straps. She gasped in surprise before Isabella came into view. As Isabella unstrapped Rani she tried desperately to form a sentence.<p>

No matter how she tried to phrase it or what she tried to say all that came out was an outraged, "She bit me!"

* * *

><p>The Doctor was really beginning to realize how much trouble he was in when the girls he'd been running from blocked the escape back out. He held Amelia close, back to back just in case. "This rescue plan isn't exactly watertight, is it?" Signora Calvierri said silkily, smirking as her girls surrounded the interloper.<p>

The Doctor brandished the light at the girls and smirked at Signora Calvierri, "None of my plans ever are!" he laughed at her scowl.

Isabella ran into the corridor, followed by Rani and both came to a quick stop upon seeing who was there waiting.

"Doctor!" Rani cried, quite happy to see him.

"Rani!" he yelled, quite elated Sarah Jane couldn't kill him, she was in one piece!

"Quickly, through here!" Isabella urged them, pulling Rani back the way they came. The Doctor shoved Amelia after them and followed quickly behind, waving the light behind them on occasion to ward off the girls.

"Seal the house." Signora Calvierri ordered angrily.

* * *

><p>"They're not vampires!" Rani yelled to the Doctor as they ran. "I mean, we knew they couldn't be but they really aren't! I saw them, they're alien fish!" She almost giggled at his, the irony was just too much.<p>

The Doctor chuckled, "Classic!" he said trying hard himself not to laugh.

"What is wrong with us that that is GOOD news?" Rani asked breaking down and finally laughing the Doctor joining in as he soniced the door open and urged his friends to go through into the next passage before the aliens caught up. He could hear them close behind.

"Come on, move!" he pressed them, gesturing to the door. As they ran ahead he brandished the ultraviolet light at Francesco and the girls, wielding it like a weapon and resisting the deep urge to make whirling noise; he'd been taught long ago he shouldn't play around when death was nearby…they had to be at least two doors or thirty feet away. Francesco hesitated but pushed on anyway with the girls_._

"Doctor!" Amelia yelled, waving for him to follow.

"Keep moving!" He yelled back.

Isabella opened a door that was placed at the end of the corridor and ushered the others forwards and out, down the stairs to where she could see her father waiting in the canal. "Quickly. Get out." She pushed Amelia forward lightly, hand on her back. "Quick" She went to follow them but jumped backwards when the sunlight hit her, shielding her eyes. It burned like she'd stuck her hand inside the hot coals of the fire and her eyes were temporarily blinded but all of the light.

The Doctor noticed her distress and turned around quickly. "OH..." he took the stairs two at a time, "Come on, run!" He said trying to pull the girl out and failing as she pulled to go back into the dark.

"I can't!" Isabella cried. The pain was too much, the light too bright and already she could feel hands latching onto her arms and pulling her backwards.

"NO!" the Doctor screamed as the door was slammed shut. This wasn't happening, it wouldn't end this way! "NO!" he pounded on the door repeatedly, trying to find a way in. The sonic couldn't do wood.

Suddenly the wood under his hands became electrified and he felt the voltage run through his body, making all of his muscles spasm and throwing him back from the door. He tumbled down the steps and landed with a thump in a heap at the bottom.

Rani and Amelia rushed to his side, both kneeling to check on him. "He's breathing." Rani told her quickly. "He's alive." She said relieved, both for her and Amelia's sake. Sarah Jane wouldn't forgive her if she got trapped in the past and let him regenerate again.

"His hearts are going really fast." Amelia frowned, hands on either side of his chest to make sure. They were beating like drums under her hands.

"That might be normal." Rani offered, she'd never bothered to ask anything about time lord biology.  
>She looked backwards and caught Guido's eyes.<p>

He stood in place, his face crestfallen as he stared at the ground. His daughter was lost to him now.

* * *

><p>Isabella stood on a plank that extended over the water. At her back stood all the other girls, Signora Calvierri and Francesco. Carlo stood to her side, holding onto parchment and looking as pompous as always. She was terrified, but she'd seen her father. He was trying to get to her. She'd gotten the other girls and their friend to safety, her father could make sure they were okay. She'd been brave , just for him.<p>

Carlo cleared his throat and began to read aloud. "And so in memory of the children lost to the silence, the traitor is delivered to the arms of those she betrayed." He spoke precisely, every word given equal attention. Nodding to a soldier to give orders, the solider stepped forward, lance placed at her back forcing her too to move forward.

"Do you expect me to drown?" She laughed shakily and spoke with pride. "I'm Venetian! I can swim!" the water began to bubble in front of her and she swallowed hard. "We can all swim!" The soldier holding the lance gave her one last push, shoving her forward into the water. The shock of cold was quickly replaced by new sensations. "Something touched my leg." She gasped as the water around her frothed and bubbled and she could feel things moving in the water._ "_They're all around me! They bite!" With one final yell she was pulled under into oblivion.

"Now leave us." Signora Calvierri ordered everyone as she walked forward. Carlo clapped his hands and everyone followed the orders quickly, clearing the area within moments. Slowly Signora Calvierri walked over to the water and knelt at the water's edge, watching as bubbles began forming in front of her.

Francesco stepped forward quickly. "Mother! Change your form. Or my brothers will think they're being fed twice today." She smiled at her son then turned back to the water. "Not long now." She promised almost tenderly. "It's not long." The waters bubbled more, as if the creatures underneath the water understood.

* * *

><p>As Signora Calvierri entered the throne room she looked surprised to see the Doctor sitting in her throne looking quite comfortable, the sound of his wolf whistle caused her to blush and look at him shyly as he greeted her. "You're a long way from Saturnyne, aren't you…" the Doctor looked smug as he smiled at her. "Sister of the Water." Each word was punctuated by him tapping his fingers on the armrest.<p>

She smiled back at him, "Let me guess…The owner of the psychic paper?" He nodded in answer and she smiled hopefully, voice gaining in excitement. "Then I take it you're a refugee, like me?" she asked.

He shook his head in amusement, "I'll make you a deal." the Doctor said, crossing his legs at the ankle.

"Oh?" Signora Calvierri asked curiously.

"An answer for an answer." Signora Calvierri nodded her agreement so he continued. "You're using a perception filter. It doesn't change your features, but manipulates the brainwaves of the person looking at you. But seeing one of you for the first time in, say, a mirror, the brain doesn't know what to fill the gap with, so leaves it blank... hence no reflection." the Doctor was clearly smug as he spelled it out.

"Your question?" she asked, clearly not impressed but humoring him.

**"**Why can we see your big teeth?" he made a face showing off his own teeth as he said it, causing her to laugh.

"Self-preservation over-rides the mirage." She gestured easily, eying him as if sizing him up. "The subconscious perceives the threat and tries to alert the conscious brain." She explained continuing to examine this new variable to her plan.

The Doctor tucked that piece of information away for later and stood from the chair, he didn't walk near her but stood, reclining against the chair studying her.

"Where's Isabella?" He asked simply.

**"**My turn." Signora Calvierri scolded him playfully. "Where are you from?" She asked curiously.

He inclined his head in acknowledgement before answering. "Gallifrey." He said truthfully.

"You should be in a museum." She laughed quietly, "Or in a mausoleum." She said amazed.

"Why are you here?" the Doctor ignored any pangs from the comment and focused on their 'game'.

"We ran from the silence." Signora Calvierri said softly, not looking at him but messing distractedly with a cord from the curtains that hung over the large windows. "Why are you here?"

"Vacation. The silence?" The Doctor persisted.

"There were um…There were cracks. Some were tiny... some were as big as the sky." Her voice was distant as if she were in pain as she spoke. "Through some we saw worlds and people and through others we saw silence... and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours and the crack snapped shut behind us... and Saturnyne was lost." Signora Calvierri's voice was choked with emotion.

"So Earth is to become Saturnyne Mark II?" The Doctor asked understanding the plan, a grimace on his face.

"And you can help me." Her eyes met his and were lit with as much hope and excitement as the rest of her face. "We can build a new society here, as others have. What do you say?" She asked hopefully.

"Hmm." He had to admit, the thought had tempted him over the years. He'd be lying if he said he'd never felt the want to try and create a new Gallifrey. Oh, he was all so tempted... humans looked like Time Lords, and with the right technology…But he knew better. You couldn't recreate a world at the expense of another. "Where's Isabella?" He asked trying to shake off that point of view.

"Isabella?" She asked, clearly confused.

"The girl who saved my girls." He clarified.

"Oh, deserters must be executed." Her face lit with understanding as she recalled the girl. "Any general will tell you that." She brushed off the question and leaned closer to him once again, reaching a hand out and brushing it across his jacket lapels. "I need an answer, Doctor. A partnership. Any which way you choose." She asked growing angry at the Alien in front of her and hoping the Time Lord would agree.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, do you?" He leaned close, nearly whispering. "I'm a Time Lord. You're a big fish. Think of the children. Besides, my child and your son might not get along so well; he already scared the hell out of her." He said frowning at that, Francisco would never get near Amelia again if he had anything to say about it.

The hope died, the excitement faded and was replaced by rage. "CARLO!" the steward quickly appeared. "You're right. We are NOTHING alike. I will bend the heavens to save **my** race, while YOU act pious." She demanded angrily, if he wouldn't help, he would be the enemy.

He didn't seem insulted, if that had been her intent. "This ends today. I'll tear down the House of Calvierri, stone by stone." Carlo reached up and placed a hand on his chest, pushing slightly to get the Doctor to move so he could be led out as asked. The Doctor glowered at him but spoke calmly, simmering rage underneath. "Take your hands off me, Carlo." He turned to storm away but paused at the door and turned around. "And you know why? You didn't know Isabella's name" he opened the door and looked at her with a look of utter disappointment. "You didn't know Isabella's name." the Doctor left quickly, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

><p>"ATTEND!" Signora Calvierri screamed as she stormed towards the courtyard. "ATTEND!"<br>She looked down into the courtyard where her son, Carlo, the girls and attendants entered quickly at the order. "The storm is coming!" She started walking down the stairs but gasped and staggered as the perception filter failed several times. Screaming in frustration she toyed with it to make it stop.

"Mummy... What's wrong with your perception filter?" Francesco asked quietly aside.

"That idiot child must have damaged it when she kicked me." She snarled as she glitched once again. "Now... assemble the girls. I have a job for them." She said ominously.

* * *

><p>They sat in Guido's house once again, obviously worried and trying to figure things out.<p>

Rani rested in a chair, back in her uniform, head tilted to the side so the Doctor could check her over.

He examined her neck with the sonic screwdriver and as it hummed the marks disappeared. "Hmm." He tilted it to read the information it gave and smiled slightly.

"You're fine. Open wide." When she did as ordered he popped a boiled sweet into her mouth.

He moved away, pacing and trying to think. As he walked his brain couldn't work out the situation. "I need to think!" he shouted in frustration. "Come on brain, think, think…Think!" he sat down at the table, between Rani and Amelia. "I need to Think!" He continued to himself smacking his head as he talked.

Rani messed with the sweet and spoke around it – something she would generally have yelled at her boys for – "If they're fish people it explains why they hate the sun." she said logically.

The Doctor placed one hand over her mouth. "Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush." He said.

"If they're fish people why start a human school?" The Doctor leaned over and covered Amelia's mouth before she could do anything other than mumble the horrible pun she had in mind.

**"**Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush." The Doctor continued as he continued to talk to himself.

"I say we take the fight to them!" Guido said fiercely, fist clenched in anger.

"Ah-ah-ah!" the Doctor said quickly.

**"**What?" Guido asked

"Ah!" he nodded at Amelia who with a roll of her eyes reached over to place her hand over Guido's mouth. "Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time, and end up here, then she closes off the city and , one by one, changes people into creatures like her to start a new gene pool. Got it." The Doctor said to himself, obviously frustrated as he stated the obvious. "Then what? They come from the sea so they can't survive forever on land. So what is she going to do?" His eyes lit with understanding.

"Unless she's going to do something to the environment to make the city more habitable. She said, 'I shall bend the heavens to save my race.'" He moved his hands from the girls mouths and placed them on top of their heads instead, forcing them to nod as if in understanding. "Bend the heavens... Bend... the heavens... She's going to sink Venice." the Doctor said suddenly as he understood a large portion of the plan.

"She's…She's going to sink Venice?" Guido said in outrage.

"And repopulate it with the girls she's transformed." He replied.

"Repopulate?" Amelia questioned.

"Have more babies." Rani supplied, thinking about what she'd heard.

"You can't repopulate with just girls." Amelia said, clearly not thinking much of Signora Calvierri's plans. "You need daddies too! And then they couldn't anyway, cause you can't call the stork cause storks eat fish. Me an' Rory looked it up once in an animal magazine." She explained.

"She's got dads." Rani said as it finally occurred to her what she'd heard.

**"**Where?" the Doctor asked curiously. He'd address Amelia's statement later. Or more likely make Rory or Tish do it…Maybe Rani could? There was always the old standby of 'babies come from genetic transfers placed into looms that grow babies till they're ready to be taken home'.

"In the canal. She said to me, 'There are 10,000 husbands waiting in the water.'" Rani clarified.

**"**Only the male offspring survived the journey here. She's got 10,000 children swimming in the canals, waiting for Mum to make them some compatible girlfriends." He made a face, clearly a bit grossed out.

Amelia and Rani apparently agreed, as both made the same face. "Ew. I mean, I've been around a bit, but, really, that's... that's... Ew."

A loud clattering noise from above interrupted them, it sounded like people stomping around.**  
><strong>

"The people upstairs are very noisy." the Doctor said weakly, a small amount of hope in his voice.

"There aren't any people upstairs." Guido replied, eying the ceiling.

"I knew you were going to say that. Did anyone else know he was going to say that?" he asked, Rani nodded slightly, already watching the windows and doors, just in case.

Wood creaked all around them, like someone was trying to sneak across the floors, but no one was to be found. Amelia looked at the ceiling cautiously, easing closer to the Doctor. "Is it the vampires?" she asked quietly, reaching for the doctor's hand.

"Like I said, they're not vampires. Fish from space." He corrected her, but squeezed her hand comfortingly.

A loud thump and breaking glass caused them to all jump and look around. The window had been broken open and girls entered both through the stairs and from the window. The Doctor waved the Ultraviolet light on them to keep them back while Guido made the sign of the cross across his torso and head.

"Aren't we on the second floor?" Rani pointed out as they looked at the girls who seemed to be standing outside the window.

The Doctor waved the light to keep them back and reached for the sonic. Holding it on them he pressed the button, revealing what they had now become: 'fish people'.

"What's happened to them?" Guido asked, hoping that hadn't happened to his little girl.

"There's nothing left of them. They've been fully converted. Blimey, fish from space have never been so... buxom." He found his eyes wandering, but a smack on the arm from Rani brought him back. "OK...Move. Come on."

He gently prodded the girls ahead of him, grabbing the lamp to light the way.

"Give me the lamp." Guido said, taking it from the Doctor and shining it at the girls to keep them away.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN:<strong> **Goodnews, there's more time for me to write - _She quit. THREE DAYS and she quit. Technically two days and one day of training. _Yeah ,yeah, bite me. That job friggen sucked, I'm never eating takeaway again. _I go back to work on monday, however we're actually ahead for the first time in months. But no chance at winning an early chapter this week. Enjoy anyway! _Yup, hope you love it. I'm quite pleased with Rani being around; I think he's working at taking all Sarah's kids. Two down, two to go...*evil laugh* _Dramatic..._]**


	54. Guido, Storms and Goodbye Rosanna

The door slammed open and Amelia ran out with Rani, scattering the chickens in the yard who were squawking with outrage. The Doctor followed them "Go, go, go, guys! Keep moving, go, go go!" the Doctor urged, waving them onwards worried about something happening to the girls.

"Stay away from the door, Doctor." Guido called as he slammed it shut, locking it to keep them out.

The Doctor pounded on the door, finding once again there was nothing he could do to get in. "No, Guido! What are you doing?" He questioned worriedly as he took stock of the situation, hearing the deep gasps from the girls as they breathed.

Guido used the light on the girls to keep them away from him as he moved. "I'm not leaving you! What are you doing!" He heard the Doctor yell from outside. He ignored the Doctor, leading the girls through the home behind him like he would a wild animal or a fish. This time, he was the bait. "Come on. That's it... Come on." He cajoled.

Guido led them into the main room where everyone had been hiding out while planning. He picked up a candle in his spare hand, leading them backwards."Come on. Come on. Come on!" He said angrily leading them further and further, his heart breaking and relief flooding him with each step.

He couldn't do anything like the Doctor could. He wasn't as smart, nor was he as able when it came to plans. But he had to do something. Something had to be done, they couldn't get away with what they were doing. They couldn't get away with hurting his Isabella. He wasn't going to…they killed her. It was his fault, he'd taken her there hoping to help her future but instead…He was going to brave, like he'd told her. "We are Venetians!" he screamed, touching the candle to a hole in one of the barrels.

* * *

><p><span>-<span>Outside-

* * *

><p>The Doctor sensed what was about to happen a moment before he ran from the house quickly, diving for cover and hauling the girls down with him and covering them as the house exploded behind them.<p>

He turned and looked, keeping them protected and set his jaw as he watched the house be consumed in flames. "You didn't have to…" he whispered. "I could have found a way."

* * *

><p>Signora Calvierri stormed across the main room towards her thrown and quickly threw open a device that was attached to the armrest. "Right, to begin, let's fill the sky with fire." She didn't smile this time, but looked determined as she activated the device.<p>

Smoke and vapor poured out from the bell tower of the school. It quickly became so thick that it blocked out the sky. Lightening streaks began flashing across the sky as the storm began. The rain pouring downwards in sheets."Yes!" Signora Calvierri screamed, quite elated as she watched from her balcony. Her plan was beginning, the world was changing and soon her sons would all be able to thrive.

Down below the people scurried around, some screaming and sure it was the end of the world, some just looked extremely worried at the sky. "In sight of the Lord, protect and keep us!" one man screamed in terror as he ran.

* * *

><p><strong>-<strong>Doctor-

* * *

><p>"Rosanna's initiating the final phase." the Doctor said, looking away from the ruble and towards the people running around on the street.<strong><br>**

"We need to stop her. Come on!" Amelia pleaded, tugging at his hand.

"No, no. Get back to the TARDIS." He ordered her. "Both of you." He turned to look at Rani, the situation was getting out of hand.**  
><strong>

"You can't stop her on your own." Rani told him. It wasn't an insult; it wasn't an accusation but just a simple stated fact.

"We don't discuss this! I tell you to do something and you do it." the Doctor pointed at them, "That's how it works." He almost yelled, hoping the stubborn girls would listen.

"You need us." Rani told him seriously, "Or at least a second pair of hands." She contended logically.

The Doctor let out a noise of frustration and tugged at his hair, pacing in circles. "Fine. But stay close and do as I say. If I say run you run, no questioning it." He sighed, Rani was a mini Sarah Jane, just as stubborn, Amelia wasn't far behind.

"Okay." Both girls nodded.

The Screaming got louder and he ran to find why, followed close by Amelia and Rani.

* * *

><p>Francesco opened the gates to the school and looked at the sky. A smirk tugged at his lips, the plan was working.<em><br>_

"Oh, my God! What is going on?" Rani said, watching the sky as the dark clouds began to swirl and roll as if a hundred tornados were about to hit simultaneously.

Francesco glared across the canal at them, obviously recognizing them. He removed his hat and cape preparing for something, but they didn't notice them.

"It looks like the sky is boiling." Amelia said in fear moving closer to Rani.

As they left, following the Doctor, Francesco dove into the canal.

* * *

><p>The Doctor looked at the girls before entering the school, "Wait here." He stated firmly, hoping they would listen and at least stay a little safe.<p>

They looked like they wanted to protest, but remembered the promise. "Fine." They said in unison both gazing up in fear at the rolling, boiling sky.

He entered the throne room and didn't stop to look around. He walked directly to the throne and examined it carefully. Throwing open the back panel he revealed a mess of circuitry that was obviously alien. He'd have gushed over the brilliance of it, but he was in a hurry so he took out the sonic to scan it.

"You're too late." Signora Calvierri said, from her unnoticed position by the windows. He didn't jump or act startled, just kept watching the wires. "Such determination... just to save one city. Hard to believe it's the same man that let an entire race turn to cinders and ash. Now you can watch as my people take their new kingdom." She continued smiling at her win as she waited for the birth of her children.

"The girls have gone, Rosanna." He replied gently but firmly.

"You're lying." She accused, afraid and shocked.

"Shouldn't I be dead? Hmm?" He stopped the taunts as she walked away and changed tactics. "Rosanna, please, help me. There are 200,000 people in this city." He pleaded, voice soft.

"So save them." She suggested without emotion, not even turning to look at him as she left.

He looked over the throne away and rubbed at his face in frustration; he couldn't stop it, not from here.

* * *

><p>Rani caught sight of Francesco who approached them with malicious intent. He was soaking wet, whether from the storm or some other reason she wasn't sure.<p>

"Amelia, Run!" Rani yelled to her, stepping in front of the little girl. She pushed her towards where the Doctor had gone in and tried to distract Francesco.

"You couldn't get me the first time when I was all tied up, what makes you think you could get me when I'm free? You're as stupid as your mum." Rani taunted, seeing Amelia run out of sight and hoping she'd be safe._  
><em>

Francesco turned from following Amelia and looked at Rani in rage and shock. "Did you just say something about Mummy?" he whined looking at the teen hungrily, swiping at her with is sword.

Rani ducked from the swipe of a sword Francesco pulled and ran, trying to lead him away from the school so the Doctor could save the world and Amelia would be safe.

As she walked backwards, trying to dodge his attacks she tripped, falling backwards and whacking her head on the ground. He let loose a snarl and changed forms, leaping to land over top of Rani.

"Hey! Mummy's boy!" Amelia yelled at him to catch his attention. She was relatively certain that was an insult. One of the big boys in Leadworth called Rory one and it had made him mad. "Over here!" Both Rani and Francisco looked over at her, fear in Rani's eyes, hatred in Fransisco's. Before either could react further Amy pointed the sonic at him. She wasn't sure what all was locked, but she aimed for bright and nearly blinded herself with the bright yellow beam that shot out of the sonic, impacting Francesco mid torso, causing him to explode into black dust and Amelia stuck the sonic into her pocket.

"Oh…oh, ew." Rani wiped dust off of herself and climbed to her feet. She lightly touched the back of her head to check and was quite relieved it didn't come back with any blood.

"That was lucky." Amelia admitted, "I didn't know it could do that." She said innocently, looking at the pink sonic in her hands.**  
><strong>

"I thought I told you to run." Rani halfheartedly scolded her, worried about what had happened but glad Amy was ok.

"You needed my help." Amelia said, grabbing her hand, **"**Now we go help the Doctor." She stated firmly grabbing Rani's hand.

"Get out!" the Doctor yelled at the duo when they entered. "I need to stabilize the room." He was frantically looking over the throne again. He'd gone to check outside and seen how bad it was getting. He'd also seen Carlo running away with items he was stealing in a bag.

"We're not leaving you." Amelia said stubbornly.

"Right," the Doctor walked towards them, "So even though I told you to run, and you ignored it, and told you to wait outside, which you ignored, it's still 'we're not leaving you?" he asked, a bit of pride in his voice disguising the fear.

"You wouldn't leave us." Amelia said, quite simply.

"Ri—" the Doctor started just as the ground shook and threw them all off of their feet.**  
><strong>

**"**What was that?" Amelia asked cautiously, moving closer to the Doctor.

"Nothing. Bit of an earthquake." the Doctor said, standing and brushing any dirt off of his trousers.

"An Earthquake?" Rani asked standing up.

"Manipulate the elements, it can trigger earthquakes. But don't worry about them." He told them.

"No?" Amelia asked.

"No. Worry about the tidal waves caused by the earthquake." He ignored the shocked looks in favor of returning to the throne. "Right, Rosanna's throne is the control hub but she's locked the program, so tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick, anything." He checked over the wires making absolutely certain he could NOT fix it. "We need it to shut down and re-route control to the secondary hub, which I'm guessing will also be the generator." He said a smile forming as the plan formed in his head.

"Clyde electronic maintenance." Rani nodded, "Check." She said smirking.

* * *

><p>Leaving the wires in the capable hands of the girls, absolutely certain they knew just how to destroy something electric and ran to get closer to the tolling bells. The closer he got the louder the bells rung till soon he had his hands clasped over his ears.<p>

Amelia and Rani tore at the wires in the throne, creating sparks and electrical noises as the wires disconnected. As they worked they hoped the Doctor knew what he was doing.

He jumped up and grabbed the clapper to one of the bells, holding it until the bell stopped. "Shut up! Shut up!" He let go and rubbed his ears, "That's better." He said glaring at the bell.

The Doctor tugged on one of the cables, but found it didn't budge. He gave up and climbed up onto the rail and held onto the column to steady himself when he slipped. Once he regained his balance he began the slippery climb.

* * *

><p>Amelia ran into the courtyard with Rani. All the wires were pulled out so there was no way any wires could be holding power which meant all power was rerouted to the secondary source, like the Doctor asked.<p>

"Look, there he is!" Rani yelled, pointing to the top of the tower where the Doctor climbed with the cable.

He climbed steadily, the only reason he didn't fall was the tight grip he kept on the cable. It was slow going but soon he'd reached the top of the sphere.  
><em><br>_He opened the sphere to reveal what was inside. The secondary power source creating the storm was complex, made up of dozens of gears and wires. He looked it over trying to figure out the complex pattern he needed to do to stop the device. He stopped and stared.

"No…" he trailed off looking at the device again as he saw what would work.

It couldn't be that simple, could it? He reached out and with a simple flick of a switch the rain stopped, the clouds cleared and the birds began to sing shut the sphere again and looked down at the ground where both girls were laughing and hugging each other in relief. "I've got to say it was more complex than that." He said as he waved. "Otherwise I lose some heroic credit." He said to himself.

* * *

><p>Signora Calvierri walked up the stones to the water's edge. Straight to the area they'd pushed that girl in from…Isabella. That's what the Doctor had called her. The traitor that sent the Doctor with his wrath onto them.<p>

She tried to turn off the perception filter, but it didn't work. As she walked to the edge she pulled off her gloves and shakily stripped down to her chemise. The water began to bubble as she stepped onto the planks. It was almost poetic; she was giving her life for her sons.

"Rosanna!" she heard the Doctor yell from behind her as she stared at the water. She could tell he was worried, and out of breath, but she didn't really care. Not looking at him she started speaking softly.

"One city to save an entire species." Tears clouded her eyes and grief her voice as she spoke. "Was that so much to ask?" she asked mourning the loss of her culture.

The Doctor crept slowly closer to the plank, keeping his pace steady. "I told you, you can't go back and change time. You mourn but you live. I know, Rosanna, I did it." He implored her to step back.

Signora Calvierri turned her head to look at him and he could feel his hearts breaking at the look in her eyes and her face. "Tell me, Doctor…can your conscience carry the weight of another dead race? Remember us. Dream of us." She beseeched him, driving guilt and grief home. She turned back to the water and stepped off the planks, falling in gracefully.

"No…NO!" he screamed, running forward to stop her but missing by inches as he slid to a stop on the plank. "No…Rosanna." His voice held sorrow and regret. One city for a species…It could have been done, in the right time period…the right place…Maybe you could bring a species back with the right place…you could change a compatible species into your own species; sometimes he even found himself thinking of people who …He shook his head to rid his mind of those thoughts. He wasn't going down that path. No way would he walk the path of darkness again. He was not the Time Lord Victorious, he wasn't the Dream Lord…He was just the Doctor; the man who could make people better. He got to his feet shakily and took a deep breath. "Goodbye, Rosanna." He said softly looking at the water.

* * *

><p>In the market everyone was cleaning up after the storm. Hundreds of theories were being passed around. A clergyman stood in the middle of it all, preaching about salvation and God's love.<p>

"Now then, next stop…I know a great little Ice cream shop in the tornado nebula." He said, trying to act more gleeful then he felt.

"Next stop, home." Rani replied, looking at him seriously.

He eyed her appearance and hit some realizations. He'd picked her up in the afternoon and they'd spent about 24 hours here this time around…She's slept briefly with Amelia for an hour or two…she also had a mark on the back of her head from falling; her clothes were still quite wet from the storm and he could barely see a mark on her neck from the bite. The Doctor felt quite guilty for a moment but that was quickly chased away by fear…Sarah Jane was going to regenerate him.

"You sure? We could always stop by a spa planet." He tried to bribe her. "Or just hang out in the vortex playing hungry-hungry hippos! I also have 'don't break the ice'!" his voice a mix of begging and whining.

"Home." Rani repeated, this time smiling at him.

He rolled his eyes in mock hurt as Amelia opened the TARDIS and entered to the sounds of an obviously ecstatic Uval who was happy to see his owners.

He went to enter too but stopped dead in his tracks. He grabbed Rani's shirt sleeve, "Rani, listen to that." He said noticing something.

Rani paused, head out of the door trying to find what he wanted her to hear. "All I can hear is…silence." She said looking up at him.

He nodded and released her arm, letting her go inside.

The Doctor's eyes roamed over the entire area, fruitlessly searching for what caused the silence.

_'There were cracks. Through some we saw silence and the end of all things. ' Rosanna's voice echoed through his head as h_e walked into the TARDIS and with a hesitant look outside he slammed the door defiantly.

* * *

><p>Sarah Jane paced back and forth in her attic. The boys sat on the couch by Mr. Smith, both trying to get through to Rani's mobile at the same time, as they had been for ages now. Jack was pacing as well, but he'd been calling around to people that he said he couldn't 'out', whatever that meant.<p>

Rani had been gone for hours. It was three in the morning; the Doctor had taken her at three in the afternoon. This was not going be ignored, he wasn't just going to get away with it this time. Rani wasn't even supposed to leave the Earth, she'd been grounded by the Judoon! Not that that would stop him…

Mr. Smith couldn't locate Rani's phone at all, so that meant she wasn't in the universe…or, more realistically, she wasn't in this time period.  
>He'd taken Rani not just across space, but through time and when she had gotten through to his phone it had NOT reassured her of the safety of her friend.<p>

Jack growled in frustration and looked at his phone in disbelief. "That bitch." He growled.

"What?" Sarah Jane asked quickly.

"She flipped me off…with a text!" Jack sounded outraged as he dialed the mobile again. "VERY MATURE! Yes…Yes I know damn well what time it is but he's taken a teenager-don't you give me that tone. I am not above telling your mother-What do you mean she knows!" The conversation would have been funny for Sarah Jane if she hadn't been so worried.

Ignoring Jack's ranting she focused on trying to call the Doctor again. She'd known him for over half her life, through eight regenerations – having met all but three to date – and she loved him deeply, but trusting him with her kids was another thing all together.

When he'd taken Luke she hadn't even known until the next morning, and that horrified her to no end.

If anything had happened she wouldn't have been able to save him. As it was Luke had not been able to sleep well for weeks afterwards and still had some issues with statues. Though, for that matter even Martha would look twice at any statue of an angel.

Jack clicked his phone off and rubbed a hand through his hair before shoving it in his pocket. "She's calling him now so I'll shut up and stop annoying her." He said his voice a mix of worry and success that he'd managed to convince the person on the other end of the line of something.

"Are you going to ever tell me who this companion is?" Sarah Jane asked, somewhat curious despite the situation.

"Sorry, sworn to secrecy." Jack shrugged and crossed the room. He wrapped an arm around her companionably, "So much for a quiet weekend with no big alien issues." He said apologetically as he hugged her.

"That's a great way to describe him; a big alien issue." Sarah Jane said worry echoing in every word.

"Mum!" Luke yelled excitedly, "It went through!" he said as he ran across the attic, a cell phone gripped in his hand.

"What?" Sarah Jane and Jack said in unison staring at Luke.

"It rang! I mean, it didn't get answered but it rang!" Luke held the phone up.

"Mobile located." Mr. Smith said calmly, a blinking light on his screen to match his words. "Location. – "

Mr. Smith's words were cut off by the wheezing noise of the TARDIS landing.

"We're going to get Rani, and THEN kill him." Sarah Jane said sensibly as Clyde jolted to his feet.

"Yes, there is a proper order about this." Jack nodded as if it made perfect sense.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN : <em>And the fun begins! <em>Thank you all readers and reviews for sticking with us! Raising Amelia's one year anniversary is the 24th! I'm shocked. _I'm not, we're good!_ ****Y****up and in honour of this we're putting forth an opportunity to get more story, so to speak - _We're gonna do a one-shot side story - posted separate from this story - _**_**about what YOU want. **_**Within reason. There's a poll on our profile page for what you want to see. Most votes win...unless a PM or review under 'other' makes us go "OH WE HAVE GOT TO WRITE THIS!" _Basically? Read, review, vote and more good times to come! Next week an extra long chapter and on the 24th the one-shot side. Oooh, we're spoiling them. _Are not.]**


	55. Returns, Thesauruses and Bedtimes

"Now, give me a few minutes to change." the Doctor told Rani quickly, "I'm not going to die in wet braces." He said his eyes darting between her and the door.

"I'm wet too." Amelia made a face and tugged at her hoodie. It made a squelching noise as it pulled away from her t-shirt and skin.

"Yeah…have you got a dryer?" Rani questioned. Her own clothes were soaking wet from the rain. "Or a spare outfit?" she asked looking around as if expecting one to appear.

"Um…Laundry room is…" the Doctor twirled in a circle. "I have no idea…I've never searched for it myself, generally companions do that…or we go to their homes. Just steal something from the wardrobe." He dashed off, bouncing as he went and skidding on the floors.

"I'll show you Luke's room, if you want." Amelia offered, tugging Rani along by her hand. "He's got clothes and I have stuff for you to take him maybe if you can." She said leading the older teen down the hallways, ignoring various signs pointing in random directions and telling them to go a certain way.

Rani followed easily down the hallways behind Amelia, almost dizzy by the path. "How do you remember the way to your rooms?" She asked amazed at the twisting hallways and almost random path they were taking.

"Oh, My room is generally the first right, second left and then the first right again. Or wherever the door appears. Generally she brings it close to me." Amelia offered, clearly proud of that. "Luke's room was right across from mine but now Tish's is so Luke's room is now back to being three rights, two lefts and a set of stairs away; right next to his mums." She said skipping down the hall still pulling Rani.

"He still has Sarah Jane's room?" Rani asked as she looked around. She caught glimpses now and then of random things she couldn't quite identify even as Yumo pranced around them barking off into random rooms and running down the hall only to run back and get them.

"He has everyone's rooms." Amelia corrected with idolization in her voice. "Just in case." She said simply seeing their destination approach.

"He's quite prepared then." Rani said looking at the hundreds of doors in the hallway they were in. until Amy stopped at one and most of the other doors disappeared.

"Here," Amelia pushed a door open and showed her what was obviously Luke's room.

The bed was unmade, but had blue sheets with various bugs printed on it and a large green comforter; the floor had various items of clothing strewn across it and the dresser had several different items thrown on it.

"You can change in here. The drawers always have what you need." Amelia told her before ducking out once again.

Rani laughed looking around, "Oh, Luke, you never change…Now, what do I do with wet clothes?" she asked herself giggling.

Warm air swirled around her as if answering and made her jump slightly. "Okay…his spaceship really does respond like Sarah Jane said." Rani smiled to herself as warm air surrounded her again. "Neat?" she said digging dug through the drawers and produced a pair of jeans that looked like they'd fit her and a pink top with white stripes. To hide the colours she grabbed a hoodie that nearly screamed 'Luke', it had a large red Lego brick printed in the middle of it above the pockets, and tugged it on. When she looked back to find her wet clothes they were gone.

"Thief." Rani said to no one. "That's my good uniform; my parent's will be rather annoyed if I don't bring it back." She sighed, feeling a warm breeze again.

She paused at the dresser and looked in surprise at some of the things on it. In the middle of the dresser was a small clay Dalek sitting on top of a poster that held one with a caption of 'To Victory'. She picked them up and took them with her to find Amelia's room.

* * *

><p>-The Doctor-<p>

* * *

><p>The Doctor changed quickly, tossing his clothing to the floor, knowing the TARDIS would take care of them for him. After a few moments of debate he chose the red braces this time. Sarah Jane liked red, well she liked green better, but Yumo had hid his lime green braces. He tugged them up over his shirt and took a few moments to straighten everything in his mirror .<p>

As he was making faces into the mirror his phone rang in Tish's ringtone.  
>"Hello, Jones! I've got everything under control." the Doctor said happily into the phone. "We're good! I've even got milk." He said pride in his voice.<p>

"_I heard."_ She was definitely amused and tired.

"Why're you calling? Why do you sound tired?" he asked curiously, holding the phone with one hand so he could fix his hair.

_"It's three in the morning, I am tired. I'm still at the spa but I can't get any rest because Jack keeps calling." _Tish's voice sounded annoyed, as it echoed out of the phone._  
><em>

"Why?" The Doctor asked curiously, worried for a moment that Jack was trying to dance with his companion.

_"Oh, something about you kidnapping a teenaged girl and disappearing for several hours." _Tish said amusement creeping into her voice around the irritation._  
><em>

The Doctor winced, "I didn't kidnap, I borrowed her because I needed a teenaged girl to get me into a vampire school so I could face down the alien fish." He defended.

_"…Okay, I'll want an explanation for that on Sunday, but for now I'll settle for you taking Sarah Jane's friend home so I can get some sleep." _Tish griped halfheartedly._  
><em>

He made a face but nodded, despite the fact she couldn't see him. "Fine…We were heading that way anyway. But just so you know you are facilitating my death." He whined grumbling into the phone.

_"You'll get better. Give my love to Amelia and I'll see you Sunday. Don't forget we've got to get Rory too." _Tish told him. He heard a noise that sounded like a glass door opening from her end and her speaking quietly to someone. _"Iain? My sister would like it noted that it's impolite to call your employee's at 3am on a Saturday because you don't know how to deal with a child coughing." _She said and the Doctor could hear the grin in her voice._  
><em>  
>He laughed and rolled his eyes, "Oh, good ol' Doctor Jones. Besides, I do know how to deal with a child coughing, thanks. Just needs a spray of the right compound." He said simply, playing along.<p>

Tish laughed as well, _"Night, Iain." She said quietly.  
><em>

"Night, Jones." He said gently clicking the phone shut and tucked it into his pocket.

Sarah Jane wouldn't kill him. Not really. Sure, he'd probably get hit repeatedly and might get a ringing in his ears from the yelling but she wouldn't actually kill him; she loved him too much.

It might be a mark of his love for his companions too that he actually let them hit him and pretended it hurt.

The Doctor shrugged on his jacket and straightened the collar. He changed the now damp watch he had with the shiny gold one he'd found in the wardrobe.

It was time to find the girls and go face the consequences.

* * *

><p>-Girls-<p>

* * *

><p>Amelia picked up one of the photos she'd taken from the dish on her dresser. Whenever she took a photo it printed out right away from this weird metal thing on her dresser and slid into this box like thing. It was full of photos of Yumo, the Doctor, herself and Venice. She couldn't find a single photo of Francesco though. If he didn't show up in mirror's he wouldn't show up in photos though, would he?<p>

She'd changed from her wet clothes into new ones, this time she'd gotten rid of the running shoes and since she was tired had gone for simple. Dressing in pink and black ballet flats, soft grey cotton trousers and a white t-shirt tucked underneath a large pink sweater that went around her waist. She'd left her hair down because she couldn't figure out how to put it up like Tish did. Yumo was curled up on her bed with what looked like the Doctor's green braces and his teddy bear just watching her.

"Knock-Knock." Rani called, looking inside. "About time I found you. Last three rooms looked like they were supposed to be boot cupboards." She said in wonder at the TARDIS.

Amelia smiled, "Never follow the signs: they lie. Here." She handed her a photo of Venice, of the market in particular. "So you can remember it." Amy said smiling.

* * *

><p>Once in the Console room the Doctor lounged back against the railing. "Okay you two, rules." He said nervously.<p>

"Rules? I already agreed not to tattle on you." Rani clearly looked exhausted and it was starting to make him feel a little bad.

"Different rules. If at all possible avoid telling them you had your blood sucked by an alien fish person." He said seriously. "Two, Yumo stays out of sight and three…Amelia stays out of sight too." He continued half ignoring her, and hoping both girls would agree.

Amelia looked petulant, "What?" She asked.

"Sorry, but if she sees you I really am dead." the Doctor told Amelia seriously. "Besides, according to the rules set forth by your…nanny," he chose his words carefully to avoid telling Rani who was traveling with them. "It's bedtime. So go, brush your teeth and lie down. Take Yumo with you and I'll be in to tell you goodnight when Rani's settled." He said giving her an awkward hug and sending her to bed.

"Can I have a story?" Amelia didn't bother to protest this time because she was actually tired.

"Yes." He said relieved that she was agreeing.

"A cool story with aliens?" She whined.

"I'll even tell a story about Mickey if you want." He agreed.

"Bye, Rani." Amelia said, hugging the girl. She moved and hugged the Doctor, "Night." She said softly.

"Night." He repeated, kissing the top of her head and watching her walk off with Yumo. He turned to Rani who was hiding a smile. "I'm not domestic. Don't even think it." He growled his frown not quite serious.

"I was really thinking why she'd hurt you. I mean, it'll just be five minutes." Rani said, looking worriedly at the Doctor.

The Doctor started fiddling with the controls to send them to Sarah Jane's attic. "Er, no…According to Tish I missed by at least twelve hours…sorry." He said sheepishly.

Rani didn't have time to protest as the TARDIS shook and sent both shaking as it landed.

"I hope they've got tea on." Rani said wearily, walking down the steps and opening the door.

The Doctor jittered nervously in place but followed Rani. He couldn't take the cowards way out, he had to face up… "Hello, Sarah Jane!" He said happily trying to hide his nerves.

Even with the door shut the resounding crack echoed through the console room.

* * *

><p>"Rani, are you okay?" Sarah Jane asked, arms on Rani's shoulders as she checked the girl over.<p>

"I'm fine, just really tired." Rani replied, accepting the hug from her worried friend.

She was quickly caught up in hugs from both boys as well.

"I told you she'd be fine." the Doctor complained from the floor. He was sitting where he'd dramatically fallen with a hand on his face clutching the red mark he was pretty sure would leave a bruise in the shape of her hand.

Sarah Jane rounded on him. "And YOU!" she said angrily.

He climbed quickly to his feet. "She's back! In one piece, just like I promised." He said backing away slowly.

Sarah Jane looked like she wanted to hit him again, but stopped to look back at the children. She grabbed him by his braces and hauled him towards the doorway.

"Where are we going?" he asked worriedly, but didn't resist her.

"To chat. Mr. Smith, scan Rani. I'll be right back." She shoved him out the door and slammed it behind them.

Rani pulled away from the boys hugs to stand in front of the computer, arms out. "Scan me, then." She said wearily.

"Wait, how'd your computer get medical skills?" Jack demanded eagerly. "That shouldn't be around yet! I mean, Torchwood has it but we're special." He asked incredulously.

"I accidentally stole a piece of medical technology from the 51st century." Luke admitted with a blush, "I didn't mean to." He said nervously.

"You didn't steal it." Clyde told him as if they'd had this argument before. "You stuck it in your pocket like you were told and didn't have time to return it before the medic left." He said as if he had this conversation many times before.

"Still…" Luke trailed off.

"So your mum wired it to the computer?" Jack sounded rather impressed.

"Yes. She's good with computers. Or at least with Mr. Smith." Luke nodded.

"She's a science geek." Clyde grinned, "But an impressive one."

Mr. Smith emitted a light that traveled up and down Rani's body as a scan of her appeared on the screen. "My scans show you are anemic, extremely dehydrated, severely exhausted and have a slightly elevated temperature." Mr Smith said in his monotone voice.

Rani rolled her eyes as the boys made outraged noises and Jack whistled as if impressed. "I'm also quite hungry. What's your point?" she asked flippantly, her adventure starting to catch up with her.

"How long were you gone?" Luke demanded.

"Um…at least twenty four hours." She said simply

"Did you sleep or eat at all?" they asked

"Not really… I got about two hours sleep at Guido's before I went to the school. I got about an hour there but there wasn't really time to eat." Rani said yawning.

"Guido? School?" Jack's eyes went wide, "I've got to hear this story."

"It was a school run by vampires." Rani laughed, it was becoming funnier the more tired she got.

They all were trying hard to ignore the loud crashing noises and yelling from downstairs.

"What does she need, Mr. Smith?" Luke asked.

Mr. Smith hummed as he processed. "Hydration and rest." He stated.

"Figured." Rani nodded and swayed on her feet, prompting the boys to surge forward to catch her.

"I'm fine!" she declared, catching herself. "I'm just going to go sit down where it's nice and soft for a few minutes." She said yawning.

Luke helped her over to the couch near Mr. Smith and got her settled. "I'll get you some tea, hold on." He didn't notice Rani starting to doze as soon as she sat down.

* * *

><p>The Doctor protested as Sarah Jane hauled him down the stairs by his braces. "Oh, Come on, she's fine! Perfectly healthy…okay, mostly healthy. Minus some blood but all the same she's alive!" He insisted.<p>

Sarah Jane's grip tightened as she dragged him across the hall, threw open a door and shoved him in.

"Hey, I know this room!" He grinned and turned to face her, "I -"

WHACK!

Her hand connected with his face and sent him stumbling backwards and landing with a thump on the edge of her bed. He sat up on it and rubbed his face. "Hey,shouldn't there be rules fir-" he trailed off when he finally observed all the anger in her face…Okay, now really wasn't the time for jokes.

* * *

><p>When Sarah Jane finally calmed down enough to listen to him he had 'Thesaurus' bruised into his forehead thanks to a fantastic throw that both dazed AND impressed him. The room was a bit torn up with things strewn where they'd fallen when she'd thrown them and he'd ducked. A lamp was broke in half, he was quite disheveled and the way she was holding her right hand close told him she'd probably hurt herself when she'd hit him one of the times.<p>

Explaining was not as easy as most would think, not when you had to tell the tales he generally lived.

"So you came to find me but you really needed Rani." She asked her anger fading now.

"Yes." He nodded, hoping to keep her calm. "But I was going to take you too because you're fantastic and would be able to monitor the situation!" He insisted, hoping to appease her.

"Because for once you don't have a young female companion you can trick into dangerous situations." Sarah Jane asked dangerously quiet.

"I do! She's on vacation." He looked sulky but she dismissed the comment.

"In the process you put Rani inside a school full of alien FISH who tried to turn her into a fish person by replacing her blood with theirs like a vampire?" Sarah Jane's voice gained an icy edge.

The Doctor nodded. "She's fine though. Nothing sleep, tea and food won't fix. I promise." He made a crossing motion over both sides of his chest.

She couldn't help the small smile that tugged at her lips. He really never did change, did he? Of course she probably would have resisted at first when he'd asked – had she been there – but would have gone along with it eventually as long as Rani was safe and completely fine.

"Is anyone ever going to tell me who you've taken this time?" Sarah Jane asked him, finally smiling.

"She made me swear not to." the Doctor sighed, "I think she's embarrassed."

Sarah Jane finally laughed, letting go of the rage and fear that had been dueling inside her for hours.

* * *

><p>"Then the Vampires were all 'let's turn you' and she bit me!" Rani protested quite clearly still outraged by this. She was working on her third cup of tea and was still feeling thirsty. Luke had already made a second pot and Clyde had put together some sandwiches for them, focusing on getting her to eat.<p>

"You got your blood sucked by a vampire?" Clyde demanded, "Cool!" he continued smiling.

"Disgusting." Rani disagreed, "God it was so creepy feeling." She shivered. "Then her son was all 'can I?' then the Doctor came flying to the rescue armed with a torch and bravado." She would have continued if not for the Doctor interrupting.

"I'm always full of bravado." He proclaimed as he entered the attic with Sarah Jane. The Doctor looked like he'd just gone three rounds with Rosanna again. His bowtie was untied, his shirt mussed, his hair was standing more up on end than usual, several bruises and cuts marked him and…

"Does your forehead say 'Thesaurus'." Clyde asked him curiously.

"Yes," Sarah Jane said curtly, crossing the attic to examine Rani. "And if he keeps whining about that the back of his head is going to say 'Oxford'." He smiled guiltily and rubbed at his head as Sarah Jane addressed Rani. "What'd Mr. Smith say?" she asked the boys.

"Dehydrated, Anemic, Severely exhausted, slight temperature but we're working on some of those." Rani replied, honestly hoping she wasn't in trouble too. "Erm, what do mum and dad think I'm up to?" she asked nervously.

"All night Sci-Fi movie fest because Luke's got new DVD's." Sarah Jane told her easily. "Your parents said something about dinner out and quiet time. Frankly I didn't feel the need to ask more." She said.

Rani made a face. "Thanks."

"Now, then...What on Earth made you get into a spaceship with a strange – and I do mean the second definition of that – alien on a mission to put you in a school filled with Alien fish?" She demanded of the teen.

"I thought you said they were vampires?" Luke asked.

"Alien Vampire Fish." Rani said, rubbing her teacup and trying to think of a way to speak without talking about Amelia. "He needed help, you weren't here and he couldn't break in with a sonic and a Blue dog."

"Blue…Right, you asked about that." Sarah Jane turned to look at the Doctor. "When did you pick up a dog? I thought after Canine you put in a rule about dogs on the TARDIS." Sarah Jane turned to the doctor.

"K-9 isn't allowed on the TARDIS?" Jack asked eagerly.

"Not K-9, Canine." Sarah Jane brushed him off. "Long story."

"What's he doing here?" the Doctor asked, pointedly ignoring her question in favor of what he found to be a more pressing question. "He's supposed to be in Cardiff and away from you." The Doctor griped staring at Jack.

"I'm insulted!" Jack complained, mimicking indignation around a smile. "Can't two friends get together for lunch when they're in town?" He grumbled.

"No." the Doctor replied. "Not when one is you." The Doctor sniped.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Martha needed a ride, I volunteered. I haven't flaked on Torchwood or anything, I'm just taking a break from the currently annoyed Medic and the very pregnant agent with a gun and her extremely annoying husband who wants her off the streets." Jack said nodding towards the Doctor.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Torchwood…" he started about to go on a rant.

"What about 'Torchwood'?" Jack started the 'argument' that was still ongoing.

"Enough." Sarah Jane glared at both boys.

When they'd finally let him leave he'd run quite gratefully. Slamming the TARDIS doors and leaving ONLY once he'd gained his hug goodbye. He never left without a hug, it just didn't work that way.

When Rani started to fall asleep on the couch Sarah Jane went downstairs to locate something that would be more comfortable for her than her borrowed clothing.

She stopped mid hallway though, leaning up against the wall and shaking slightly as she recalled the day's events.

"Sarah Jane?" Jack asked as he walked down the stairs to find her. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Fine. Just worried. That's all." Sarah Jane replied, obviously a bit shaken.

Jack hugged Sarah Jane comfortingly, "I'm sure she'll be fine. She just needs sleep and hydration, you heard him and Mr Smith."

"I know." She sighed, hugging him back. "I just...If I'd been here he wouldn't have needed her."

"Hey, don't think that way." Jack said. "If you'd have been here he would have taken both of you."

Sarah Jane laughed lightly and pulled away from Jack. "Yes well, he did say that but...I'm sure I would have found a way to keep her out of danger, to keep her safe."

"You still will." Jack smiled and squeezed her hand in affection. "Now, if you get her into night gear I'll move her."

"Luke said he'll kip on the couch downstairs and Clyde's stolen a sleeping bag to stay down there as well."

"I'll take the attic couch then." Jack said cheerfully as she pulled her hand away and went upstairs to get Rani. "I'm sure Mr Smith and I will have hours of fun finding way to torture K-9."

"Leave my dog alone." She called down the stairs to him, making him laugh

* * *

><p>Rani walked up the stairs to the attic looking extremely confused in an overlarge pair of Luke's pyjamas. It was just past noon and everyone was sitting around, even Jack.<p>

"Just one question." Rani asked, holding up one finger. "Who dressed me?"

The laughter from everyone was both reassuring that they knew she was fine and a bit disconcerting as no one answered at first.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was quite happy to escape before they asked any more questions about what he'd been up to. Who knew how long he'd be able to keep Amelia concealed from them. He'd never been a good liar when it came to Sarah Jane…at least he'd still gotten his hug.<p>

He shed his jacket on the chair near the console and sent them into the vortex before going to find Amelia. His bruises and the few nicks, courtesy of flying shards of ceramic , would be gone by the morning. Which was a good thing, were Tish or Rory to see him like this they'd never let him live it down.

Though the TARDIS always took great fun in hiding things from him, sadistic girl, he found Amelia's room right away. He opened the door and peeked in. It'd changed greatly over the months.

From the bare room that barely qualified as a guest room to the state it was in now. Toys rested on a shelf above the dresser, the teddy bear he bought her was the only thing missing from the line-up. On top of the dresser rested her camera on top the printer that housed her photos next to the cage that held Bob and Flower, both of whom appeared to be sleeping. That reminded him, he needed to go feed George and Stanley for Tish. On one wall hung three coat hooks in a row, one holding the coat she'd had when she met him, another a smaller jacket and the third her backpack. The bunk beds were still pristine white with the top bunk made up with hospital corners to keep the pink comforter flat.

In the bottom bunk Amelia lay curled up, half under the covers, Yumo tucked under the blankets against her back. He eyed the Doctor to show he'd heard him but went back to sleep easily.

The Doctor crossed the room and noticed the missing teddy was laying on the floor next to the bed. He picked it up with a smile and placed it back with Amelia before tugging the blankets up and over her to keep her warm.

"Guess you got tired of waiting for a story." He murmured, watching her sleep. The girl had changed too. Oh she'd grown at least two inches, but it was everything else that changed. She'd gotten more courageous and unafraid to ask questions.

She was reading small books all on her own now and learning more about aliens every day. Some days he could almost trick himself into believing the Demanshi had been a dream and that was not a future issue to deal with; that his Amelia could never be part of anything like that.

"Night-night, Pond." He whispered, leaning down and kissing her temple.

He was part way to the door when he heard the sleepy murmur of reply. "Night, Daddy."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Just me this time. Mwahaha, my partner is being held hostage on skype with three friends and myself, though I've slipped away. So, big chapter eh? Finally got in a few elements people have been wanting. The update oneshot for next week is done bar any extreme poll swings and will be posted separately. Hope you enjoy and once again, if you have any questions: Ask. We love questions.]<strong>


	56. Tattle tales, Parentals and Jail Break

"Night, Iain." Tish said into the mobile as she stood out on the balcony, Martha only a few steps behind her.

_"Night, Jones." _She could hear the smile in his reply.

She closed the mobile and crossed her arms against the chill of the night. Now Jack would stop calling and she would deal with the aftermath later. It was too late to be trying to figure out his logic for anything he was doing.

"He calls you at three in the morning on a Saturday because he can't figure out what to do with a coughing child?" Martha almost laughed at the incredulity of it.

"He's a bit of a worrier." Tish told her sister with a slight laugh. "He's like an extreme mixture of helicopter parent and one of those 'free range children' people. She's allowed to do as she likes, as long as she's in sight and doesn't get injured." Tish said smirking to herself as she thought of the Doctor's more interesting parenting techniques, truth be told he treated Amelia like he treated all his companions from what she could tell.

"Sounds normal…mostly." Martha nodded not seeing her sister's smirk. "What's her mum like?" Martha asked curiously.

"To be honest I haven't really met her." Tish wasn't lying. She'd never met Tabitha Pond, but there was one girl other than herself that Amelia interacted with that could be considered a mother like figure, or a cool big sister and if Amelia was anything to go by she'd end up with the Doctor eventually, so Tish found herself describing what she knew of River. "She's a bit cocky, but she's got reason to be I guess, I've never seen her wrong about what was going on yet. She's away at her job most days. Honestly, I've seen her an entire three days if that and haven't seen her call; Generally Amy calls her." Tish explained giggling to herself at the truths in her words.

"Neglectful?" Martha asked curiously. She didn't hear much about Tish's job and was quite worried still.

Tish leaned back against the stone wall on the balcony thinking about it. "Well, I wouldn't say that. Just busy and without much access to a phone. She's an archeologist, so she's in some pretty remote places." It wasn't a lie, River WAS an archeologist…

Martha looked somewhat impressed. "He's fine with being away from his wife so much?" she asked incredulously as she thought of the little girl and boy she'd lost.

Tish laughed, oh this was fun. "Yes, but she's not his wife; she's just Amy's mum." Tish nearly laughed at Martha's expression as her sister stared at her stunned,

"What?" she questioned.

Tish just smiled and opened the sliding glass door to go back to bed.

"Oh, come on, you've got to explain that." Martha hissed quietly as Tish stuck her phone on the nightstand and crawled back into bed.

"Goodnight, Martha." Tish giggled quietly.

"This isn't over." Martha whispered back, trying not to wake her mother or sister in law in the next room.

Tish didn't respond and just stifled giggles, trying to get back to sleep.

* * *

><p>"And he's married but not to the mother of his child." Martha exclaimed quietly into the phone as she brushed her teeth, getting ready for the day.<p>

_"This day and age? That's not unusual." _Mickey's voice echoed through Martha's phone just as quietly._  
><em>

"It's the principle of the matter." Martha spat out toothpaste and rinsed her mouth and toothbrush before returning to the conversation. "He doesn't live with either. Just his daughter and Tish." She complained.

Mickey sighed in reply. _"I searched, Gwen searched with her Police contacts and we can't locate him. Until we have more data or a photo it'll be hard to find out anything." _He grumbled not liking the dead end that had occurred from the search._  
><em>

"Yeah…and I've been told I need to respect my sister's privacy." Martha muttered like a chastised child. "Even if she is being sneaky." She opened the bathroom door and looked out to where her sister laid, still asleep snuggled deep into the covers. "Why do siblings have to be so sneaky?" she grumbled a small pout appearing on her face.

_"Says the woman who took off without a hint to anyone and was gone weeks or a few days depending." _Mickey laughed.

"Quiet or you sleep on the couch." A smirk grew on Martha's face as she thought of Mickey's expression..

_"You wouldn't!" _Mickey exclaimed._  
><em>

"Would to…Though I'd probably end up coming out to sleep with you on the couch." Martha admitted, trying not to smile as she could hear the smile in his voice.

"How's everything going?" She asked, distracted for a moment from her sister.

_"Just got back from taking 'Dala for her run. Going to take a shower then head to work. Jack's gone so it's just Gwen, Lois and I today. Rhys is working on the 'front' idea."_ She could hear him moving around and if she listened closely she could hear the padding footsteps of their big dog as she followed Mickey around.

"Make sure she has water and-" Martha started sounding more like a worried mother.

_"Huh…Less than 20 hours." She heard the amusement coming from him as he spoke these words.  
><em>

"What?" She asked smiling.

_"You've been gone less than 20 hours and I'm already being reminded of daily tasks. God, we're so married." _He laughed.

"Oh, shut up." Martha laughed as well. She watched as the blanket lump she knew was Tish started moving and she could hear random mumbles. Nightmare or dream… "Okay, I'll talk to you later. Have fun at work and behave! Love you." She smiled softly as the conversation ended.

_"I always behave. Sometimes it's just badly. Love you too." _She heard him say just as the conversation ended._  
><em>

Martha hung up and slipped the phone into the pocket of her trousers and approached Tish's bed. "Tish?" she said.

Tish mumbled and thrashed in her sleep, trying to free herself from her blankets.

"Tish." Martha said stronger, touching the side of her face to calm her.

Tish's eyes shot open and her hands flew out, obviously startled by Martha and she blurted out breathlessly, "Don't, the Dog's not fireproof!" Tish looked around confused for a moment.

Martha looked at her clearly baffled and startled sister and couldn't help the giggles.

Tish pulled the covers off of herself and sat up, running her hands over her face to clear the sleep. "Sorry." She mumbled sleepily.

"Where did that come from?" Martha said through her giggling.

"I…" Tish spread her hands in confusion. "I have no idea." She sat still for a moment until her mother and sister-in-law came in through the separating door, both fully dressed.

"Well, good morning, lazy." Francine teased her daughter.

Tish glanced towards her wrist and remembered again she needed a new watch and sought out the alarm clock. Nine in the morning? Really? "Wow." She said amazed, it'd been months since she had slept in that late.

"I know!" Shonara said in disbelief, "I was up at Six out of habit. I actually slept in till Seven-THIRTY." She said smiling.

Tish stretched again and climbed out of bed to find her clothes for the day. "There's something wrong with us if nine in the morning is counted as being lazy…Then again, I'm just really happy there's no screaming, yelping and nothing is on fire." Tish grinned remembering her last day on the TARDIS

Shonara looked at Tish in surprise. "What goes on in your house?" she asked amazed, hoping Keisha wouldn't wake her up with any of that.

"House, hotel room, suite…tent." Tish waved her hand, "If I'm not up in time to make breakfast then Amy or Iain attempts it and well, last time there were about 10 rock hard pancakes and several burnt beyond all recognition. There were some stuck to the ceiling and before that…well, peanut butter was everywhere." She smirked as she spoke.

* * *

><p>Okay, relaxation days use to be fun. It used to be she'd LOVE lounging around, getting scrubbed, and pampered and having her hair and nails done, but now it was…odd. She kept feeling like she needed to go check on Amelia, the Doctor or Yumo. One of the workers had dropped a tray and her first instinct was to yell at the Doctor, thankfully she repressed it.<p>

People kept giving her odd looks too. Sure, she had a few odd marks and bruises, yes she did have two handprints, one on her forearm and one on her bicep, faintly bruised in because of how he'd grabbed and hauled her up when she'd fallen in Australia but that didn't call for odd looks.

She was still annoyed by that and on the verge of sulking while relaxing in a sauna when Francine joined her.

"What'd you do to your arm?" were the first words out of her mouth.

Tish groaned. "I fell, he grabbed me and pulled me back up." She explained.

"I'm not the first to ask?" Francine asked

"First to ask, nowhere near the first to glance and wonder." Tish said sighing

Francine looked at her daughter, studying her face. "Accident?" she asked quietly.

"Complete." Tish nodded.

"Good. He stopping by my home on Sunday? If so I'm going to hide the bread." She said attempting to get her daughter to smile.

"Yes, that's the plan." Tish laughed, relaxing again.

Minutes later Shonara and Martha joined them and once again Tish faced the 'What did you do to your arm?' question.

"I tripped, nearly fell, Iain grabbed me." Tish stated dully, "I'm fine. People really should stop asking." She said exasperated.

"Oh." Shonara nodded much like Francine had.

Martha eyed her cautiously, "_You_ tripped?" she questioned.

This might be a long weekend.

* * *

><p>Tish yawned and stretched in her seat. Two days with minimal questions, dancing around answers and not giving anything away while relaxing with spa treatments. Maybe she should thank the Doctor more often. She'd even resisted the urge to call him repeatedly, even when Jack had texted her saying the Doctor had returned his kidnap-victim (The third one) back to Sarah Jane and said 'victim' was dehydrated and exhausted. She thought about the implications, ignored it and was planning on questioning him later.<p>

Lunch with the other three female members of her family was just as relaxing as the weekend had been and less hidden question filled. The sun was shining on them, the birds were chirping near their table awaiting scraps and if she listened carefully she could hear her mother muttering angrily on the phone some twenty feet away.

Francine returned to their table and sat down, putting her mobile in her purse and regarding all three girls with an apprehensive look. "Well, I'm about to lose possibly two children."

"What's wrong?" Martha asked quickly.

"Your brother has called your father and told him that Tish is off gallivanting with 'some man' in tents."

Tish paled, Shonara gasped in shock and Martha looked torn between laughing in victory and wincing in sympathy.

"He couldn't…he wouldn't." Tish was only completely truthful with one person: her father. He was the only one she wouldn't lie to.

"He did." Francine sighed. "And I plan to murder him first chance."

"I'll help." Shonara sounded just as angry.

"What'd he say?" Tish asked worriedly.

"Your dad says to meet him at his home. His…he's home alone." Everyone could hear the barely hidden contempt she held for her ex's new…friend as Francine spoke.

Tish tried not to complain too loudly, but she knew Martha's look of 'anger' was mimicked. While she might be annoyed that Leo 'cheated' in finding out, she wasn't angry someone would learn the truth.

"Alright…I'll drive you home, mum and—" Tish started.

"Martha can give me a ride. We don't get to talk enough." Francine said sweetly and Martha's 'hidden' smug look disappeared.

* * *

><p>Tish gulped and tried to steady her nerves as she walked up to the door of her dad's flat. She wasn't going to be nervous, she was strong…really. He really wouldn't kill her she was certain. She might kill Leo soon though and had already left one threatening message.<p>

Tish raised her hand to knock and hesitated for a moment before knocking three times loudly.

"In here, Letitia." Clive yelled loudly through the door.

Full name…crap.

Tish opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind her. "Hi, daddy!" she said happily.

"Don't 'daddy' me." Clive said warningly, standing from his recliner and walking over to her. "You've got some explaining to do." He said sternly staring at his daughter.

Tish winced slightly, "How'd you…what exactly do you know?" she started.

"Exactly?" Clive tilted his head, studying her for guilt like he'd done since she and her siblings had been children. "I know that you've been off gallivanting – your brothers words – with some man in a way that makes you sound like a scarlet woman. Those last two are mine. I won't use his." Clive grumbled.

Tish's eyes narrowed and she hissed under her breath a threat she shouldn't have ever thought of in front of her father.

"So…is he wrong?" Clive asked, walking back over to sit down now that he'd greeted her.

Tish sighed and put her jacket and purse aside to sit on the couch. "Yes…no…mostly. Are you sure you want to know?" she said sighing again, knowing she would have to tell if he asked.

Clive watched her. After she had been rushed to the A&E the year before, once she'd returned home he'd made her make a promise to never lie to him again. Ever. She didn't lie if he asked her outright anymore; she would actually give too much detail if she let him. She did, however, give him a choice if he really wanted to know first. "With minimal detail that involves clothes being off, yes." He said cautiously.

Tish nodded and bit her lip before speaking. "Yes, I am off 'gallivanting' with someone, but it's not just 'some guy' and I am NOT a 'scarlet woman!'" she nearly growled.

"So he's never seen you in your pants?" Clive asked before realizing that could be a bad road.

She thought about it a moment, "Yes. But that wasn't exactly his choice." She said cautiously.

He looked at her in a bit of confusion. "Do I know him?" he asked.

Tish tried to think of how to say it and paused again. "Are you sure you want to know?" she said cautiously.

"Yes." He said firmly.

"Every detail?" she questioned.

"Yes." He repeated.

She nodded and took a breath. "I'm traveling with the Doctor." Tish said reluctantly waiting for the response from her father.

Clive went quiet then spoke softly but strongly, "What?" he exclaimed not sure if she was serious or not.

"He needed help. I'm a nanny mostly though. See, he's got this little girl now who he needs taken care of and he can't leave her on Earth because she's technically a kidnap victim but she loves him and he loves her and she's thirteen years younger than she should be; then he got all bored and so he took her and kidnapped someone who I guess is his step-son but only on some planet that used to be lost but he had to return him so he went and kidnapped Martha and Mickey then he took Jack and threw Jack back to Earth and then went and took me – but I got cake out of the deal so…and he was feeding her cake and marmalade as BREAKFAST!

"But then she wanted to see one of her friends so we went and met him when he was all grown up and then HE got kidnapped and it was this big thing and he was whining and we had to return the Doctor's maybe possibly future girlfriend to Prison cause she killed someone – I don't know who but apparently it was some 'good man' – and she stole all the biscuits so we went to Australia where we got Ice cream and this big bloody snake was in the earth and the people that worshiped it were kidnapping people by suffocating them with sand and we all got dragged in then he blew them up and we came back here and he sent me to a spa."

Tish summed up the last few months events with very little pause. "Oh, and did I mention she's ginger?" Tish finished taking a breath.

Clive sat quietly for a moment, absorbing it all then looked up at Tish with solemn eyes. "So… would this be the girl who helped send your sister to therapy?" Clive tried not to laugh at his daughter's expression.

Tish looked stunned by the thought, "Wow…I guess so…Oh! But you can't tell her! It's one of the rules and it is way too much fun watching her and Leo freak out so please?" She begged.

"What about your mother?" Clive questioned.

"She knows. I promise. No lies there." Tish smiled, knowing if they were to the subject of her mother, they were okay.

Clive nodded and looked at her again, moving from his recliner to sit next to her on the couch. "Okay, now start again from the beginning with more breathing and detail." He said calmly.

Tish laughed, "Oh, well one day I was walking down the street and saw this man following me…"

* * *

><p>Rory entered his flat, dropping his bags and sprawling out on the futon with a groan. Work was…hectic, as always. Mr. Jimmy was still protesting all his treatments, Riley was still a bit…off when working, but getting back to normal but he was kept moving more than usual. On top of that he was studying near constantly…It was a normal week, but after being in the TARDIS for a while it seemed horrifically busy.<p>

He had stuffed a bunch of outfits – the few that were nice – into a duffle bag earlier and realized his shoes, while perfect for moving around a hospital, did not provide near the traction needed to be running all the time. He didn't really have much money so he'd given in and taken the £40 Sarah Jane had left 'accidentally' under his pillow and gone to buy a proper pair of running shoes. He really should call her on that one day, but she was just trying to help.

As he relaxed, just near sleep his phone rang. With a groan Rory dug into his pocket and answered, "Hello?"

_"Rory! We're going to pick you both up and I've been informed that it's polite to call first." _the Doctor's voice was hyper, with a bit of a squeaky undertone that Rory couldn't identify.

"Great. Land wherever; it's not like you could mess up my apartment." Rory told him, sitting upright some to survey the room. "Might improve it…" he said shaking his head.

_"We're not landing at your house, we're apparently supposed to go to Francine's home. I've also been informed we're having Tea there."_ His voice was almost a touch sulky as he said it. _"Tish said Martha's gone, but we have to go."  
><em>

Rory sat fully upright, "What? Where does Francine live?" he asked.

_"I don't know the address. Why would I know the address? Ask Tish."_ the Doctor replied and hung up.

Rory stared at his mobile in exasperation. He was going to have to steal a bike again…

* * *

><p>"So, how was the weekend?" Francine asked the Doctor as she worked cooking their tea.<p>

"Fine. Fine. No reason it wouldn't be completely normal." He said, his voice a touch higher than normal.

Amelia was in the backyard playing chase with Yumo while he 'helped' Francine cook. So far all he'd done was mutilate a few potatoes by trying to skin them with the sonic and nearly shatter the teapot.

Francine looked at him sideways, "Nothing gone wrong that would require several emergency phone calls to my daughter?" she questioned slyly.

He nearly winced. "None from me." He winced as he said these words.

She gave him the 'mum' look she'd more than perfected. "Doctor." He drew out.

"Okay, so Jack and Sarah Jane got a little upset I borrowed, BORROWED , her friend to help me save Venice from Vampire Fish People from Space and Jack started calling Tish." the Doctor admitted, blowing out a breath that made his hair flutter some. "Big baby. I had everything under control. She didn't lose THAT much blood." He rambled hoping no to get into trouble.

Francine didn't have a reply formulated when the front door opened and she could hear Tish yelling to see who was home.

"In here." the Doctor yelled towards her. When she entered the kitchen Rory was about three steps behind her. His expression changed instantly and he looked like a petulant toddler. "Oh…you picked up _him_." He grumbled

"Yes. Someone didn't give him the address." the Doctor had the decency to look a bit ashamed at this.

The Doctor went back to attempting to peel potatoes the 'human' way and ignored Rory.

Francine rolled her eyes, Rory was glaring at the Doctor and fiddling with a bracelet on his wrist, Tish looked oblivious to both men's attitudes. Maybe this was more interesting than she thought.

* * *

><p>Francine sat at the head of the table and surveyed her guests. Tish sat to her right, with Amelia across from her, the Doctor sat to Amelia's left with Rory right across from him and neither male seemed happy.<p>

She'd watched as the Doctor competed with Rory, and vice-versa, for every task asked of anyone.

He'd even attempted to make sherbet with a sonic…it hadn't worked but he'd figured out how to clean it up quicker than Rory.

Currently the Doctor was flicking vegetables across the table at Rory.

"So, Rory, exactly what do you do?" Francine asked.

"I work with children currently as pretty much a nurse." Rory said with dignity, ignoring the Doctor's snort, "I prep them for tests, take them where they need to be, draw blood, basically keep track of everything the Doctors can't and I also am in medical school." As he spoke he neatly cut up his ever growing pile of vegetables and ate them without protest.

"I see." Francine said, tone a few steps away from icy.

The Doctor eyed her as he recognized that tone. That tone was the tone she used before she slapped him! Hah, take that Pretty boy, Francine liked him better. With a smug look the Doctor looked at Francine, "I meanwhile am an actual Doctor. I hold a Doctorate in several things."

"None medical." Rory muttered.

"Quiet, Williams." He flicked another carrot at Rory. "I also am an explorer. Just yesterday I helped save Venice in the 1500's." he smiled.

"You went to Venice?" Rory looked shocked and outraged.

"Yes. I know a lot about Venice." the Doctor tore up a bunch of bread across his plate that was now free of vegetables. "More than you in fact. Especially when it comes to alien fish people." the Doctor laughed.

Amelia looked at both boys and smiled, "Yeah! We got to face down Vampires, Rory! Like the ones in the movie only the Doctor called them 'buxom', not scary. What does that mean?" she questioned curiously.

Tish glared at the Doctor and Francine hid her smirk.

"Oh! And they were trying to repopulate he said, but he wasn't right cause they were fish and fish are eaten by storks so the storks couldn't bring babies but they got new vampires so how does that work?" Amelia asked innocently watching Rory and Tish.

Tish looked like she was at a loss for words while Rory stuttered.

Francine stifled laughter in her napkin, oh, her plans would pay out, she just wasn't sure who'd win this.

* * *

><p>River rested on her bunk, flipping through a book. She'd read it fifteen times already, it was nearly memorized. Besides, Physics wasn't interesting. She'd already built three catapults with the lessons inside and had them all confiscated.<p>

"Doctor Song?" the guard said.

She looked up and saw the Guard looking confused holding the phone across the hall. The guard – new and quite young looking – crossed to her cell door and extended the phone into the cell while standing back as if afraid to have contact with her. "Doctor Song, you've got a call." She stuttered.

Oooh, maybe there were gods of boredom.

River climbed off her bunk and made it to the cell door in three seconds, causing the guard to leap backwards with a small squeak of fear.

"Hello, this is Doctor Song." River said warmly.

_"So pompous."_

River smiled widely and laughed at the familiar tone. "Anita. To what do I owe this phone call?"

_"Rome is falling. It's got maybe a month before it crashes headlong into a giant star. It's gonna catch fire and nothing will remain."  
><em>

River winced, not that planet. It was a beautiful relic any Anthropologist or Archaeologist would kill to get their hands on. No one was allowed there. "Why call me and tell me that? Oh, it's heartbreak." River added whine into her voice.

_"I've got special permission to take two teams on the planet to excavate and make records under two conditions. The relics must be treated with respect and the teams must be led by River Song."  
><em>

"Anita…I'm in prison." River looked around the cell and at the guard, mentally calculating. Her voice was sweet and warm still in a way that made the guard shift her feet nervously.

_"I'll get Dave and meet you at JPoz at 8:30."  
><em>

River laughed, "Better make it nine to be on the safe side. Order me my usual."

Anita laughed as well. _"Have fun; I'll make sure Dave doesn't steal your breakfast if you're late."  
><em>

River hung up the phone and walked closer to the door and gauged the guard outside. She sent her one of the better smiles she had. "You're new…aren't you?"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Okay, first things first: In the separately posted one-shot Amy is roughly 9-10 years old as a child which means it takes place somewhere between 2010 and 2011...well, chronologically. <em>Secondly, GO READ! If you haven't that is. <em>Yeah, what she said. _Sorry this one's later than normal, but it's almost midnight for me. _Longer chapter, longer work time I'd say, but she's just slow. _Hey! You didn't g__et finished writing it till about Seven! _Semantics. Enjoy!]**


	57. JPoz, Rome and arrival

River hopped off the small shuttle she'd hitched a ride on and waved a farewell to the slightly dazed driver. Screw hallucinogenic lipstick, she did just fine on her own…well, with normal humans. JPoz was packed, especially for this time of morning, but she quickly spotted the shuttle she shared with Anita and Dave parked sideways across two spaces and couldn't help but grin.

It wasn't their personal day to day shuttle, but it was theirs when it came to trips anywhere. It basically sat at Anita's in her garage collecting dust and spare equipment till the call came that they had somewhere to explore. JPoz was a flashy steel building with large windows in a mock attempt at looking like a 41st century Strip club. It was a 'retro' restaurant but all they really cared about was that it was not somewhere they'd search for River, they served whiskey and there was bacon.

Hmm, go into JPoz with her prison gear or make a splash in something nice. She knew the answer to that. River jogged across the parking lot, between flash rides and a few old clunkers and entered her keycode to get into the shuttle.

It was sparsely decorated, a small handcrafted red, black and white rug was spread across the floor, a handful of posters and photos taped on the walls to show places they had been and people that were important to them. There was even a family photo of Rivers tucked away in one drawer was, kept out of sight just in case. The back section was separated from the control panel and captains seat by a dark green tarp like curtain strung across the archway. A queen sized bed decorated in reds and purples was folded out of the wall and neatly made, showing Anita had been staying in the shuttle the night before; handcuffs were half attached to one section of the headboard.

The camp bed was folded out of the wall as well near the foot of the big bed with a multicolour quilt thrown across it haphazardly. A large duffle sat against the wall on top of a backpack, waiting for its owner. She knew most gear was already stored down below in the storage area by the engines which meant that was hers. A mess of random wrappers and cans sat around a trash can, since no one ever was able to make it in when they tried to throw it and a small fridge was not quite closed.

'Home' she thought happily. It wasn't actually home, but it was damn close.

She flipped on the fan and the rest of the lights and went to grab her things from the duffle. Simple skirt, blouse and heels for this…ooh, boots with heels, sexy and deadly.

As she dressed she sat down on the bed to pull her boots on properly and looked up.  
>"What the hell…" River said out loud. Hanging from the ceiling fan was a white bra with 'hello kitty' logos on it. Okay, they had some explaining to do.<p>

* * *

><p>"Rome was founded by descendants of Terra." Anita corrected Dave's letter as he wrote to his boyfriend to tell him about the trip. "And it was named after Earth's Rome, not after-" she continued rambling.<p>

"Stop correcting my writing and eat your breakfast." Dave muttered, redoing the bits she had said.

Anita rolled her eyes and munched on French toast. River wasn't running late yet, but Anita was bored…  
>Rome was going to be a career maker! This was the place everyone dreamed of going to but no one was able to get anywhere near. Rome was one of the first settled asteroids, done over two thousand years ago. It was one of the first fully operational space colonies that became self-sufficient. They even had the first man made river, dubbed the 'Tiber 3'.<p>

They'd recreated all the famous sites as well. God, she couldn't way to see the Jupiter coliseum all grand stone and old weaponry, the Neptune Baths carved from marble with crystal clear walls, even the Saturn Cemetery with its large mausoleums dedicated to only the most important of the Church's people. But what she really couldn't wait to see was the Minerva Library. It was the largest colonial library in existence and held thousands of historical and religious texts. Anita LOVED libraries, they were just chock full of so much history and mystery and all at the tips of her fingers just waiting to be found out.

Rome had actually been settled mostly by the Catholic church and turned into a religious site; a place for the Priests to train and the Church to keep anything of importance.

This was what they knew; it was what they didn't know that was scary. Three hundred years ago the Papal Mainframe locked down the planet, citing the wrath of God as the reason. Just before that it was rumoured that all the residents disappeared and deaths had been marked as suspicious for up to fifty years before that. No one knew the reason behind any of this, but with River and Dave with her she knew they'd find whatever answers there were to be had.

"You spelled 'coliseum' wrong." Someone said beside their table.

Anita looked up to see River looking over Dave's shoulder, pointing out his letter's mistakes.

"Bugger off, the two of you." Dave said crossly, sticking his letter aside and scooting over in the booth so River could sit down. He looked her up and down as she sat in his now vacated spot. "You're looking well off for prison gear."

"Stopped by the shuttle." River told him with a smile. "Grabbed some of my things. Speaking of." She shot a look of annoyed affection at the two of them. "Why is my bra hanging from the ceiling fan?" she said smirking.

"It's decoration." Anita grinned.

"And we're keeping it." Dave said smirking.

River shook her head but laughed as she stole one of the three whiskey shots from the middle of the table, "To our messed up lives…" she downed it quickly and placed it aside as Dave sighed and followed suit. "So what's up with Rome?" she questioned them.

"Papal Mainframe realized Rome's gonna burn within two months, closer to one month." Dave explained to her.

"They're reluctant to let anyone near the planet so…They set out an insane request regarding who got to go on planet to collect data and history." He continued.

"They obviously don't know our girl if they think a lifelong imprisonment will stop her from going to Rome." Anita grabbed the last shot and downed it. Ah, the breakfast of champions. "Really don't know her." Anita smirked.

River grabbed her own breakfast and smiled at her friends. "Have we got a plan yet?" she questioned.

"Well, we figured we'd snag your friend Bren for the other team lead and hire the clones from Parish Dorm to work with her." Anita smirked, "Had to st…I mean borrow a vortex manipulator but still."

"Joyan and Johan?" River nodded, "Sensible. You don't mind us stealing Bren?" she smiled, she'd been trying for years to convince Bren to come on one of these adventures.

"I'm relatively certain she won't blab about time travel." Dave agreed, "Plus she's the best with skeletal remains and culture." He explained, "and the place is close enough to Terra Rome when it comes to habitat that it'd be hard to tell the difference for her at first, she knows though, refused to go without knowing." He continued.

"Good. Now, what sites are we starting at?" River asked as Anita brought out a large holographic map.

* * *

><p>It wasn't that Rome was deserted; it really wasn't if you counted the hundreds of skeletons just lying around. They were everywhere. Some in shuttles, crashed in random places, some resting with guns nearby. Dozens had some sort of sharp implement nearby and it confounded them but most were tucked away inside homes and buildings, in dark corners like a twisted game of hide and seek.<p>

Graffiti marked the walls, random desperate writings of people. One storefront window was marked in blood with the words **'Save us'**. The weird thing was it was done backwards, as if someone inside was trying to communicate, but couldn't get the message out right. They found dozens that were just abbreviations and numbers. Anita and she had found at least ten in one city marked **"P 23:4"** and a quick conference with Bren via communicator confirmed she'd found that written everywhere too.

They didn't need any containment suits, it was a normal atmosphere and held no toxins, so they were searching in just normal work shorts, shirts and vests with the large bags full of equipment and the empty ones for collections on the ATV that hovered above the pavement. It wasn't the fasted ride ever, but it was dependable and got them to every site without disturbing the ground or anything it might yield.

They found a large ornate church…or at least what was left of one. It had once been grand, with large windows of stained glass and beautiful gardens out front according to the photos they'd held from history books, but now it was weather worn and part of it was burned down.

Someone had lit it up and then tried to stop it.

Out front huddled on the steps were yet more skeletons, this group had a bible in the centre that nearly disintegrated when Dave lifted it as a relic to be catalogued.

The doors had been padlocked shut. The worst bit about that was that there were dozens of skeletons inside too, some against the doors that had been locked from the outside. Not all of the skeletons were adults.

"How could such a beautiful place go all to hell?" Anita demanded as she carefully removed a blood splattered folded note from underneath a small skeletons hand. Just another note with someone's name scrawled on it; "'Jason Grace'. Were these save me notes, or contact notes?" Anita asked him.

"I think they're 'identify me' notes." Dave said, easing a wad of paper from its place inside a bible. "Laura Moser." He read.

"What happened here?" River asked, photographing the scenes. "What the hell causes this?" she nearly growled, she'd seen a lot in her life but this…this was too much.

"Mass plague?" Dave suggested, moving to search another area of the church.

"They did say it was 'the wrath of God'." Anita agreed with her colleague.

"Though I don't think God comes down with petrol or a gun." Dave muttered, trying hard not to kick the broken canister of nerve gas that was beside a skeleton that was lying on it is side.

"Who knows," River said trying to be flippant, "If there is an omnipotent immortal being out there he probably would do strange things…Hell, I know one who claims to be that and he** is** an ass who does strange things." She said smiling at them innocently.

"Are you mocking the Doctor?" Dave asked teasingly.

"No. Jack." River said laughing.

Dave's expression changed and he shook his head. "Bloody Harkness." He growled.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you adore him." Anita teased.

"Do not." Dave muttered, moving to study more relics.

The lightening of the mood was gratefully appreciated, even if the humour was forced.

* * *

><p>"Have you heard from your parents lately?" Anita asked River as they carefully placed the items they'd found in the shuttle for transportation to the main ship. They'd bring the shuttle back and fill it up again and keep making that trip till their trip was up.<p>

River scoffed, "No. Not recently. Why?" she asked.

"Just wondering. Your Dad is a super nova! Super-hot and ready-" Anita smirked waiting for her friend to comprehend what she was saying.

"Oi!" River glared at her, "That's my dad you're going on about. I will kick your ass. My mum would bloody well string you up by your ankles." She growled.

"Ooh, promises, promises." Anita shook her head and beamed lecherously, "Always a promise, never a reality." She said truthfully.

River smacked her friend across the arm and rolled her eyes before going to get more items to pack. The worse the dig, the worse the items they found, the more crude humour and horrible puns were passed around to try and keep things from hitting too hard. It didn't work most times, but it was always appreciated all the same.

"Right, I'm going to go get this stuff to the main ship." Dave said, "Meet up with Bren and see what she and the clones have found." He said hitting a few buttons and starting the ship.

"They have names." River told him.

"Yeah, creepy two. I'll have them help me unload. By time I get back there should be tents and a fire." Dave warned them with a grin.

"Bite me." River replied, smiling all the same.

"I would, but I'm still holding out for your dad." Dave smirked.

"He thinks he's so funny." River told Anita as Dave left.

"Can't blame him." Anita replied, "Your dad is hot." Anita said smirking as well.

"HEY!" River looked offended, "What is it with everyone and my father?" she whined.

* * *

><p>They separated out into three neighbourhoods, just blocks apart. The asteroid was about the size of the Original Earth's only moon so if they spread out and worked quickly they should have it finished in the two month time max they had.<p>

"Oh you poor souls." River murmured quietly as she scanned her third home of the day. The asteroid was indeed deserted. She didn't even see any life beyond a few small mice running around in the cities. Grass grew up through cracks in the pavement, small flowers bloomed in the street and vines were creeping up and into some houses.

It was as if everything happened at once. Bodies were everywhere; just skeletons by now, some were still in their beds, tucked in to sleep. Petrified food sat on tables just waiting for the diners to return.

This house was a typical home consisting of a ground floor and a first floor, so far the first floor only yielded a kitchen, a living room , a loo and a study.

**"Anything out of the ordinary?" **Dave's voice came through her communicator.

**"Nothing here." **Anita told him. **"This home is clear…I mean there are skeletons but…no real signs of anything. They're still in bed for God's sake." **River said continuing to look around, she walked up the stairs carefully avoiding any cracks or objects and looked around opening doors slowly and looking around them carefully so the camera on her headband could capture everything.

**"Nothing too odd." **River agreed, marking the door with a small piece of pink tape to signify she'd searched it. Across the hall she opened a door and felt her chest clench. **"God…I found a nursery." **She said softly.

**"Leave." **Anita told her.

**"Can't." **River replied. She walked carefully into the room and looked at the floor. A few toys laying around, odd ones too. Who played with a statue of a saint? She placed it in a bag and continued looking around. The bookshelf held a few dozen books; mostly of religious theme bar one she remembered being read as a child that was full of nursery rhymes. **"Tick tock, Goes the clock." **she said subconsciously repeating the rhyme she had been forced to memorize as a child.

**"What?" **Anita asked, breaking River's train of thought.

**"Found a book of nursery rhymes." **River said absently, moving on. Drawers full of basic clothing, on top nothing but a piggy bank full of ancient coins which she placed into a bag to preserve and display later. She searched the closet and found a wrapped present, covered in dust. _'To Daddy, Love Maria.'_ A baby's christening gown hung up preserved in plastic on a hook.

She placed that in a separate bag and put it in her bag as well with the gift. She left her bag sit on the floor and crossed across the floor to look at the cot. She'd eyed it the moment she walked in, it was obviously hand crafted with small religious icons carved into it, a small cross on the footboard, the bars were evenly spaced slats of wood with more decorative carvings, covered from the inside by light blue fabric. The headboard had _'Anna'_ carved into it…two different names…

River took a breath and looked in. At first sight it was just a blanket and pillow, but she closed her eyes then opened them again, moving the pillow aside.

* * *

><p>River sat on the front steps, knees up to her face trying desperately not to cry and to catch her breath. Anita and Dave had just finished up and were waiting nearby, but she just needed a moment alone. She'd taken off her recorder and placed it on top of her bag that rested behind her.<p>

Just a few moments of air, that was all then she'd go back upstairs and finish up. There were still two more rooms to go. God, there were two more rooms…

As she took another shaky breath she heard a familiar noise…Oh no…not now…

The TARDIS materialized a block away in the dusty field that use to be a park and she groaned. Climbing to her feet she wiped her clammy hands on her work shorts and walked to stand with Anita and Dave. She just prayed to someone, she wasn't really sure who, that it was a version of the Doctor that didn't have Amy with him. Dave held his hand out expectantly and Anita sighed but handed over several bills.

The doors opened and he stepped out, all idiot hair, bowtie and enthusiastic grin followed quickly by a yapping blue Uval with fairy wings, a laughing young girl with long red hair and two smiling adults.  
>River shot Anita a glare as she took some money back from a reluctant looking Dave.<p>

The Doctor looked around, spotted them and obviously looked a bit annoyed, but a bit happy as well.  
>Yumo didn't come running to greet them, Tish didn't wave, Rory didn't yell in greeting and Amy didn't rush over.<p>

Amy did spot them however and waved happily, "Hi, River!" she yelled happily.

River felt another sharp stab to her heart but she waved back anyway. "Hello, Amy." She said trying and failing to sound happy.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN:<strong> **Original story time! See, we love doing original stories, love creating places, people, planets..well, I do. She's a bit lacking in that department. _Especially when it comes from a slip of canon._ Yup, but the issue is when you are following a story arc put in by Canon you CAN'T Avoid the canon stories! It's impossible, those ones are important and the cracks that appear there in must be seen! It's like trying to not write in Craig! _Though we're putting our own twist on every single story that's canon, otherwise we wouldn't be us. Secondly: Contest! Winner gets a oneshot of their choice, or a future snippet.  
>Rule 1: find any references to other fandoms you can find in the entirety of the Amelia Verse (Or just in an arc)<br>Rule 2: You have to give a quote to where you found it. _A sentence or something so we know where it's from and well, in case you found one we missed.  
><em>Rule 3: Have fun! <em>Don't you mean don't wander off? _Shush you. Just send any responses or attempts in a review or a PM and make sure to tell us if it's entire story or just an arc!_**


	58. Looms, Truths and missed destinations

"Amelia, there's something you need to know." the Doctor said seriously after a sigh, interrupting her retelling of the adventure with Vampires again. They were back in the TARDIS and she was still filling in Rory on the 'little' details and still confused by the new vampires. "Babies don't really come from the stork." He continued, as his companions stared in shock.

"DOCTOR!" Rory and Tish both exclaimed, both dashing from different sides of the console room to stop him.

"They don't?" Amelia questioned curiously.

"No." he shook his head, covering Tish and Rory's mouths to still their protests. "Two people who want a baby both donate a genetic sample to a loom that mixes them both together and forms a baby. Why do you think they go to a hospital? They have to go pick up the baby once the loom finishes." He said logically.

Tish's eyes were wide and she was shaking from suppressed laughter whereas Rory just looked confused.

"And sometimes, the loom malfunctions and duplicates, and that's how you get more than one baby." The Doctor explained simply.

"Cool." Amelia declared. "So they used a loom for more Vampires?" She said curiously.

"Actually, real Vampires are changed by taking all their blood and putting in vampire blood." the Doctor said, moving his hands from his companions' mouths, assured they wouldn't do anything to ruin his lesson. "But these were just fake Vampires so it didn't work."

"Oh." Amelia nodded and filed the lesson away. "Where are we going now?" she asked looking around the TARDIS.

"Why don't you go with Rory and tell him about your new friend while he puts his stuff up." Tish suggested easily, looking at the Doctor as she spoke, trying to catch his attention silently. He looked at her and quirked an eyebrow, getting the vague understanding she wanted to talk to him.

"Yes, Amelia, why don't you go with Rory? I bet he's got a few stories from his week." the Doctor said, though it pained him to admit Rory might have a few cool stories.

"Alright! C'mon, Rory." Amelia said eagerly, tugging at his hand, "Tell me what you did?" she said bouncing.

Rory looked back at them curiously but went with Amelia anyway.

"I don't like that look." the Doctor told Tish, pointing at her. "That look never ends with a good conversation."

"It's not a bad conversation either." Tish couldn't help the laughing tone that came with the sentence. "Grab a bag and help me, please." She indicated her two bags filled with clean clothes and school supplies for Amelia.

He lifted the large bag without effort and followed her to her room where she placed the smaller bag aside and waited for him to move inside before shutting the door.

"Okay, so the spa was fantastic, thank you." She said, hugging him then pulled away. "Martha's still in the dark, so is Shonara, but Leo went tattling to Dad that I was off running around with some man like a scarlet woman." Tish smirked as she explained her days.

"Scarlet woman?" he mouthed the words, trying to recall the meaning. When it hit his eyes went wide. "No! No, no, no! I'm not. We're not!" He insisted

"I know!" Tish agreed, "Leo doesn't. Dad didn't. He called me to his house, I had to go." She said smiling at his insistence.

"Why?" the Doctor cried, hands fisted in his hair. Clive was going to yell and tell everyone!

"He's my Dad." Tish said simply. "I can't lie to him, I promised. He knows I'm with you, that I'm a nanny and that you've got Amelia Pond but he promised he won't tell anyone and he doesn't lie or break his promises." Tish implored him to not be mad.

The Doctor nodded. Clive might not tell everyone, after all the man did like him, somewhat, even if Clive didn't quite trust the Doctor with his family all alone. "He won't tell anyone?" he insisted.

"No one. Though he has said he has plans to 'have a word with mum'." Tish said

He tried hard not to giggle at that image but lost overall.

Tish rolled her eyes in his direction as she unpacked clothing into her dresser. "Any news on your end beyond Vampires?" she asked smiling again.

He stopped giggling and looked at his feet, sitting on the edge of her bed. "Sort of." He said guiltily.

"Sort of? What's new?" she asked him, closing one drawer and opening another. She stuck in her pill bottle , reluctantly refilled by Martha who was extremely suspicious as to why she needed a refill after only two weeks.

It wasn't easy to explain it may have been two weeks for Martha but it'd been a few months for Tish, who'd been relying on her bottle and a few that had been stuck in her cabinet. She got the bottle refilled every month like clockwork, but that didn't mean she actually used all 60 pills.

"She doesn't remember it really, I don't think, and she was mostly asleep so it might not count and even so if she did I'm not sure if it really did count because of –." He rambled

"Spit it out." Tish encouraged him.

"Amelia called me 'daddy'." He blurted out.

Tish shut the drawer and turned around in shock, "What?" she asked, looking at the Doctor.

"I went to tuck her in and she said 'night, daddy'." He said, clearly a bit panicked. Though she could tell for sure he was a bit panicked he was also excited at the idea and clearly a bit happy as well.

"She called you 'daddy'." Tish stated blankly. That could mean a whole host of things but… "That's good, isn't it?" Tish asked watching the Doctor.

"She doesn't remember." the Doctor mumbled and looked at his hands, then he looked up at her, a tentative smile on his face. "Yeah…it's terrific. If she means it...but…" he shook his head, "Doesn't matter…if she means it she'll say it again, right?" He asked nervously.

"Right." Tish nodded and smiled brightly at him, she moved to sit next to him and wrapped an arm around him in a hug, "She has been with you about a year now, you are a bit of a dad. Foster dad at the very least." Tish grinned at him.

"Yeah…almost a year and…" His eyes went wide, "Oh." He said

"Oh? What's 'Oh'?"

"Her birthday." the Doctor whispered frantically. "When's her birthday? Did we miss it?"

"I'm not sure." Tish said, catching onto the dread and feeling it as well. "Close your eyes."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

Once his eyes were firmly closed Tish dug through one of her drawers and produced a hardcover book. The cover was white with bright red raised letters across the front saying: _**"Where's Amelia: the girl who disappeared. By Sarah Jane Smith" **_with a small photo faded and blurred in the background of a girl in a dark blue coat with a red hat on.

He wasn't allowed to have it right now but there was a note written in pen inside that said _"To my favourite thief: Stop stealing children. Love, Sarah."_ That meant that eventually she did find out everything…or at least that's what she took from the inscription.

She paged through it quickly trying to remember where she saw what she was looking for; she passed the chapters on Alien Abduction, Godparent kidnapping , The Williams boys and the chapter on Rhys and Colin till she finally located a small section of biography. "Amelia Jessica Pond born 8:28am November the 28th, 1989." She read aloud.

He opened his eyes and looked at her, spotting the book. "Can I -?"

"No!" Tish scolded him, snapping the book shut and taking a step backwards with it. "Future knowledge is bad."

"You know it!"

"I grew up knowing it." Tish retorted.

"Doctor! Tish?" Amelia's voice echoed looking for them.

"In here." Tish yelled back.

When the Doctor turned to look at the door Tish stuffed the book behind her dresser, smiling when he looked back at her again.

Amelia peeked inside at them, "Rory wants to know where we're going. Can we go somewhere he wants this time? Cause we went to Venice for me." She asked, entering the room .

The Doctor looked torn between agreeing and making Amelia happy and saying 'no' to mess with Rory. "I…Yes. Tell him to meet us in the console room and pick a location."

Amelia smiled happily and ran to his side to hug him and press a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you!"

"Yeah…" he nodded as she ran off to find Rory. He looked over at Tish who was smirking. "Not a word."

She just smiled and gave a cheeky wave as he left to go to the console room. She grabbed the book back and thought about where to hide it. He wasn't above digging through her things, she knew that but there were certain places he wouldn't go. She stuffed it in her underwear drawer near the back and covered it partially. No matter how desperate he was there was no way he'd search there; he was much too nice for that. Also, he blushed far too easily.

* * *

><p>"So where did Rory pick?" Tish asked, entering the console room cheerfully, once more in clothing fit for exploring and walking around in.<p>

"Rome!" Amelia said excitedly.

The Doctor looked less than thrilled, but he also looked puckish.

"Oh? Why Rome? I mean, I've heard it's beautiful but I figured you for somewhere more arts or medicine inclined." She questioned looking at the younger man curiously.

"I've always been completely fascinated by Rome." Rory admitted, "Gladiators, Centurions, the coliseums, all the battles; Rome was the greatest war machine ever." He nearly gushed as he spoke. "I saved up all my money for years to buy a proper set of Roman Centurion armour. I've even got a real sword to match." Rory smiled as he thought of his favourite subject at school.

"We use to play games and we played Romans after we saw picture books." Amelia told Tish just as excitedly. "Aunt Michelle got us wooden swords and shields and we mad helmets with duct tape and cardboard with Henry's help." She giggled at the memories.

Rory nearly beamed with happiness, "Rome is awesome!" he said his smile growing.

Tish giggled as she watched the two and for a brief moment she could almost see Rory as he had been as a child, all excited at the prospect of playing a game with his best friend. "Well, onwards to Rome then. Just try to get us somewhere they won't decide to murder me because I've got a cross on."

The Doctor gave a mischievous salute and sent them spinning.

When they landed shakily Amelia grabbed Rory's hand excitedly. "I got my camera so we can take lots of photos!" she laughed happily.

The Doctor smiled at Tish and walked to the door, throwing it open, "I present, ROME!" He said grandly.

He nearly danced as he left the TARDIS, twirling around to take in his surroundings. He'd promised Rome, but he'd aimed for 2015, that's when things were interesting next and it kept him in the know. He paused when Yumo dashed past him and he spotted River Song with Anita and Dave…The Doctor was annoyed he'd missed, happy they were alive and also secretly happy to see River. As irritating as she could be she was always entertaining.

Amelia smiled brightly and waved, recognizing who was there. "Hi, River!" she said loudly.

"Hello, Amy." River called back.

"It's Amelia." the Doctor muttered, attempting to sound cross.

"Why's River in Rome?" Rory asked curiously, "I thought she was in Prison…in the future." He said quietly.

"I might have been off on the timing." The Doctor said rubbing the back of his head.

"How off?" Tish asked.

"Oh about 3000 years…and a few million miles." the Doctor admitted, "But it's still Rome, just a different Rome." He defended.

Tish rolled her eyes, "Of course. Is this Rome safe?" she questioned.

"Relatively. No one's here though." He said, looking around, "Curious."

"I'd say someone's here." Rory told them, his voice wavering slightly. "Or do they normally decorate with Skeletons?" he said looking around.

The Doctor rushed to look where Rory was looking and spotted the skeleton lying on the ground against a wall. "Not good…" he muttered.

Amelia frowned, "Is this bad?"

"Maybe." He replied. "Let's ask the trouble magnet." He said turning to say something when Tish spoke.

"Okay. Doctor, is this bad?" Tish said teasingly.

He sent a half-hearted glare her way, "I meant the female one." The Doctor strolled across the dirt where they landed and towards the street where River waited with Anita and Dave. "What's happened here?" he demanded.

River shrugged, "You tell me. We're still trying to figure it out." She said smiling at him

"Just got permission to excavate a few days ago." Dave said cheerfully, "No one's been here in a few hundred years and in about a month it'll all be gone." He explained earning a glare from River and the Doctor.

"Last chance to get our hands on some of the texts around here." Anita sounded reverent. "All that history and knowledge…if we don't save it it'll all be gone." She piped in.

"Hmm." He thought about it as Rory and Tish came to see what was going on.

"Hey, Rory." Dave gave a half wave.

"Er…Hi?" Rory offered, looking at Tish in confusion. She shrugged indicating she didn't know who it was either.

"Never met us?" Anita asked sympathetically.

"Yeah." They said together.

"Side effect of being a close friend of River Song or the Doctor is that sometimes you meet people out of order. Hi, I'm Anita Carmichael." She offered her hand to Tish, a bright smile on her face made River look a bit leery. "This is my fellow cohort and our pilot, Dave Young." She said taking Tish's hand.

"Nice to meet you." Tish and Rory both shook the offered hands.

"I'm—"Tish started.

"We know." Dave said, grinning ear to ear. "Is this what it feels like? When you know more than the other does? I like when it's turned around." He said with a grin.

River looked at him warningly, "No spoilers." She said firmly.

Dave waved her off. "Spoil sport."

"What's with the skeletons?" Rory asked, gesturing all around, quite disturbed by the few he could see and the crashed shuttles.

"Is this something we should really be upset about?" Tish clarified.

"There are dead people everywhere and you ask—mrph." Rory glared as the Doctor covered his mouth.

"Any toxins? Plagues? No rampaging Aliens?" he asked the trio of archaeologists.

"Beyond you? None." River said. "Lots of signs of violence by humans against humans though. It's like everyone went mad at the same time."

"Hmm." the Doctor nodded looking around at the signs of violence in some places, the crashed shuttles and graffiti.

"No ideas?"

"A few, no solid ones." River agreed.

"Not to be a stickler or anything," Rory said, pulling the Doctor's hand off of his mouth. "But there's skeletons, graffiti, crashed…somewhat car things, no known cause for deaths to which you aren't concerned and besides that, aren't you supposed to be in prison?" he added, looking at River.

River shrugged and smiled, "What can I say, Rome was more interesting than Prison."

"Hey, where's Amy?" Dave asked curiously, usually she'd have greeted them by now…wait, introductions. Maybe she didn't know them? She should still be with the Doctor even if she didn't know them.

"Amelia?" the Doctor twirled in place searching for her. "Amelia?"

"Not five minutes on planet and you've lost her." Tish said.

"I lost her? YOU'RE her nanny!" the Doctor said accusingly, "You're supposed to keep an eye on her too!" He grumbled.

"Oh just search." Anita waved them off, "It's a deserted planet. Well, bar Bren, Joyan and Johan but it'll take a while to get to them on foot." She said shaking her head.

Rory grumbled in disgust and jogged off in the direction he'd last seen Amelia go, followed by Tish as the Doctor pulled out the sonic to track her.

* * *

><p>Amelia looked around in amazement, it was so bright here! The buildings were huge and the streets were so empty. Well, there were weird car like things on them that looked banged up and what looked like the skeletons from the nurse's office lying around, but it was empty!<p>

"Yumo, its Rome!" Amelia said eagerly. A different Rome, but it was still A Rome.

Yumo yipped happily and chased after a small mouse he found skittering across the pavement.

"Yumo!" She laughed, chasing after the excited Uval.

He ran down the street, his fairy wings fluttering in the breeze as he bounced. Yumo slid around the corner chasing the critter and was forced to stop when it slid under a brick wall.

Yumo growled and yipped at the hole in the wall, scratching at it stubbornly.

"Sorry, maybe next time." Amelia giggled. She hooked his leash back on him just in case and pulled out her camera to snap some photos.

"Psst!" the sound of another person made her pause then turn to see who it was. Across the street two buildings up someone was standing just inside the alleyway waving at her. Amelia looked around, no one else was anywhere near her; the Doctor was with River and her friends and their friends so…

"C'mere." The girl repeated.

Amelia tugged Yumo's leash slightly and hurried across the street to see who was there. Maybe it was important.  
>She ducked into the alleyway where the Girl had been and actually got a good look at her.<p>

The girl who gestured her over had on a loose pink blouse that seemed to shimmer around her and down her arms where they ended at a point at the backs of her hands and swirled around her hips; a long white flowing skirt skimmed her lower leg on one side and barely hit her knee on the other that twirled when she moved.

She wore white sandals with crisscrossing straps that had wedge heels that showed off her feet, including the pink toenails. Her right ankle had a weird rope like bracelet on it and her other was decorated in what looked like ivy drawings.

A silver bracelet lit up her right wrist, with tiny blue lights blinking steadily inside every silver cylinder shaped beads and she had on a long silver chain necklace that disappeared into her shirt.

She was pale skinned and taller than Amelia was; Amelia's head barely reached mid sternum. She had long red hair that skimmed her shoulder blades, with the bangs and sides pulled back into a clip on the back of her head. She didn't have much makeup on that Amelia could tell, besides her lips being red and her nails being pink and long.

"Who're you?" Amelia asked.

"Long story." The Girl replied with a smile. "You're Amelia Pond."she said simply looking at Amy.

"Yeah…No. No, it's McCrimmon." Amelia corrected quickly, wincing at the mistake.

"Shh, it's okay." The Girl assured her, crouching down a bit to scratch Yumo's ears. The Uval sighed in bliss and leaned into the touch, obviously trusting her. "I know already. Don't worry. You're on Rome, you know that?" the strange girl said smiling.

"Yes. Rory chose where we went." Amelia eyed her suspiciously. "Why're you here?" she asked suspiciously.

"To talk to you." She straightened up again. "Rome's empty, but there's still stuff to be discovered." She told Amelia, but her smile faltered some. "Some stuff shouldn't be discovered. But it will be, because it has to be." She sounded resigned as she fiddled with her bracelet, turning it around her wrist. "There's something I need you to remember, it is very important." She tugged at the chain around her neck and pulled out a pendant. It was a small gold disk that would fit in Amelia's palm with complex engravings on top, small designs around a large cross. She dangled it out by the chain and dropped it into Amelia's outstretched hands. "Soon, very soon, you're going to be somewhere uncovered where the truth locks you in. That's the one way out that doesn't involve traumatizing everyone." The last sentence was said in darkly amused tone.

"How will I know when that is?" Amelia asked her, slipping the chain over her own neck. "Or where this goes?" she asked the girl.

"You know, that's a damn good question." The Girl replied with her bright smile in place again. The blue lights on her bracelet were speeding up and emitting a beeping noise now. "But we're out of time. That's my ride." The teen said smiling.

"Wait!" Amelia cried as the Girl turned to run. The Girl paused at the end of the alley, one arm on the other side of the wall, the other hand on the wall nearest Amelia as she turned back to look at the younger girl. "What?" the teen asked looking back.

"Smile." Amelia said, snapping two photos quickly with her camera.

"Sneaky." The Girl giggled and took off running again.

Yumo made a noise like when he'd started chasing the mouse and pranced in place making Amelia smile. They both took off in the direction the Girl had run, catching sight of her skirt swishing around a turned corner. The duo skidded into an empty garage Amelia thought she saw the Girl go into and Yumo was aiming towards it just in time to see what she was pretty sure was a TARDIS disappear from view.

"Whoa." Amelia said seriously.

Yumo sat down and stared at the empty space with the best version of a perplexed look she'd ever seen on an animal.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Dun dun dun! <em>I thought you gave up on the dramatics? <em>NEVER! I don't think there is much of an AN this week...look out for a few oneshots probably. One for Abby09 and one detailing Mickey because Mickey is awesome. _You guys can still search for references if you want. _Blame her for the Bones ones, she's an addict.]**


	59. Pictures, Fires and Digging

"I swear that girl needs a leash." Tish groaned, jogging around a corner to find Amelia. "Amelia!"

"Amy!" Rory called loudly, hands cupped around his mouth. "Or guardians who actually keep track of her." He muttered ignoring the glares he was receiving from Tish and the Doctor.

The Doctor ignored them as he dashed past, sonic out in front of him, following the beeping noise.

"Cheater." Tish shook her head but followed the Doctor.

They found Amelia standing in an empty garage, leash in one hand and something gold in the other.

"What've I told you about wandering off?" the Doctor scolded her lightly, placing his sonic back in his pocket and running his hand over her hair.

"I didn't wander off." Amelia protested. "Yumo started chasing a mouse 'cause I didn't have his leash on and I chased him to keep him from getting away and then this girl came and—" she rambled as she defended her actions..

"There's a girl? Another girl?" Rory asked. "I thought no one else was here." He asked worried.

"Ditto." Tish said seriously. "What'd she look like?" she asked kneeling down to Amelia's level and asking her softly.

"Where'd she go?" the Doctor asked, twirling in place to examine the room, trying to figure out what it was he was sensing.

"Um…You're going to think I've gone potty." Amelia hesitated. "But I think she went into a TARDIS." Amelia said amazed as she thought of the encounter.

The Doctor froze mid twirl and quickly tried to balance himself, righting his footing and waving his arms. "What? How do you know?" He demanded quickly his eyes darting all around as if expecting either an attack or to see something.

"It looked like yours." Amelia said honestly. "I think. It faded when I got here, but it sounded like yours and it was blue!" she said her eyes brightening as she waved her arms.

The Doctor looked around and pulled out the sonic, twirling it like he had as it buzzed. He glanced at it and shook his head. "I should know better than to revisit somewhere I already am." He said more to himself then anyone.

"You should, but I doubt you do." Tish agreed.

"You believe me?" Amelia asked hopefully.

"Yes." the Doctor said simply. Amelia had no reason to lie, but the fact he'd been there again concerned him. He didn't remember coming to Rome before but something was bugging him about this Asteroid. Something just buzzing in the back of his brain like a word lost on the tip of his tongue; a nagging feeling he just couldn't explain.

"What did the girl look like?" Rory asked Amelia, ignoring for the moment that this meant some weird form of Time Travel had happened again.

"She was tall, but she had heels and had this weird bracelet." Amelia ran her fingers over her right wrist. "It was silver and blue and it blinked and beeped." Amelia paused, realizing how stupid that sounded. "I took a photo though!" she said bouncing and digging her camera out of her bag before running to the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>Amelia dug through the photos in her room. They printed directly the moment she pressed the button and that was something she liked very much.<br>'Yumo, Yumo, Doctor, Tish, Rory, random house…There it was' Amelia pulled two photos out of the pile and looked at them. In both photos the Girl was in the exact same pose, but the expressions differed.

The first photo showed a genuine smile that lit up her eyes; the second photo shifted and the eyes gleamed with mischief and the smile became sneaky.  
>She took the first one with the smile and left her room quickly to go find the Doctor again and show him. Maybe it was one of his companions. One of the cool ones!<p>

* * *

><p>"Um, isn't this a bad idea?" Rory asked as Dave. Dave had been piling small pieces of wood inside a stone circle for a little while before stacking larger logs on top. Now he was pouring a large amount of something that smelled strongly like petrol over top of them.<p>

They were sitting around a small cleared area, halfway between the shuttle and the TARDIS, where the Archaeological team had set up their tents.

"Nah, I've seen River start fires hundreds of times." Dave said easily. "Most were intentional." He said happily.

The Doctor tugged his coat up to cover most of his face, as Dave struck a match and let it fall.

* * *

><p>Tish stretched as she helped River and Anita move some of their collected artifacts, popping her back before picking up another bag. "So you do this every day?" she asked as she picked up a dirt covered…well she assumed it was a eating implement of some sort, at least she hoped it was that and not some sort of murder weapon…to catalog into a bag.<p>

"Every job, anyway." Anita agreed, carefully setting down what looked like an infant's cot next to their main boxes and placing a strap over it to secure it from rocking.

"Some of us do more work while others lie around reading." She said glancing over at River conspiratorially.

River let out a breath of annoyance and shot Anita a glare. "If I could help it I wouldn't be in prison." She said a bit of sadness and anger in her voice.

"You break out weekly." Anita countered.

"Why don't you just stay out?" Tish asked her.

River shrugged, putting down the last bag. "I made a promise to someone a while ago." She said sighing.

"I see." Tish didn't press matters but exited the shuttle with the other girls. "Don't your guards try to stop you?" she asked remembering a field trip to the prison during one of her sociology classes.

"Try is a key word." Anita grinned.

River went to reply but paused in thought as what had been intended as a camp ground was briefly engulfed in a small fireball. "Amy was in the TARDIS, wasn't she?" she asked a slight tone of worry in her voice.

"Yumo too." Tish agreed, listening to the yelps and hysterical laughter.

"At least they got the fire going." Anita said cheerfully.

Tish left the two to lock up the shuttle and made her way to the camp ground where the boys were currently running around. "Drop and roll, Dave!" She yelled, "Drop and roll." She giggled as the boys complied.

* * *

><p>"I found it!" Amelia proclaimed, running up to the group around the campfire. Yumo bounced ahead and tried to leap up onto Rory's lap, but didn't succeed. "How come you've got no eyebrows?" She asked Dave curiously.<p>

Dave rubbed his forehead. "Bit of an incident with the fire." He grumbled.

Rory lifted Yumo onto his lap and looked at Amelia, "Found the photo?" she asked.

"Yup." She showed him and Rory looked at it seriously, studying it. Something was extremely familiar about the girl but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"Huh." He handed the photo to Tish.

Tish felt the same recognition but didn't know who it was either. "Recognize her?" she asked the Doctor, handing it to her right.

He took it gingerly in his fingers and stared at it. "I don't know her, not really." the Doctor said cautiously, "But I do recognize the bracelet." He said, "I do wonder why she has one…"

"Is it one you have?" Tish asked as he handed it back to Amelia.

"Let me see." River said, holding her hand out to Amelia.

"Not currently, no. But it's mass produced. It's pretty much a high tech baby monitor." He explained.

"Earth baby monitors just listen to sound." Rory told him.

"Thus the 'high tech', Williams." the Doctor said, sounding cross. His features and voice lightened as he started explaining again. "It transmits pulse, breathing rates, temperature and location and it can monitor any deficiencies in nutrition if it's keyed to it." He said, obviously enthusiastic about them.

"Hated those things." Anita said with annoyance in her tone. "Meant mum always knew exactly where I was." She grumbled, "Feel sorry for her having to wear it that old, Mom let me off it at age 13" Anita muttered.

"They were HELL on my teenage years." Dave complained bitterly. "Never had any fun." He said in agreement.

River scoffed. "Never had to wear one past age 7." She said smirking at her companions.

The Doctor looked at her with a smile. "Never heard you mention your childhood before." He said a part of him glad for the information.

"Spoilers." River told him and handed the photo to Anita. "She's grown up a bit, hasn't she?" she said changing the subject.

"Older than the last time I saw her." Anita agreed.

"Much older." Dave proclaimed. "I think she's passed you, River." He smiled at the memory of the last time he'd seen the girl.

River laughed lightly and handed the photo back to Amelia. "That's you, sweetie. In my sandals, I might add which I plan to lecture you for when I meet that old of a version of you." She said smiling at Amelia.

"That's me?" Amelia said in awe. "That's me." She said connecting the dots, a look of amazement on her face.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure that's you." River agreed.

The Doctor's face flashed with emotions before settling on amusement. "Isn't that a spoiler?" he said smirking.

"No worse than pointing out a photo of someone else. It's just a 'who you'll grow to look like', not who they'll grow to be." River smirked back.

* * *

><p>"Bit close, aren't they?" Anita said in a stage whisper to Dave, intending for River to hear. She nodded to indicate Tish and the Doctor who were sitting next to each other so close their legs were nearly touching as she tried to help him figure out how to roast hot dogs with a skewer in a way that wouldn't cause them to catch fire which meant Yumo was lying a safe distance away from them feasting on a pile of charred hotdogs.<p>

Amelia was sitting on another bench nearby with Rory eating hotdogs and crisps watching as the Doctor messed up again and again.

"Quite close." Dave agreed, watching Tish rest her hand over the Doctor's on the skewer to keep him from igniting it again.

"Hmph." River said grumpily.

"Hah!" the Doctor proclaimed loudly, producing finally something he could eat.

Yumo looked up with a sigh of disappointment.

Tish laughed at him, "Good going, it only took twelve attempts. Still, it's better than the Pyrex issue." She said remembering that particular event.

"I still say that wasn't my fault." He said as he fixed his meal with great care.

"You blew up Pyrex with a sonic. It was completely your fault." Tish countered.

He made a face at her then took a bite of his hotdog. His face changed completely and he dropped his plate, waving at his face unhappily, hands flailing.

Tish laughed at him openly while Rory and Amelia tried to hide their giggling. "Spit it out then." She said, handing him a napkin.

He gagged and spat it out into the napkin. "What was THAT?" he yelled outraged.

"A hotdog." Tish told him easily as Yumo dashed forward to steal the spilled food. "You said you'd had them before." She sighed, as she watched the Doctor.

"They weren't disgusting before." He complained, using another napkin to wipe his tongue.

"Big baby." Tish commented, putting aside her own plate full of crisps. "Want me to get you something else?" she said standing up.

He nodded desperately. "Yes! Please." the Doctor added after a few moments.

"Be right back." She told him. Turning to address the rest of the group she rolled her eyes at him. "Anyone else need anything while I'm up?" she asked them.

River, Anita and Dave all shook their heads mutely in response, obviously surprised by her actions.

"I'm good." Rory told her.

"A fizzy drink?" Amelia asked sneakily.

Tish laughed at her as she walked off.

"She's fetching him something else?" Anita whispered to her friends, "Oh, they are close." She giggled.

"Shut up." River muttered darkly.  
>"Very close." Dave agreed. "Going all the way to the TARDIS." He said smirking.<p>

"It's twenty feet at best." River snapped.

"They act a bit like an old married couple." Dave said, dodging the smack aimed at him.

Tish returned several minutes later with a large serving bowl and a spoon which she handed to the Doctor. A cursory glance showed it was full of frosted flakes and milk. She tossed a bottle of juice to Amelia and received a happy smile in reply.

The Doctor grinned, mouth full, "I love when you do the shopping." He said digging in.

"Don't speak with your mouth full." Tish scolded him lightly.

"She does his shopping!" Anita hissed, completely entertained.

"She does, regularly it sounds." Dave laughed quietly.

"Shut up." River repeated.

"Maybe more like a newly married couple." Anita commented as Tish handed the Doctor a napkin and scolded him for spilling milk on his bowtie.

"Bite me." River sniped.

Too late, Anita and Dave had an idea and it wasn't going to go away.

* * *

><p>-Two weeks later-<p>

* * *

><p>"See, I still can't figure the letters out." River said in annoyance, showing off her notebook.<p>

They'd been searching and cataloging for two weeks and she still couldn't quite get what all the random letter and number combinations were meant for. Dave and Anita were stumped as well.

"Let me see?" Rory asked, extending his hand. He had been exploring all over with Amelia, the Doctor and Tish for the last two weeks, barely showing a passing interest in most of the 'scavenging' as he'd called it in favour of the museums and things they had located. Currently she wasn't sure where the Doctor or Amelia were, but Tish was lying on top of the shuttle sunbathing.

"It's bible stuff." Rory told her.

"Bible stuff?" Anita came closer to look over their notes. "How so?" she asked curiously.

"P 23:4. Psalms, chapter 23, verse 4." Rory told her. "I suppose it could be 'Proverbs' but Psalms makes more sense." He recited, years of church training taking over.

"What do those mean?" River asked him quickly. "I don't own a bible." Well she did own one, but she didn't think he'd appreciate if she showed him her 51st century multi-planetary and species bible…

Rory shrugged, "Psalms is , paraphrasing here because different bibles say it differently, 'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me'. Proverbs…" He closed his eyes deep in thought as if searching for something. "Uh, something about trying to get rich and being clever…I think. I know it's been yelled at me before." He said, his mind getting lost in that memory for a minute.

"That'd make sense." River agreed, quickly writing down the Psalms passage. "What about "P 7:11?" she asked curiously.

"Erm…" Rory froze, thinking. "Hold on, I know that one…Where do I know that one…Hah! Dad yelled that at Mel's at my 16th birthday party. I got a lecture about it afterwards with bible verses included." As he spoke he didn't notice River flinch. "' God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day.' Does that make sense?" he asked looking around.

"Yeah, it does." Anita nodded, writing it down as well. "So, whoever was writing this stuff knew they were going to die and wanted to proclaim people were wicked?" she questioned.

"Probably." Rory said. He stuffed his hands back into his pockets, obviously uncomfortable with the bible talk. "I swear, after all the stuff they made me memorize that was Bible or Religion related I'm never forcing my kid to church. Hell, I don't even go myself." he muttered.

"You done being all Preachy and Educator like?" Tish called down from the top of the shuttle.

"Yes." Rory yelled back with a grin. "You done acting like a lizard?" he laughed.

"Yup." Tish agreed, peeking over the side at them. "Someone toss me up a shirt? I'm not climbing down in my swimsuit." She yelled.

"You climbed up in a swimsuit." River teased.

"Less people were around then." Tish stuck her tongue out at River.

"Here." Rory chucked up what he assumed was Tish's shirt that was sitting just inside the shuttle.

Moments later Tish appeared, climbing down the ladder built into the side. "The Doctor just sent me a message." She said looking at her phone.

"Oh?" Rory asked, trying not to let his eyes travel any lower than Tish's eyes.

"He's requested we put together a lunch and go locate him on top of 'some car park' to have a picnic because they're 'quite happily relaxing' and 'are in no way stuck'." Tish said. "I'm going to go find trousers and proper shoes. I'm not running in sandals." She said looking at her outfit.

Rory tried not to look as she walked away and instead studied his shoes.

"What's with you?" Anita asked him, clearly trying not to laugh. "No straight male wouldn't look. Oh, I get it. 21st century ideals, right? You bat for the other team!" She attempted the slang of that time and the look River sent her told her she'd succeeded.

"No!" Rory protested, voice squeaking. "No, I like girls!" he insisted.

"Uh huh. You haven't once flirted with her though." Anita said, reclining against their work table. "What's with that?" she asked needling.

"I uh…She's…She's Dr Jones's sister." Rory said desperately. "And I think she's taken." He said a tone of sadness to his voice.

"Taken? By who?" Anita asked eagerly over River's protesting.

"I think the Doctor." Rory mumbled, running a hand through his hair and making it stand on end. "I mean, the way they act…but she's always texting this 'Jack' guy." He said his tone getting sadder and sadder.

River was turning interesting colours by now, Anita noted, "So, steal her away!" she said firmly.

"What?" he asked terror in his voice now.

"Be a big strong manly man and go after your girl!" Anita cheered for him.

"She's not my girl." Rory said, flushing crimson.

"She could be." Anita offered, a smirk firmly in place as she barely kept herself from doing an evil puppeteer laugh. "Be strong! Be a man!" she said forcefully.

"Why are we being men?" Tish asked curiously, reappearing fully dressed with a bag over her shoulder.

"Because Rory is one?" River offered quickly before Anita could say anything.

"Yeah, a very fit man." Anita agreed with a grin.

Tish gained a strange look as she watched them then shook her head slightly as if to clear it. "Coming, Rory? We've got two people and an Uval to not rescue." She said smiling at Rory.

"Of course." Rory said, linking his arm in hers when offered. He glanced back at Anita who waved cheekily at him.

"I'm going to kill you and bury you beneath ten tonnes of concrete." River said evenly.

* * *

><p>"Stuck?" the Doctor scoffed as they spread out on a blanket to eat. "I wasn't stuck." He grumbled<p>

"We weren't." Amelia protested, tugging Yumo to sit with them. "Really." She said happily.

"Uh huh. That's a reliable story." Rory said, handing out sandwiches.

"Were you stuck, Yumo? Huh, baby?" Tish asked, scratching the Uval's ears and gaining a happy noise like a purr in return.

"That'd be a yes." She told the Doctor who scoffed.

"He didn't say yes." the Doctor said, "Just was quite happy you scratched him.

"What? How would you know that?" Rory asked him.

"The Doctor speaks Uval." Amelia said, "He said he'd try to teach me but wasn't sure if I could learn it." She continued sadly.

"I speak everything." He corrected Amelia looking quite smug.

"Impossible." Rory said seriously. "No one could speak everything. Especially not any humans." He insisted.

"I'm a Time Lord. Basically, I rule." He said, speaking with his mouth full once again. "Besides, some humans can. You currently aren't speaking English." He smirked.

"It translates." Amelia proclaimed helpfully.

"Oh, it does not!" Rory yelled.

Tish laughed, relaxing as they argued good-naturedly about whether or not someone could feasibly speak everything even with TARDIS intervention.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>A fun chapter! Yay! <em>For now. _Dramatic. _I like angst...sometimes. If it's well done and for a purpose. _You're just mean. _That doesn't mean trouble's not coming. _You are mean. _Want me to stop writing it? _NO! I mean, ahem, I like your ideas and that plot is good. _That's what I thought. Enjoy! Hopefully some one-shots coming soon.]**


	60. Darkness and Flashing Back

Complete darkness surrounded them as the cave began to rumble. Silence reigned for a few moments until slowly voices started to be heard. "What's going on? What's happening?" Anita yelled as the walls shook, dirt falling from the ceiling in a way that reminded Tish seriously of Australia and being sucked into the ground.

"TISH!" Amelia screamed into the encroaching darkness.

"Amy!" she heard several voices call out.

"Doctor?" Tish called, searching with her hands for anyone nearby, but encountering no one.

Suddenly everything stopped; all noises, she couldn't even hear anybody breathing.

And then the screaming started.

* * *

><p><em> -Five days earlier-<em>

* * *

><p>"I don't think it'll fit." Amelia sighed as Anita helped her into a suit she had to wear for digging.<p>

It was clear plastic but a lot like footie pajamas. River said if she wanted to help dig she had to wear something for the first few layers. Once they were down far enough they could wear their normal clothing, but for now she had to keep from dropping anything from her shoes or clothes that could contaminate their soil samples.

"It should. It just might be a bit big." Anita said, zipping her up.

It did extend past her hands by a few inches, but once she had gloves on it should be fine. The wellies were bright yellow and covered up to just below her knees and it even had a hood to cover her hair if she needed.

"Who's is this?" Amelia asked, tugging lightly at the material. "Do you have kids?" she asked curiously looking at the outfit again.

"I don't." Anita said. "Here, I've got a kit too." She handed Amelia a wrapped up leather case. Amelia unrolled it and found a set of well-loved digging tools.

She pulled out a small shovel and found on the red handle a small carving. On the very bottom of it there was something scratched in. She wiped at it for a moment and examined it in the light. _'Amy'_.

She looked up at Anita in shock. "Mine?" she asked looking at the items again with renewed curiosity.

"By time they're brand new, you'll be an expert." Anita winked at her, "Come on, we've got digging to do." She continued causing Amelia to laugh happily.

* * *

><p>They'd marked a large area off where they were going to start digging, it was an area that covered forty square feet with the back section up against the side of a small mountain. The maps they'd located inside one of the bigger churches said that something should be in the area, but their issue was that some sort of landslide had buried everything under about twenty feet of dirt. River had searched over it alongside Dave with metal detectors and other equipment trying to see what was important. The maps said something 'big' but no one could get it translated completely.<p>

"I get to man the digger." Dave claimed.

"Shouldn't I get to?" River reasoned, "I mean, this expedition is being led by me and I don't often get to use heavy machinery." She said nearly laughing at the expression on Dave's face.

"But…I want to do it." Dave nearly whined.

"Can I do it?" the Doctor asked eagerly, bouncing in place. It was basically a backhoe, how could he NOT want to try that?

The horrified looks from everyone was enough of an answer.

* * *

><p>The first few layers were easily but carefully moved away, each part sorted carefully and samples taken. For some reason the stones they found were all shattered as if they'd been hit by a sledgehammer, not from a normal landslide.<br>They didn't find much in the way of decorative items, just a few broken vases, the Doctor quickly lost interest and was off with Tish 'exploring' what was left of a gift shop.  
>Rory and Amelia on the other hand were both happily playing in the dirt, only half-heartedly looking for 'treasure'.<p>

That night as they sat around the fire before bed Anita couldn't help but notice the looks Rory was sending Tish and how he'd scooted his seat closer to her.

* * *

><p><em>-Four days ago-<em>

* * *

><p>"Found something." Dave yelled loudly across the pit to River. They were only five feet down but it was mostly easily cleared with nothing of worth being located.<p>

Bren had called them the night before with what she'd found from examining the bodies they'd brought her and the ones she'd found with her team.

From what she saw, Bren was able to determine that 90% of the wounds on the adults were either self-inflicted or murder, with only a few undetermined or dead from dehydration. But all the children were murdered; not a single one under 13 with anything that could be called self-inflicted.

They'd tried hard not to cry, but even the Doctor's mask had started to crack.

River carefully made her way over to where Dave knelt next to the edge of the mountain. "What'd you find?" He asked curiously.

"Stone work. Look at this." Dave dusted the wall lightly. Against the bottom in a clearly curved pattern was what looked to be the top of an archway

"Is that marble?" River asked. She dug into her pockets and produced a clean flannel and a small bottle of water. She wet the flannel and wiped gently at the stones, clearing away dirt and exposing white polished stone.

"I think it is." Dave agreed eagerly. "We've found a door, haven't we?" He nearly bounced saying the words.

"I think we have." River said.

"It looks like the counters at Henry's dad's house." Amelia told her, having come over to look.

"Marble's a popular decorative surface." Dave said.

"Think we need to take this down another layer." River said, tucking the flannel and water back into her pocket.

Amelia grinned, "I'll tell the Doctor to get the digger!"

* * *

><p>"So…" Rory scuffed his trainers on the dirt as he walked with Tish. "What was your job before you became Amy's nanny?" he asked nervously.<p>

"I was…Well. You know those big high powered professional types that can't do anything for themselves and rely on their assistants to fetch coffee, send flowers, and buy gifts for their wives or husbands?" she said honestly.

Rory looked aghast, "You were one of those?" He sputtered staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.

"No." Tish laughed, "I was the assistant." She said laughing harder at Rory's expression.

Rory shook his head, "I can't picture you as the order taking type." He said staring at her again.

"Yeah, well I'm good at it." Tish shrugged. "I have an amazing memory for details so it wasn't hard to keep track of what my boss was doing, what he needed done and what important dates he needed remembered." She said smiling at him.

"Ever work for anyone famous?" Rory smiled at her, the question quite innocent in itself.

Tish paused, both in words and stride. After a moment she started walking again. "Professor Lazarus. Um…I actually worked for Harold Saxon too, briefly." She said nearly whispering the last bit.

"Whoa." Rory's eyes went wide, "You must be quite good if you worked for the Prime Minister." He said amazed not seeing the sad look on Tish's face.

"Yeah, well he knew my family." Tish's voice barely contained bitterness and Rory looked worried he'd said something wrong.

"Did I-" Rory started blushing.

There was a loud screeching noise of gears grinding on machinery and a loud shriek followed by laughter in the distance.

"What on Earth…" Tish took off at a jog to see who'd done what now.

Rory followed behind dutifully, still wondering what he'd said wrong.

* * *

><p>"I still don't see how you managed to dump dirt on yourself." Tish brushed dirt from the Doctor's hair, amazed at how much had stuck. He pulled away from her, tilted his head towards the ground and scrubbed at his scalp with his fingers, dislodging more dirt then she could imagine and several small rocks. "Didn't they tell you that you couldn't use the digger?" She said scolding.<p>

The Doctor rolled his eyes and looked like a grumpy child. "I'm an adult, I can do what I want and I wanted to use the big digging tool." He pouted.

"He didn't hurt anything, thankfully." Dave reported. "Just got some dirt in the digger. Dig's still fine." He continued laughing as he worked on the machinery.

"Dig might be fine," the Doctor muttered, "But I've got dirt down my shirt and in my pants." He said grumbling at the sensation.

Tish chuckled, "Go clean up and I'll make lunch, okay?" she said calmly staring at him.

"Fine, fine." the Doctor couldn't resist the light tap to Amelia's head as he passed her. "Stop laughing, Pond, or I'll find some Kyreberry sweets!" He threatened.

* * *

><p>"Can I try that?" Amelia asked curiously motioning to Tish's drink. They'd decided to unwind once again with a marshmallow roast and Anita had located and brought out her 'stash' which meant most of the adults were now holding something alcoholic. The Doctor had taken one drink and spit it out, sputtering and wiping at his tongue. Rory had politely declined, in favour of making sure anyone who was drinking didn't burn themselves on the fire.<p>

"No, -" River cut herself off and tried to look calm.

"Sure." Tish nodded, holding the cup out so Amelia could take a drink. There was nothing wrong with a small sip to try it, in fact it'd probably discourage her from drinking for years. "A SMALL drink though." She continued.

"Like when the Doctor tried to gulp the cup of hot sauce?" Amelia asked looking at the cup for a moment.

"Just Like that," Tish nodded looking at her.

Amelia nodded as she leaned forward and took a small drink and made a face.

"Don't like it?" Tish laughed.

Amelia shook her head frantically.

"Either swallow it or spit it out, but don't spit it near the fire." Tish cautioned her.

Amelia choked it down and breathed out as if her mouth were on fire, "That's nasty." She yelled.

"It's not!" yelled the majority of the adults.

"I agree." Rory told Amelia quietly, "Personally I like Rum better." He whispered.

Anita and Dave sat close together, whispering and gesturing to the group subtly. Rory was sitting close to Tish and River looked extremely grumpy.

* * *

><p><em>-Three Days ago-<em>

* * *

><p>They'd finally gotten down low enough in the dirt that they were starting to find more interesting bits. Pieces of marble, fractured and shattered were scattered through the dirt along with small pieces of twisted metal that River couldn't identify the source of. Everything they found was shattered, not just broken but as if thrown against something with great force. Dave even dug out a chunk of metal that had scorch marks on it.<p>

"Oh, it's definitely a door." Dave said eagerly, tracing his fingers along the small crack in between the door itself and the frame, coated over by so much dirt and mud it was almost impossible to see. "Question of the century is: where does it lead?" he said quietly.

"I have yet to find anything." Anita complained, slipping yet another chunk of marble into a plastic bag, sealing it and marking it with its own number. "Nothing on any of my papers, I mean, I can't exactly take the time to translate every single book we find. I'm not THAT good in Latin." She grumbled staring at the items.

"I understand, really I do." Rive told her, scraping lightly at the dirt coating something hard. "We'll just do it the old fashioned way." She said continuing to scrape.

"Bust down the door and charge in with flashlights attempting to scare off intruders with a digging pick?" Dave said from where he was packing up some more artifacts.

"That was one time and we were students!" River yelled back.

* * *

><p>"Watch out, it's gonna blow!" the Doctor yelled loudly just before there was a loud exploding noise followed by a splattering noise.<p>

Amelia peeked out from under the kitchen table at the rest of the room which was bespattered with something pink and gloopy.

"I think we'll call this 'a near success' ." the Doctor said, peeking over the island counter at the simmering bubbling mass on the stove.

"How is this near success?" Amelia giggled. "This isn't frosting! It looks like yogurt." She said giggling.

"It's the thought that counts." the Doctor said sheepishly.

An odd sound caught his ears and he looked up just in time to catch the last of the 'frosting' falling from the ceiling on his head.

Amelia cracked up laughing, nearly rolling under the table as the Doctor sputtered and wiped at his face desperately.

He flicked his hands, slinging the gunk to the floor, stopping and licking his lips he smiled thoughtfully. "Hmm, tastes like pineapple." He stated taking another lick.

"Um, do I want to know what you've done?" Tish asked from the other side of the door, refusing to open it.

The Doctor and Amelia shared a panicked look before shouting back together: "No!" before starting to laugh.

"If I open this door am I going to regret it?" Tish said, her tone getting a warning note to it.

"Probably." the Doctor said cheerfully.

"Is anyone hurt?" she asked sighing.

"We're good." Amelia yelled back.

"Even Yumo?" Tish voice was stern.

The two looked around quickly and located the now pink covered Uval sitting quite happily under a chair cleaning the 'frosting' off of himself.

"He's fine." the Doctor agreed, licking frosting off the side of his hand. "We're fine." He said laughing again.

Tish decided against opening the door. "I'm going out for a walk with Rory, okay?" she said hoping they'd clean up the mess before she got back.

The Doctor opened his mouth to protest but realized if he asked her to stay she'd see the mess he'd made. "Fine. We're fine. Everything is A-Okay!" he continued laughing again.

"Amelia?" Tish asked again.

"We're good." Amelia giggled.

They heard Tish walk away and the Doctor peeked out the door and looked back at Amelia. "The coast is clear. You steal your bath, I'll take mine and we'll meet up by the pool." He said laughing.

"What about Yumo?" Amelia questioned, indicating the Uval who was trying to lick the back of his own neck.

The Doctor looked around and spotting no better option lifted the pup up. "I'll stick him in with me." He said looking at the dog.

Amelia didn't need to speak Uval to spot the look of panic on Yumo's face.

* * *

><p>"I have a hard time believing you've never had a girlfriend." Tish scoffed, arms crossed as she walked down the path with Rory. The Doctor had dragged the three of them through 90% of the city already and River had hauled them through the other 10%, but it was still nice to revisit the nicer parts.<p>

Rory shook his head and smiled embarrassed. "Not many people line up to date the insane boy whose brother is a suspected murderer. Also, it didn't help I'm part welsh." He lowered his voice for the last two words, whispering it harshly like it was a horrible crime.

"You know you're brother is innocent." Tish said, shifting the small bag she carried to sling it over her shoulder, freeing her hands.

"Yeah, I do, but if I tell anyone then I'm more insane." Rory watched the pavement playing the childhood game of stepping around the cracks. "I mean, I told them a WWII soldier came into my hospital room, asked me about aliens, about Doctors and then gave me white pills to make me forget it." He went quiet for a moment.

"Tish?" he asked timidly.

"Yeah, Rory?" she asked back quietly.

"That wasn't a dream, was it?" Rory whispered

Tish shook her head, "No, I don't think it was." She said calmly.

Rory nodded, continuing the perilous game which got harder closer to the park. "At least I'm not insane. Though why someone would be dressed as a WWII soldier in 1996 is beyond me." He said mystified.

Tish giggled, shaking her head. "Who knows, maybe he's just a little eccentric." She laughed fully then, thinking of just who she knew like that.

"A little?" Rory wobbled, nearly hitting a crack and barely retained his balance. "I've never worn any weird outfits. I mean, every day. The Centurion doesn't count." He said pouting.

"It's a shame you don't wear it every day." Tish commented, "You look damn good in it." She said a slight blush forming on her cheeks.

Rory stumbled, tripping over a chunk of upraised sidewalk and landing on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Tish offered him a hand.

"Scraped my knee, but I'll be fine." Rory said, hiding how much it'd hurt when he knocked his knee against the pavement.

"Oh, poor boy. Hold on." She knelt on the ground next to him and dug into her bag and produced a small box that was blue on the bottom and white on the top with a red cross in the centre. "Let me see?" she asked.

He tugged at his jeans – now with a hole on the knee – and pulled them up to show her the wound. He winced as she did, he'd really come down oddly. All because a pretty girl complimented him.

She opened the box and produced a small packet which she opened. "This is going to hurt." She said smiling at him.

Rory nodded, smelling the alcohol from the wipe. "I'm ready." He said bracing himself.

She carefully wiped his knee, noting the inhaled hiss but no cursing or yelling came forth. Tish quickly applied the antibiotic ointment and covered his knee with a plaster. "There, all done." She told him, placing a kiss on the plaster for good measure.

"Thanks." He said awkwardly, blushing as he straightened his jeans again. "You should be a nurse, you're quite efficient at that."he said examining her handywork.

Tish laughed, tucking everything back into her bag. "Years as a big sister and now as a Nanny. Use to be Leo and Martha'd come running to me for treatment. I was quicker at it and it didn't sting as much. I have no idea how that works because I used the exact same stuff." She said to him.

"You're just sweet enough we can ignore the pain." Rory said, trying to sound suave.

Tish smiled at him, "I'm sure your patients say the same about you." She said giggling.

Rory stumbled slightly again and Tish giggled, grabbing his arm to right him. "Feeling clumsy today?" she asked trying not to laugh harder.

"A bit." Rory flushed.

Tish wrapped her arm through his, "Then I guess I'm going to have to help you stay upright." She said leaning into him as they walked.

* * *

><p>Tish sat next to Rory, laughing as Anita regaled them with a story about their last dig in which there had been a bit of a cave in, a few explosions and one very naked Dave.<p>

"How's your leg feel?" Tish asked Rory.

"Fine. You've got a healing touch." Rory told her.

Tish smiled, "Thanks, I—" she started

"Tish!" the Doctor proclaimed loudly.

Tish turned to look and see why he was being loud and found him carrying a large platter covered in something pink. "What on Earth is that?" she questioned.

"That's cake, and it's on Rome!" Amelia informed her, carrying a tray that held a teapot and several plastic cups.

"You've made cake?" Tish looked shocked. "How?" she asked amazed.

"By carefully following the recipe the fifth time." He said. He sat it down on the fold out table by the other try and smiled brightly. "It's an apology cake because of the dirt and ruining your shoes." He said hopefully.

Tish smiled, "Is this why I'm not allowed to open the kitchen door?" she teased.

"You can now." the Doctor said eagerly, "The TARDIS cleaned it." He said simply.

"Um, why does Yumo smell like Old Spice?" Dave asked, scratching the pup's ears.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: So we aimed to give you guys a longer than normal chapter but that chapter ended up near 7000 words and well, posting THAT much is a bit out of our pattern. If we have time we'll try and post again before next Friday because ending mid-countdown is just MEAN. <em>Very. But it's also very you. Besides, it was waaay too long. <em>Yeah...but I like this arc! Oh and be on the lookout; there's surprise romance next chapter! Enjoy!]**


	61. Flashing Back and Darkness

_-Two Days ago-_

* * *

><p>Amelia sat in the sun, legs stretched out in front of her, relaxing with her back against a large tree. She twisted the gold disk she'd been given by, and it still made her head dizzy, her older self. It was flat on the bottom with a slightly curved top.<p>

The gold had designs carved into it but the cross in the middle wasn't as interesting. Some of the smaller symbols were more interesting. She brought it close to her face to make her eyes focus more trying to figure out what was bugging her about the small circular carvings set on the four sides of the cross and one that sat dead centre in the middle of it.

They were identical but there was something around them, something odd.

She traced the top one lightly with her finger and felt it move slightly, just a bit of a wiggle. Amelia looked at it, intrigued by it. On impulse she pressed the circular pattern down and yelped in surprise and dropped it when something shot out the top.

"Amelia?" River yelled, shielding her eyes from the sun and looking at her from the dig. "You alright?" she asked.

"Fine!" Amelia yelled back, "Just found a bug." She yelled back.

She wasn't sure why she lied but she picked the disk back up. There was now what looked like the blade of a key sticking out the top of the disk, quite firmly in place. It wasn't sharp at all, it was actually just like a house key.

Testing a theory she pressed the other three outer circles and three other keys appeared, sticking out at all four sides of the cross. Holding her hands clear she pressed the centre button and all four keys rotated at once.

She pressed the centre button again and they returned to their original place. She pressed the other four once by one, making the keys retract.

"I've got a key." Amelia mused to herself. "I gave myself a key? I have a key for something I don't even know yet. Ugh." She tucked it back around her neck and down the front of her shirt. Oh well, at least she knew what it did now, even if she didn't know when it'd be used.

"Amelia!" the Doctor shouted, hands cupped around his mouth to catch her attention. "Come on, we've got fish to catch!" he said cheerfully.

Amelia grinned and climbed to her feet. The Doctor had found a pound and kept making jokes about Amelia but when he'd fallen in it on accident , she really hadn't tripped him, he'd found it was full of fish still. GIANT fish as she'd learned when he shrieked and jumped out of the pond onto the dock when a large catfish 'tried to eat him'.

"Are you coming, Rory?" Tish asked him. She was dressed in shorts and a tank top, covered by a button up shirt that hung open with a large bag slung over her shoulder. He'd been pointedly trying not to stare most of the afternoon.

"Yeah, yeah sure. I don't really fish but, yeah." He nodded enthusiastically.

The Doctor looked quite cheerful, several poles resting against his shoulder. "Grab the box, Pond, I can't do all the work." He said pointing to a box.

She stuck her tongue out at him but lifted up the box anyway.

* * *

><p>"How was I supposed to know she couldn't swim!" the Doctor yelled at Rory in annoyance.<br>Amelia was in the TARDIS with Tish changing clothes and getting warmed up. She'd hooked a **large** fish on her pole and with a strong jerk had been tugged right into the pond. The Doctor had laughed till Amelia didn't reappear.

He'd taken a flying leap, diving headlong into the water. Rory had just reached the water's edge when the Doctor had surfaced with Amelia. He nearly sunk back into the water when he shoved her out of the water and into Tish's arms on the dock.

Amelia was fine and had recovered quickly enough, though she had spat out a large amount of water.

"You could have asked!" Rory roared. "She's only seven!" he continued grumbling.

"Nearly Eight." the Doctor said, crossing his arms and glaring at Rory. "And that's plenty old to know." He pouted.

"We were about to start lessons." Rory growled, standing his ground and not letting the Doctor win. "Right after Easter. My mum actually helped run the classes." Rory smirked at the Doctor's guilty expression.

The Doctor however refused to be cowed. "Yes, well we've been too busy to learn about swimming." He said stubbornly.

"Busy? Doing what? Running for your lives? That's VERY educational." Rory yelled

The Doctor and Rory's voices were rising exponentially as they argued.

"She's learned about the universe, about life!" the Doctor clenched his hands into fists. Neither man noticed Dave, Anita and River watching them with a mixture of astonishment, horror and curiosity. "I've taught her more than any normal school could ever teach her." The Doctor said loudly.

"You've also put her in more danger than any life on Earth ever would!" Rory yelled.

The Doctor looked at Rory as if he were stupid. "You obviously don't know Earth like I do." He turned quickly and stormed off and into the TARDIS, the door slamming behind him with a resounding thunk.

Rory tugged at his hair with his hands and let out a scream of frustration. When he stopped the scream he turned to see the Archaeological team watching him. "WHAT!" he yelled in frustration.

"Nothing." Dave said quickly, disappearing back into the hole.

"You're bright red. Just thought you should know." Anita said, ducking away.

River looked at Rory, he couldn't read the look on her face and that unsettled him. "What?" he said quieter this time.

River shook her head, "Nothing. Just…Nothing. Amy can't swim?" she asked quietly.

"No. We were supposed to learn but…Mum taught me but Amelia wasn't there. Now Amy hasn't learned so…I mean, he could have asked BEFORE he took her fishing. He never knew and they live somewhere with a POOL. She does most of her school work by the pool." He growled.

"You could teach her." River suggested, her voice was…off, but he wasn't sure why. "Or Tish could." River said calmly.

Rory nodded, "I could. The Doctor floundered in the water." Rory seemed a bit smug about that. "He couldn't float." Rory said his voice filled with frustration.

"He was probably focusing on keeping Amy floating and less on himself." River mused. "Time Lords are excellent swimmers, positively buoyant in the water and near perfect for diving." She said thoughtful.

"What?" Rory looked crestfallen. "Seriously?" he asked.

"Mhmm. Time Lords are quite literally super human." River looked lost in thought for a moment. She shook her head clearing it and looked at Rory again. "You really that mad?" she questioned

"Furious." Rory said. "She could have drowned. Half the time I'm certain she's scared out of her mind but…She…She loves him. They both do." He whispered.

River frowned, "Both? I doubt Tish does." She said knowingly.

"I don't." Rory seemed bitter. "I better go check on Amy. I am a Doctor in training after all." He grumbled loudly.

River nodded. "Right and I've got digging to do…." She seemed torn between saying something and leaving but after a brief moment of internal debate she turned and left.

* * *

><p>-One Day ago-<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm serious." Anita exclaimed to Tish, "You act like you two are married." She said teasingly.<p>

"We don't." Tish protested.

"Do too. It's a bounce between old married couple and newlyweds, but definitely marriage." Anita said earnestly.

"Everyone can see it." Anita smirked at River and Tish's expressions.

River glowered at Anita and kept silent.

"I mean, you two look so cute together." Anita nearly bounced as she beamed at Tish.

"Please, the Doctor and I?" Tish laughed at the idea. "That's just weird. I mean, after everything…" she said shaking her head.

"After what?" River asked, her curiosity getting the better of the silence.

Tish looked at River, "You know me in the future, right?" she asked.

River looked torn but finally nodded, "Yes." She said softly.

"I…did I ever tell you how the Doctor and I met?" Tish said hesitantly.

"No." River shook her head. "You've always said that you already told me." she said a small smile on her face.

"Same." Anita said.

"I put together this big party for my boss who was on the verge of a giant scientific breakthrough." Tish started, regaling them with her tale.

* * *

><p>"Honestly, you two should just shag and get it over with." Dave said bluntly.<p>

The Doctor choked and was thankful his repertory bypass was in place as it was the only thing that kept water from entering his lungs. "What?" he asked.

"You and Tish." Dave elaborated as the two dug away at the door to clear any more debris in the way. Amelia and Rory were making dirt castles again.

The girls had taken off on a break to take away the newer pieces of stone, metal and clay they'd found. "You two act like you're married anyway." He joked.

"I am married." the Doctor agreed. "Just not to anyone on this Asteroid." He pointedly ignored the bit about Tish.

Dave rolled his eyes. "Seriously. I mean you two would make a cute couple." He was going to win money in this bet with Anita, ethics be damned. "Plus she's really hot." He teased.

The Doctor scowled and flushed under the collar of his shirt. "I wouldn't know." He said calmly taking a few deep breaths.

"Oh, come on. I know you've sneaked peeks. Who wouldn't?" Dave said brightly.

The Doctor ignored Dave pointedly.

* * *

><p>The door was clear by dusk, but the team decided it was best to wait till daylight to break in.<p>

Tish and the Doctor relaxed, sprawled on loungers outside the TARDIS watching the stars. Amelia had been tucked into bed with a bedtime story by River, Amelia was quite taken with River, and Rory had taken Yumo for a walk. Dave, Anita and River had disappeared into their tents but Tish and the Doctor were not quite ready for bed.

It had been a long day and both couldn't stop thinking about everything that Dave and Anita had told them throughout the day.

"So…" Tish said slowly.

"So…" the Doctor repeated, hands tapping on the arms of the lounger.

"I've been hearing some things the last few days. Particularly today." Tish told him.

"Oh yeah?" he asked, blushing in the darkness. "I might have heard a few things." He said quietly

Tish looked sideways at him, "Some interesting things?" she asked.

"Maybe." He nodded, standing from his lounger. "It's sticking in my head." He said

Tish nodded, standing up as well. "Odd how things can stick. Any thoughts either way?" she said smiling.

The Doctor studied the stars. "I'm not swayed either way. Impartial in the 'never thought about' category." He smiled at her.

Tish watched the stars as well, seeing a few streaks shooting across that could be shooting stars or spaceships passing. "Same here. I guess something practical could settle the matter." She said with a smile.

He looked at her inquisitively. "What do you propose?" he asked.

She took a deep breath and stepped closer to him. Placing a hand on either side of his face she pulled him in for a kiss.

After a moment of flailing his hands he settled for placing them on her shoulders as she pulled away.

Tish looked at him, searching his face for something. "Feel anything?" she asked.

He studied what he felt, cataloged it logically and shook his head. "No." he said simply.

She smiled at him wistfully, "Me neither." She hugged him, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight." She said giving him one last hug before she stood up and left.

"Goodnight, Jones." He replied as she slipped inside. He rocked on his feet. An extremely unusual circumstance. Most women flipped out when you said you had no feelings for them in his experience, especially those who travelled with him.

But he didn't feel anything romantic. He felt something akin to love, he guessed, a fondness for her he felt for all of his companions, but nothing that he would call passion. If she didn't feel that way either… He smiled to himself contently.

He wasn't going to lose her and she wasn't mad at him. Life was good. The Doctor entered the TARDIS, intent on checking on Amelia and fixing the fusion coils that were getting gummed up. Neither he nor Tish ever noticed the two people watching from the shadows from different locations.

* * *

><p>-Earlier today-<p>

* * *

><p>"Ready?" Dave asked, widening his stance to ground himself.<p>

"Ready!" River agreed. Everyone stood back as the two broke open the door to expose whatever was behind it.

With much strain they managed to shove the stone all the way open.

The Doctor studied the archway and the decorative door. But it was the inside that worried him. Something was wrong about this place, but he couldn't remember what it was that he should be worrying about. Had he been here before?

"Another room." Anita said dryly. "Neat." She stated.

Dave shone a torch inside, looking around. "Looks clear. Coming?" he asked nearly bouncing as he walked inside.

"Wait." the Doctor warned them, holding up his hand as he closed his eyes, recalling the area in detail to sort out what he'd missed.

River ignored him and with a huff went inside the chamber. Dave shrugged and followed. Anita seemed to hesitate, but went in as well.

"What's wrong?" Amelia asked the Doctor.

"I've been here before." the Doctor said, "be quiet, I'm thinking." He said getting a far away look on his face.

Rory glared at the Doctor, he never paid the appropriate amount of attention. He was never right. He stole things that weren't his…people. Rory slipped his hand into Amelia's and indicated the chamber with a tilt of his head.

Amelia looked between the Doctor and the chamber…Rory was leading so…She snuck inside with him quickly while the Doctors eyes were still closed tightly. Yumo scampered dutifully behind his mistress.

"Doctor—" Tish was silenced again.

"Thinking. Hush."

Suddenly the scorch marks on the metal, rocks and clay pieces came to mind and started arranging themselves. The burn mark no one could explain a few feet from the door that was burnt into the stone floor.

_"There's no way to seal it!"  
><em>

_"I can blow it sky high in sixty seconds, Professor."_

His eyes snapped wide open and memories came flooding back to him. "Amelia!" He looked around, "Where is everyone?" he asked frantically.

"They went inside." Tish said. "You shushed me. What's wrong?" she asked concerned.

"I've been here before. I know what happened and that chamber should never be entered." the Doctor said quickly, fear in his voice. "Amelia…I told her not to!" he growled.

"We've got bodies." He heard someone inside say, their voice echoing out through the arch.

Anger and fear surged through him as he heard a cracking sound of something breaking and heard Amelia cry out.

The Doctor stormed into the chamber, Tish hurrying behind him.

The chamber was circular with a tall ceiling, everything was dirt, the floor was all that was stone. Three doors in a row all made of thick wood with words carved into them.

The far left door 's word was in blue '**Maero**', the middle door was carved in red '**Furo**' and the last's carving was in black saying '**Pavor**'.

"She's fine." River told him, misreading his face as she examined the girl's hand. "Just a scratch." He said.

"I told you not to go in here." the Doctor's voice was thick with anger.

"I…" Amelia looked from her hand to Rory and then to the Doctor. "Everyone else was." She said loudly.

"What are the first three rules?" he demanded stiffly.

"I didn't wander off." Amelia protested, "I went with Rory."

"Do as I say." the Doctor ground out the words. "You don't know what you're getting into. Anita, step away from the bodies." Anita jolted and stepped back quickly.

There were two bodies, resting with their backs against the walls. Unlike the ones outside they weren't exact skeletons, they were mummified. They were also fully dressed in robes signifying they were priests in the Catholic Church with their hands clasped tightly together, a rosary wrapped on them.

"We're just doing our job, Doctor." River said tersely.

Where was all this anger coming from? He could feel it aimed at him by River, Rory and now Amelia. His own anger was clouding his judgement, but more than that it was fear.

"Yes, well you need to get out of here. Now." the Doctor warned her then turned back to Amelia. "I told you not to come in here. You're hurt and you've only been in here two minutes!" he yelled.

"Doctor, that was an accident." Rory tried to stick up for Amelia. "She just touched the vase and -" he said pulling Amelia close to him.

"She—You touched it?" the Doctor's voice was vibrating now. "You don't touch things! Especially not inside somewhere you don't know! You could have been hurt worse, you could have been killed. Rassilion, why are humans so stupid!" He tugged at his hair with his fingers and spun in a half circle.

"Um, guys?" Dave said, attempting to get their attention. The walls were vibrating slightly and the doors was beginning to shake, their words glowing.

"I'm not stupid." Amelia said, tears welling in her eyes. Yumo stood behind her, hunched down, teeth bared as he growled at the Doctor.****

"Thick, the entire human race." the Doctor nearly snarled. He knew this wasn't right, it was just where they were but the anger was magnifying itself. "We need to leave, NOW. There's a reason I had this place blown up." He yelled.

"You buried this all?" River demanded of him, "Why didn't you tell me? Tell us." She corrected, anger and sorrow combating for dominance inside her.

"I didn't remember till you opened the door." He snapped, "I didn't bury it, but I facilitated it. The world had gone mad and it was all we could do to entomb the source." He said growling and looking around nervously.

"Guys!" Dave yelled louder, but was ignored.

"It was hard enough and it took two lives to even keep it dormant." the Doctor raged. "Ace blew up the entrance, but the door was protected. We meant for the inside to cave in as well." He continued.

"I'm not stupid." Amelia cried, "I'm not thick." She yelled loudly.

The walls were shaking, dislodging dirt and making Dave and Anita worry. The other five didn't seem to notice though.

"No, you're not." Rory said, glaring at the Doctor. "He's the moron who didn't think to warn anyone." Rory grumbled loudly.

"SIMON SAYS LOOK!" Dave screamed.

River looked at him quickly and noticed the walls, the glowing door that was creeping shut and the dirt that was coming loose. "Oh God, what is it?" she yelled.

"I warned you." the Doctor looked at the ceiling and then at the doors that were glowing intensely. "I warned you." He ran to the doors, touching each lightly as if trying to sense something, but his expression didn't change.

In fact it seemed to shine with more rage as his features shut down. "It's done…You've killed us." He accused River.

Darkness surrounded them, and silence before their voices started echoing.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Anita yelled as the walls shook with great force, dirt falling from the ceiling in a way that reminded Tish seriously of Australia and being sucked into the ground.

"TISH!" Amelia screamed into the encroaching darkness.

"Amy!" she heard several voices call out.

"Doctor?" Tish called, searching with her hands for anyone nearby, but encountering no one.

Suddenly everything stopped; the cavern was completely still, silent and dark.

And then the screaming started. 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Dun, dun, dun! So nothing's quite resolved, but you know how we got to the start! <em>We really just couldn't leave it without posting the rest. We felt bad and it IS a holiday! <em>Yeah, we just like posting and making people happy, plus I'm about two chapters ahead so yay! _Stay tuned for Friday when it's somewhat-semi-sorta more resolved than it is now! _Enjoy!]**


	62. Anger, Fear and Sorrow

It was dark, unbelievably so and there were screams from everywhere, some pleading, some filled with anger, but all screamed with desperation.

_"Please, I'm sorry!" _River's voice echoing in sadness._  
><em>

_"Stay away!" _the Doctor's voice echoing in fear.

_"I'LL KILL YOU!" _Rory's voice echoing in anger.

_"Daddy!" _Amelia's voice echoing with a mix of all three.

Noises were drowned out by a roaring in Tish's ears and then… things were moving in front of Tish's eyes, even though she knew there wasn't anything there, people began appearing. They were slightly hazy and glowing a tiny bit with white light in the dim cavern, but still easily recognizable.

"_I should have let you die."_ Martha sneered, looking at Tish. She was in her pink scrubs, covered by her Doctors coat.

_"You weren't worth saving."_ Her hands were shoved in the pockets of her coat, something very unlike Martha, as she glared at her sister. _  
><em>

_"I should have just left you in your flat where I found you." _Leo said contemptuously. _"You're just weak." _Tish shivered at these words._  
><em>

_"You deserved everything that happened to you. It was your fault." _Francine stated, her voice mostly blank in a way that terrified Tish.

"No…No." Tish cried, falling to her knees, tears cascading down her cheeks as her words joined the other screams.

"Please, it's not-" she begged choking a bit on the tears.

_"I've never met anyone weaker." _the Doctor looked at her as if she was something found on the bottom of a shoe, but he wasn't the Doctor as he was now, but as he had been, complete with red trainers and pinstripe suit._ "I should have saved him and left you." _He crouched down to look at her, face dark. _"He should have let you fall." _Tish shivered more at these words as the visions assaulted her._  
><em>

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" They swirled in front of her eyes, more taunts and harsh words spoken till her chest hurt from sobs.

_"You're worthless." _Her head jolted up and she saw her father standing in front of her. The expression he held was unlike any she'd ever seen before. _"I wish I only had one daughter. You're pathetic." _Clive hissed. He crouched down like the Doctor had, his face a mass of rage and disgust. _"They should have let you die." _Tish froze at these words, her heart stopping for a moment.

"You…You wouldn't say that." Tish said, voice wobbling. "Not my Dad, he'd NEVER say that." She yelled breaking the spell over her.

She staggered to her feet, ignoring the sharp barbs and caught her balance again. "You're not real. My Dad wouldn't ever even think that because he is a good man and he loves me! He swore he'd protect us and he would never, EVER do anything to hurt me."

Tish caught her breath and took a heavy step towards the figures. "He would trade his life for mine, he's told me so; he wouldn't let me die. YOU'RE FAKE!" She screamed, "GO TO HELL!" She yelled angrily.

The figures exploded into smoke in front of her eyes and she stumbled back. She was back in the room again, the cavern, it worked? It worked! Tish looked around quickly and once her eyes adjusted to the dark she found most everyone was in similar states like she had been, some were crying, some were screaming but everyone was caught in the spell.

Amelia was closest so she went to her first. The girl was curled up, legs underneath her crying hard. Her eyes were fixed in the distance, watching something Tish couldn't see.

Tish knelt down beside her on the cold Earth. "Amy? Amelia. Hey, look at me. Can you see me?" she asked the younger girl shaking her gently.

"He hates me, Tish." Amelia sobbed. "I shouldn't be here." Her voice full of sadness and fear.

'He must be the Doctor', Tish thought. "He doesn't hate you; he wants you here!" she said hugging the girl as she gripped her tightly.

"I'm a bad companion. I'm weak and not worth it." Amelia continued, breathing hard with sobs. "It's all my fault. He's going to leave me on Earth alone!" the little girl cried into Tish's shoulder.

"He wouldn't ever leave you." Tish urged her to listen, hands on Amelia's upper arms and she tried to bring her back to reality. "He loves you and wants you with us." She said soothingly to the girl.

"He doesn't." Amelia insisted tears still full in her eyes.

"He does!" Tish rubbed her hands up and down on Amelia's arms, trying desperately to get her to focus on Tish.

"You're his, and he's never going to abandon you." She said continuing to try and be soothing.

"I'll be all alone, on Earth. No one's there." Amelia sobbed.

"That's definitely not true." Tish pleaded. "You're his little girl and he's never going to let you go and even if by some horrible and unpredictable twist of chance you do end up on Earth you will **not** be alone." Tish had tears in her eyes once again as she spoke. "Rory and I **will** take care of you. Do you really think I'd let you go either? No matter what ,all you have to do is call and I will be there right by your side to help you. You're never going to be alone, Amelia, it's not going to happen." She said staring the little girl directly in the eye.

Amelia shook and clung to Tish, blinking repeatedly. "Really?" she asked quietly, her voice unsure.

"Really. I promise." Tish hugged the girl tight. "You back?" she asked calmly.

"Yes. They're gone." Amelia wiped her eyes and looked around.

The Doctor was pale, standing with his hands clenched tight at his sides, a look of utter despair on his face and his eyes unfocused.

Anita and Rory were both screaming, both unintelligible, at nothing at all. Rory's hands were clenched extremely tight as well.

Dave was curled up in a ball crying and River was sitting, head buried in her knees, body shaking with tears as well.

"What do we do?" Amelia asked Tish. Yumo was hiding by the door, curled up in a little ball.

"Wake them up." Tish replied. "Or try, anyway." She said looking around again at the people.

"Gone, all gone." the Doctor sounded utterly broken when Amelia touched his hand.

"We're here, Doctor." Amelia said, holding his hand between her two. "We're not gone." She said quietly to him.

"Everyone's dead…" his hand didn't even attempt to grip hers. "I killed them all." He said his voice full of sadness.

He screamed something that made Amelia jump. She didn't recognize the language he was screaming in, but she recognized the tone. He broke down sobbing and crumpled to the ground, hands over his head as if to ward off others. "Gone." He said his voice breaking.

He was whispering to himself and Amelia couldn't make it all out, but she did pick up three names mumbled.

She wasn't sure who 'Susan', 'Fred' or 'Ace' were, but how he spoke made her heart clench. "Doctor, please, I need you! Everybody needs you." She said hugging him tight.

"I leave destruction." the Doctor sounded broken.

"No…you don't!" Amelia looked around the room; Tish didn't seem to be having any luck with Rory who actually looked to be screaming harder. She tugged at the Doctor's hands, pulling one away from his head and clutching it with both hers. "Please, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disobey you, I just wanted to see. I'm sorry!" Her voice cracked as she began crying. "Please…We need you…I need you…daddy." She pleaded desperately, tears rolling down her cheeks.

His eyes were still unfocused but his hand suddenly gripped hers. He seemed to be fighting something and his body suddenly jolted as if coming out of a trance. The Doctor turned his head and met her gaze. "You need me?" he asked quietly.

Amelia nodded, hiccupping and wiping at tears. "Yes. I always need you." She said quietly.

He pulled her into a tight hug, holding her close as she cried. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled." the Doctor said soothingly, stroking her hair. "I'm sorry." He said softly to the little girl in his arms.

"I can't wake them." Tish moved to kneel next to the duo.

The Doctor reached out and tugged her close into the hug briefly. "Gotcha" He pressed a kiss to both girls' foreheads and stood up. "Well then, I guess I better start being a genius." He said the beginnings of a smile on his face.

"You said you'd been here before." Tish said, helping Amelia to her feet.

"Yes." the Doctor said, a grimness returning to his face.

"Did you lock these up?" She asked looking around.

"Uh, no." the Doctor said, twirling around and scanning the walls. He ran his finger over one of the glowing words and jerked backwards, looking like he'd been electrocuted. "That wasn't me. I told you, we could barely cover the entrance. The priests out front that you found are who locked them." He spun around, fingertips to his lips.

"What exactly are these?" Amelia asked him, trying to follow his shape in the darkness. A thought finally hit her and she pulled out her sonic, using it to shine a light on the room. She blinked, blinded by the light and clung to Tish's hand trying to ignore the screaming and crying all around her.

"Aliens?" Tish tried to joke, squeezing her hand reassuringly and keeping her other hand wrapped around her cross.

"Yes. Energy entities from the Jeggorabax Cluster." the Doctor said.

"Like the Shades at the hospital?" Amelia asked.

"Yes, but no." the Doctor carefully poked at one of the glowing words, looking relieved when it didn't shock him. "The Shades ate anger and caused an implosion of brain function in areas causing rage. Energy Entities just…They feed off of the emotions but they don't create anything, they magnify it."

"What?" Tish asked cautiously.

"They take what fear you already have and increase it a thousand times until you're absolutely petrified and cannot move for fear; until you'll do anything to make it stop. The entities here fed off of fear, sorrow and anger." the Doctor's face was dark, his eyes distant. "I didn't arrive until it was too late. I'll explain later, I swear, but the longer we're here, the worse they'll get." He tried not to look guilty when he looked around, but when his eyes landed on River his hearts ached.

"How do we stop this?" Tish asked him, moving away from Amelia and catching his attention. His eyes were still lost and Tish saw desperation in them.

"We find the emergency kill switch that slams the doors shut with …an overly complication piece of technology you don't really care about." His voice drifted off.

"Hey…" she said quietly, placing a hand gently on his bicep to catch his attention solely on her, trying to quiet the screams and cries. "Are you okay?" she asked him quietly.

"No one's 'okay'." He brushed it off.

"Are you 'okay' enough to deal with this and break down later?" Tish asked. "That's basically what I'm trying to say." Tish continued looking him in the eye.

The Doctor focused on Tish and could see the signs of panic in her face and the way she was breathing. "Yes, I'm that okay." He hugged her. "Are you?" he asked her.

"I will be." Tish said.

* * *

><p>Amelia looked around. An emergency switch was generally big and shiny and a button, right? In the cartoons it was always easily marked.<p>

She trailed her fingers over the walls, searching with her light hopefully. The Doctor and Tish were talking but she couldn't hear them over Rory and Anita's screams. If she listened she could hear River and Dave's cries. She didn't want to listen.

Her fingers hit something in the wall that felt like a hole, but smoother.

"Oh, god." She looked over at Tish who'd spoken and found the woman was leaning against the Doctor, hand on the side of her head. "Why's it back?"She said whispering.

"If we don't leave soon it'll take us all over again. We haven't beaten it, we've just stalled it." the Doctor warned her, supporting her so she didn't fall.

Amelia looked back at the wall, pushing away the fear that crept through her chest and examined the hole closely, shining the light close to it.

It was smooth and gold, but dusty. She felt inside it and found small grooves.

Then it hit her; the future advice!

She set the sonic down briefly so she could haul the gold disk out from under her shirt. She placed it in the hole and was amazed when it actually fit. She lifted the sonic up again.

"Amelia, what are you doing?" the Doctor asked, coming to look and bringing Tish with him.

"The disk fits. It's a key." Amelia told him, the fear was clutching her heart now so tight she felt she couldn't breathe.

"Are you certain?" he asked her seriously.

"I told myself it was a key." She agreed just as seriously. "The way to unlock us that wasn't traumatysing." She said excitedly.

"Traumatizing." Tish corrected blearily, mostly on instinct.

"Do it." the Doctor said. He pulled his sonic out to be safe and looked on guard.

Amelia slowly pressed each indented circle, listening to the clicking noise as the key blades slid out and into the locking mechanism. When all four blades were out she cautiously pressed the circle in the centre of the cross. There was a loud noise and the walls began to shiver again. The floor shook, more dirt was dislodged and the shining words shone so bright it nearly blinded them.

There was a loud roaring noise that sounded in three distinct tones as the light almost exploded outright, the inside doors clicking with a lock as the outside door groaned and slowly started to open. It trembled and slowly slid across the archway outwards.

"Get out." the Doctor told Tish and Amelia. He placed Amelia's hand in Tish's though Amelia was unsure of who was leading who. "Wait outside, at least thirty feet away from the door." He yelled.

Amelia looked concerned, "what about the key?" she asked.

"I'll deal with it." He assured her, "Now go." He yelled as they turned.

Amelia nodded and lifted up Yumo who was still trembling and hiding by the doorway. The three walked out and the Doctor surveyed those who were left. Rory had collapsed on the floor, and the rest were still curled where they were. The entities might have gone away, but their effects hadn't.

He walked over quickly and placed a hand on Anita's shoulder. She jerked upright, her eyes wild and her body posed to attack. "Shh, it's okay. The door's open, you need to leave. Amelia and Tish are outside waiting." The doctor said.

He helped her to her feet and she left quickly, not looking back.

Next he grabbed Dave, waking him from his stupor. Dave had to be led out, but he stumbled to find the girls where they waited.

He was anxious about who to help next, but he finally settled on River. He knelt by her side, and carefully placed his hand on her upper arm where she sat with her knees against her chest.

She jolted and looked at him. Her eyes met his and he saw more sorrow than he thought possible.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, covering his hand with her own. "I'm really sorry." She said sadness tainting her voice.

"River, we're free." the Doctor said, trying to keep his voice level and calm. "Everyone's outside waiting." He said calmly looking at her.

River wiped ineffectively at her face to clear tears. The Doctor dug into his pockets and produced a bright purple handkerchief for her. She cleaned off her face and took several shaky breaths. "They're fine?" she asked, trying to gain her composure.

"Yes. No permanent damage." He said. "Are you good to walk?" he asked her.

She moved and he stood up, helping her to her feet. "I'll be good." Her eyes searched the room and landed on Rory.

"He's hurt."

"He'll be fine." the Doctor said, leaving River to kneel by Rory. He reached out and shook Rory lightly to bring him out of his daze. Rory sat up, looking much like Anita had. "You son of a bitch!" he growled at the Doctor.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Finally we know why they've gone mad...or at least a section of it. <em>Be happy you go this relatively early, I'm working late. <em>Yeah, happy...Well, we now also know more about Tish but in a strange way even less. I love this fic. _Glad we have so many reviewers who really want to hear what happens next. Make no promises on an__ymore early thanks to work but..._It's good to know we're damn good.]**


	63. Amy & Eleven Ace & Seven

**[AN: Warning, this gets a bit dark]  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Amelia counted steps away from the door and sat down just out of the other side of the dig sight, not really caring that in the process she destroyed their dirt castle towns and got dirt all over her shoes and trousers. She sat next to Tish, the two huddling together with Yumo sprawled on top of them, his face hidden against Amelia's stomach.<br>Anita and Dave came stumbling out minutes later, collapsing near them.

Tish took several deep breaths to steady her nerves and climbed slowly to her feet.

"Tish?" Amelia questioned.

"I'll be right back, Amy." Tish assured her, letting go of her hand. "I'm just going to grab my bag, okay?" she said reassuringly looking at the girl next to her.

Amelia looked worried but nodded, cuddling Yumo close to her.

Tish's legs were shaking but she made it to where their things were. She pulled open her bag and withdrew the pill bottle she stuck in and a bottle of water.

Tish made her way back over to Amelia and sat back in the dirt next to her. She opened the pill bottle and tossed one quickly into her mouth, washing it down with water from the bottle.

Anita and Dave had managed to move and sit closer to them by now and Dave looked at her, eyes still red. "Well, don't be stingy." He held his hand out, "Share the wealth." He said expectantly looking at the bottles.

Tish handed both bottles over without really thinking much about it. She leaned back and wrapped an arm around Amelia comfortingly, letting the girl lean against her. "I'm sorry." She whispered to the younger girl.

"It's my fault." Amelia replied softly, "I followed them in." she continued tears streaming down her face.

Anita snagged the bottles from Dave and took one herself. "We dug it up and went in." she said trying to reassure the girl. A yell from inside the cave caused them all to look as River came walking out. They could tell she was trying to walk normally but was clearly exhausted. She made it next to them and stole the bottles from Anita, without really questioning why she had them.

"Are you okay?" Tish asked River.

River looked at the bottle, glancing at the label then dumped three pills into her hand, downing them before Tish could protest at the dosage.

"That's too many." Tish told River worriedly.

River looked confused at Tish's worry. "Advanced Biology in the 51st. Three's fine, one wouldn't do anything." She said, looking as though she wanted to take more.

"Should I know that?" Tish asked.

"Yes. But I guess this is how you know. Why—?" River started before shaking her head as the sounds of an argument overtook what she was going to say.

"I swear to whatever deities are listening I will get you back for this!" Rory's voice covered the rest of River's question.

"Weren't you listening? It wasn't my fault!" the Doctor's voice growled back. "Blame the archaeologists who dug it up, blame the Pope for deciding it was a good place to train priests, blame article 15 that gave them permission to build here!" He growled loudly.

"You dragged us all into this." Rory was visibly enraged. Whatever he'd seen that caused his anger to grow by so much was obviously still affecting him. His face was deep red and looked like it might bruise.

"You chose Rome." the Doctor's voice was snide as he was still shaken as well.

"Yes, but YOU took us to this Rome instead, just to be petty." Rory snarled. "You can't stand she might possibly like me better than you." He continued angrily.

The Doctor took several menacing steps towards Rory. "You want to stop that right now." He said quietly glaring at Rory.

"Or what?" Rory's eyes could have started fires with the anger in them. "How could you possibly ruin my life any more than you already have?" he growled circling the doctor.

"I didn't ruin your life." The Doctor yelled watching him and frowning.

"You took Amelia!" Rory yelled. "They thought she was DEAD. They thought my brother killed her. I was branded the 'murderers brother' and my best friend since I was a baby was suddenly gone; one of my only friends." Rory threw his hands out as he gestured, obviously at a loss for how the Doctor could not feel he was at fault. "Then, oh THEN I was forced to take pills by a man in army clothes that made me so sick I was hospitalized for over a week all trying to make me forget Amelia ever existed. I went to FOUR psychiatrists and have been on more medications than I can count because they thought **I** was insane with an 'imaginary friend'. I still have nightmares!" His voice nearly cracked with emotion.

"The pills weren't my fault." the Doctor said quietly, his voice still strong but with hints of sadness. "I have a fair idea who **is** at fault and first chance I get I will talk to them about it. I won't apologize for taking her." He looked over at where the group sat, his eyes meeting Tish and Amelia's before he looked back to Rory. "Because I truly am not sorry." He stated honestly.

Rory bit his lip, trying hard not to feel anything related to pity, affection or pride, settling for walking over to the group, his shoes kicking up dirt as he went. "You're insane. He's insane." He jerked his thumb over his shoulders.

"I'm not insane." the Doctor brushed him off, "You just don't think on my level." He said still smirking.

The Doctor moved to crouch by Amelia and Tish. "How're you feeling?" he asked calmly.

Amelia shrunk a bit towards Tish. "M'fine." She said so quietly he almost didn't hear her.

He winced, realizing how much he'd hurt her and that the display he and Rory had put on didn't help matters. "Okay." He nodded and reached towards her to brush her hair back from her face but faltered and tucked his hands into his pockets instead. "Tish?" he asked?

"I'm going to be okay. How are you?" she asked him worried.

"I'm always okay." the Doctor replied, standing back up. "You three?" he said looking at the archaeologists.

"Shaky." Dave admitted.

"Tired." Anita said softly. "My throat hurts from screaming. I think I was screaming…someone was." She continued quietly.

Rory intercepted the pill bottle that River had tried to toss back to Tish. He looked at the label and read it to himself, lips moving as he read. He looked at River then at Tish. "Isn't it against some law to share medication?" he asked looking at her.

Tish shrugged, "You're the med student. You tell us." She said reaching for the bottle "If you're not going to take one…"

Rory popped the top and took one, swallowing it without any water. He thought a moment and with effort broke one pill in half. He recapped the bottle and took the water from River.

Rory knelt down next to Amelia, shoving the Doctor out of the way. "Here." He placed the half of a pill in her hand. "Take this okay? It'll make you feel better." He said softly.

The Doctor pressed down hard against a section of Rory's shoulder making him lose his grip and drop the pill bottle. He looked over the label and at Tish, raising his eyebrows in question.

Tish smiled sadly and tilted her head slightly to the side in a half shrug.

The Doctor looked uncomfortable for a moment then looked at the bottle again, thinking it over. He opened it and poured half a dozen into his hand, tossing them into his mouth and swallowing like Rory had. He carefully placed the bottle back in Tish's hand, his hand resting over hers. He held her hand in both of his, his eyes meeting hers. A million words of comfort and regret passed without a word being spoken.

"Hate to break up the lovey moment," Rory interrupted, still feeling the effects of anger. "But can you please tell us what the hell is going on?" he said glaring at the Doctor once again.

The Doctor dropped Tish's hand and popped up from his crouched position.

"_Lovey_?" he mouthed to himself, obviously confused then shook his head. He clapped his hands together gaining everyone's attention.

"This is a long story that unlike most stories I've been in I don't have a clear recollection of the beginning because I jumped in near the end." the Doctor scratched his head lightly and looked distant for a moment. "What I know of the beginning is second hand gathered at the time." He continued taking a deep breath and sitting down next to them in the dirt, keeping close to Tish and Amelia. "It all started at the end, a few hundred years ago." He began.

"For you or for the Asteroid?" Amelia asked quietly.

"Both." He replied honestly. "I was traveling with this girl named Ace. Amazing girl, fantastic girl. A bit of a love of explosives." He said smiling in remembrance.

* * *

><p>-A few hundred years ago-<p>

* * *

><p>"I said we were going to a beach." the Doctor stated, eyeing Ace's clothing.<p>

"So?" Ace had chosen a pair of long dark trousers with a light blue and grey striped t-shirt under her leather jacket. She'd also taken care to wear her best trainers.

"So why are you in long trousers?" he prompted.

Ace shifted on her feet and got a better grip on her backpack, "Because every time you aim for a beach we end up in some horrifying situation that requires running and last time there was fire." She said smirking.

The Doctor nearly bristled with annoyance. "That does not happen every time." He said calmly.

He threw open the TARDIS door and they were greeted with screaming.

"I think the record stands, Professor." Ace said grimly.

It was pandemonium. People were screaming, crying out in pain, anger and fear. Footsteps pounded loudly on the streets as humans streamed past them, not one stopping to look at the two who had just exited the TARDIS.

A gunshot echoed down the street and the Doctor instinctually tugged Ace to the side to shield her.

"What's going on, Professor?" Ace asked, shielding herself as she stepped away from the Doctor's protective grasp and looked around once again, trying to spot anything that could explain what was going on.

"I don't know." He frowned heavily, spinning slowly in a circle to observe everything. "I think this is Rome." He continued.

"Professor, this can't be Rome." Ace said looking around.

"Not Earth's Rome. If I'm correct the church should be near a mile in that direction." He pointed with his umbrella down the right hand side of the street. "Near the highest point. Catholics always have loved ceremony and unusual analogy's between situation of the Church and positions of power." the Doctor straightened his hat. "Try to figure out what's going on down here as I find the highest in charge. And do **try** to stay out of harm's way." He tapped his finger on the end of her nose and took off at a swift jog towards where he thought the head Church was.

"You too!" She called after him. She steeled her nerves, hand firmly on her backpack strap just in case she needed something from inside it and wound her way through the throngs of screaming people.

No, that wasn't right, not everyone was screaming and 'scream' seemed to…generic a word. There were roars of anger and pain, shrieks of fear, great big bellowing voices demanding for other people to feel pain.

Some stood with their feet planted to keep them level and roared their anger for all to hear. Some were curled up in small balls, sobbing prayers for forgiveness.

Ace approached the calmest looking person she could find after searching two blocks for someone who looked unaffected.

"Excuse me?" Ace crouched down and gently placed her hand on the bicep of the young man.

He wasn't that much older than her, looking to be in his early twenties. His hair was dark brown in sharp contrast to his extremely pale skin. He wore a dark set of pressed trousers and a long-sleeved button up shirt that was dark blue. When he looked up at her Ace noticed his eyes were a deep blue.

"You shouldn't be out here." He told her, his voice eerily calm. His eyes were glazed over.

"I'm just trying to figure out what's going on." Ace shifted her feet to keep from overbalancing. "What's happened?"

"It's the end of the world." He replied. His hands were clasped tight, a rosary clutched in them. "You shouldn't be here." His eyes were shining and red, the tale-tale tracks from tears on his cheeks.

"Well, it can't be the end. Not really." Ace assured him. "I can help fix things. I swear. The Doctor and I, that's what we do,. We save people, we save planets. Tell me, what's gone wrong?" she continued looking at the man.

"I don't know." The man tilted his head backwards slightly, lips moving in silent prayer. "We were fine, then…chaos. Humanity is gone, what remains is Sorrow , Anger and Fear." He righted his head again and looked at Ace fully in the eyes. "But that's fine, because we deserve it. It must be God's wrath. Surely, it's God's punishment for our sin." His eyes watered, but it was as if he'd cried himself out.

"We've all sinned so much." His chest heaved with tearless sobs. "All I've done. I'm sorry for my sins. I'm sorry for the pain I've caused. Oh, God, it hurts so much." His calm façade crumbled into bits. "I don't want to go to hell." He said whimpering.

"You won't!" Ace swore. "If this is God's wrath, where did it come from? Where did it start?" she asked him.

"The priests." He whispered, swooning on the steps to where Ace had to catch and hold him up. "The chambers where they train harness God's wrath so that they may become pure in his image." He continued staring off into space as he stumbled.

As Ace shifted to catch him her left knee contacted something wet on the pavement. He seemed to collapse against her so she was forced to shift to accommodate his weight. Putting all her weight back on her right leg she moved and caught him, barely keeping him up.

He was mumbling something sleepily in another language and she caught a few words she recognized from the few times she'd been dragged to church as a child as Latin, more specifically part of some prayer.

When he fell his hands were jolted, pulling them apart from the rosary and she noticed with horror his palms were stained with blood. Ace was starting to fall backwards and had to lean against the step herself. "What happened?" Ace whispered in shock as small rivulets of blood trickled down his hands from his sleeves. "What've you done?" He didn't answer, his eyes were fighting to stay open and his breathing was more ragged and his skin much paler than it had been.

Ace looked around desperately for help, but there wasn't one sane person to be seen anywhere. Everyone was...gone. They were screaming and fighting or curled up silently weeping.

When he went completely limp Ace let him slide down to lie on the steps and stepped back, horrified.

She wiped at her trousers and jerked her hand away when it came back damp with blood.

What the hell was going on around here?

* * *

><p>The Doctor located the main church and it's offices within a few blocks of where he guessed they'd be.<br>People were crowded inside it, praying and crying. He shook his head in annoyance and wove his way through the crowd to the back. Humans, give them one crisis and they turn to religion instead of logic. Honestly, the lot of them were so bizarre.

He found the door to the rest of the church located to the left of the altar and marvelled at the fact it was unlocked. Right...Priests, so trusting.

The Doctor shoved it open and looked around. No one there, just items for the service. He stepped down the few steps that lead to a hallway and looked around again. To the left a few steps lead up into a wooden panelled room that held dozens of white robes on racks and even more rope belts in different colours hanging on hooks near them.

He took the route to the right and after a few passed doors he was rewarded by voices, calmer than the screams from the church which were still quite loud to his enhanced ears.

"We should have stopped this!" A younger man's voice yelled.

"It's tradition." A more weary voice.

A multitude of voices towered over one another in a desperate bid to be heard.

The Doctor opened the door and slipped in, shutting it quietly behind him. He stood, leaning against the back wall casually observing the room. There were ten priests in various vestments, some fully in the ceremonial robes, but most in the traditional black clothing that went underneath.

"It's too late to be closed." a man with greying-red hair proclaimed, shoving his glasses back up where they'd slid down his nose. "Even if we manage to hold them back the population is still infected and most are not pure enough to fight off all three demons at once." He continued

"No one is that pure!" Another man countered.

"Some may be." a woman said anxiously, obviously trying hard not to bite her nails in nervous habit. "Especially the children." She said quietly.

"The children may have less memories for feasting," the eldest man in the room, a portly man with square metal framed glasses and grey hair , dressed as if he'd just come from a service said softly. "But when parents fear the end, they'll do what they think necessary to protect their child from whatever threat it may be." He said sadly.

The woman looked near tears. "And the best way to keep your children from Demons is to send them to angels, isn't it?" she said losing the battle and crying.

"Humans have such moronic thought patterns." the Doctor said, finally calling attention to himself.

"Who're you?" One man demanded loudly. "And why are you here?" he yelled.

"I'm the Doctor. I'm here to help." He said smiling.

"It's too late to help." The red haired priest told him bitterly. "God's wrath is upon us." He preached.

"It's never too late till the world's on fire." the Doctor said. "Why are you sane? Everyone else seems to have gone insane." He said calmly.

The woman looked at him curiously, "I could ask the same of you." She said staring.

He nodded in agreement. "I assume it's because I'm alien and less prone to infection by most biological sources." The doctor said looking around again.

"That can't be the case." A rather short man told him. "Mr and Mrs Ladkul are Uvodni and they were affected as well." He growled.

"Hmm." the Doctor mused, nodding slightly. "Then my guess would be it just hasn't caught up with me yet. Though my question still stands. Why are you sane?" he asked again.

The eldest priest sighed and intertwined his fingers. "We've overcome this already." he said looking straight into the doctor's eye.

"How?" the doctor asked interest in his voice.

"We've each faced down God's wrath before, quite willingly, and lived to tell the tale, so to speak." the man said heavily. He met the Doctor's eyes. "We cannot be reinfected. We've overcome it." He said shivering in remembrance.

"Tell me everything." the Doctor demanded, "What is 'God's wrath' and how has this happened?" he continued his voice calm.

* * *

><p>Ace hurried along the streets, looking once again for anyone who looked remotely sane. There was no one to be found though, at least none coherent. She could feel the blood cooling and congealing on her trouser leg and fought back the sickness in her gut to focus on her task. She needed to find out what was going on, not get sick.<p>

She had to be brave.

A loud shriek came from inside one of the houses to her right. This was different from the other voices she heard though, this one belonged to a child. She didn't even think twice before she was at the door, flinging it open and listening carefully to which way the yells came from.

Ace rushed up the stairs, dropping her bag at the top to free her arms, just in case.

"NO!" the child shrieked.

Ace dashed through the door on the right at the end of the hall. The room was obviously a child's room, painted in yellows and greens with toys carefully packed away in a chest or on shelves.

What concerned her wasn't the neatness of the room but the large man with a crazed look advancing towards a tiny child who was hiding between a bureau and the wall with clearly evil intent.

Ace searched the room and her eyes landed on a softball bat. Obviously for children and not as sturdy as a true baseball bat, but it'd do.  
>She snatched it up, "Oi! Get away from her." Ace brought the bat down across his back and he roared, stumbling and falling backwards as Ace landed another blow to the back of his legs.<p>

He fell, his head hitting the wall with a crack. Ace wasn't sure if he was dead or just unconscious but she didn't feel the need to check either way.

She set the bat aside briefly and inched forwards. "Hey, hi." She tried to get the little girl's attention. The girl had her hands up over her head, arms crossed over the crown of her head as she curled into herself.

"It's safe now." Ace lied. The inside was safe enough at least.

The girl peeked out at Ace cautiously, uncurling a bit. "Safe?" she asked quietly.

"Yes." Ace nodded. She crouched down to seem less threatening, "My name is Ace, what's yours?" she asked the girl calmly.

"'Ria." the girl whispered.

"Maria? That's a very pretty name." Ace said sweetly. "Can you come with me, Maria? I'll get you somewhere safe." She held her arms out to Maria.

Maria launched herself off the floor and into Ace's arms, seeking safety.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. We're going to fix it?" she said trying to be reassuring.

"How?" Maria asked, her voice muffled against Ace's shoulder.

Ace stood up carefully, Girl in one arm as she lifted the bat again just in case.

"I'm not sure, Maria, but the Doctor and I will figure it out. I promise." She said smiling at the little girl.

Maria made a protesting noise when she started down the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Ace asked.

"Gotta get Anna." Maria told her, squirming. "Baby Anna." The little girl said quietly.

Ace bit her lip. "Okay, I'll find Anna, you go downstairs and wait." She said feeling something was about to happen.

Maria looked like she wanted to whine, but followed Ace's instructions, carefully going down the stairs, clutching the railing for safety.

Ace tucked the bat into her bag, avoiding the Nitro-9 can's that she wasn't supposed to have with her. The door to the left was clear so...she opened the door across the hall and peeked in.

A baby's nursery. Toys, a bookshelf filled with different brightly coloured books. Simple enough.

She headed towards the cot, since there wasn't a baby anywhere else in the room and looked in.

At first glance she could have missed the signs of horror, but all the time with the Doctor made her look twice.

That was definitely a slight bulge in the blanket, and the pillow...

Ace moved the pillow up some, holding her breath the entire time. It tilted to lean against the headboard and all the sickness Ace had been holding in came back full force.

She doubled over, hands on her knees, gulping in air to keep the sickness at bay.

Once she was less nauseous she straightened up and took a deep breath.

She reached hesitantly into the cot, placing her hand lightly on the baby's chest. She felt no heartbeat, no movement from breath, but she noted sadly that she did feel warmth.

Ace jerked backwards, her elbow hitting the cot side, jolting it and making the pillow fall again. She nearly ran from the room, shutting the door behind her. She lifted her backpack from the top of the stairs and slipped it on. Stumbling down the stairs she skidded on the last two, her feet sliding and she barely righted herself last moment.

Maria had grabbed a small jacket from somewhere and was holding a baby's blanket close. "Got Anna?" she asked.

Ace swallowed the lump in her throat. "She's not here, Maria." she lied in attempted calm. "She's safe now." Ace lied.

Maria looked concerned but nodded dubiously. "Gotta bring her blankey still." Maria said, tucking it inside her jacket carefully. "So she can have it later." She said determined.

"Yeah..." Ace bit back the sickness and lifted Maria up onto her hip. Making sure she could still get her backpack or the bat in it if she needed it she left the house.

Outside the screaming could be heard full force again and Maria looked terrified.

Ace lifted Maria's hood up with her right hand and pressed lightly on her head. "Don't look, honey. Don't look." Ace said hoping the girl listened.

Maria buried her head in Ace's shoulder, her arms clinging tightly around Ace's neck.

To hell with searching around anymore, Ace decided, it was time to locate the Doctor and find out what he'd found.

Top of the hill, largest church. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

A gunshot went off somewhere followed by two more and Ace flinched, ducking away from the sound but putting her body between it and Maria. After a moment she started down the street in the direction she'd come from.

She had to save Maria and find out what had gone so wrong here.

* * *

><p>"Years ago when I was new to the church." the old Priest started slowly, his voice betraying his age and emotions. "There was a bit of an incident. Rome was hit by meteorites, three of them to be exact. They crashed hard through the roof of the church and within minutes we knew they were not quite right. All those who came into contact with them felt strange. There were screams and rage...Father Angelo committed suicide the night they fell. He said he'd seen what he'd done and could not live any longer knowing God's Wrath was upon him." he rubbed his hands together, obviously feeling extreme guilt.<p>

"Soon we found that they invoked three specific emotions; Rage, Sorrow and Terror. I...I faced down Rage that night. I was barely old enough to have joined the priesthood. I nearly lost to it, but won out in the end." He said his voice quiet in remembrance.

"So it's alien." the Doctor said, "And you've trapped it." He continued anger entering his voice.

"Three separate alien entities." the man nodded. "They don't seem to create the emotions, just feed from them. Once you've overcome that emotion and the memories it drags to the surface you are unaffected by them." he sat now, with a heavy sigh into what the Doctor assumed was his desk chair. "We trapped them, created caves to house them and a way out." He continued

"You submit people to all three at once?" The Doctor growled angrily.  
>The rest of the room had gone silent, the Doctor noticed, and all had looks of horror, betrayal or confusion.<p>

"No!" he exclaimed. "Each is locked up separately. Only those who are going to become Priests have to enter to face their demons. Those who lead must be pure. The main cavern is locked, once you enter your emotions are cued individually. We've found that when the entities are confronted with more than one person at once they are stronger and can manifest themselves at the same time, infecting everyone there with multiple forms of themselves depending on the highest emotional state inside the individuals." He said as if reciting from a book.

The Doctor nodded, "Makes sense. There's very few places alien's like that could come from. Do they manifest in anything other than emotions?" The Doctor asked.

"No. There are feelings that are intense and take you over, memories flood forth but...unless there are multiple people present that's as bad as it gets." he closed his eyes tiredly, "And there are thousands and thousands all affected at the same time." He continued wearily.

The Doctor held his hands with both index fingers against his lips in deep thought. Mentally scanning all his knowledge for any type of aliens that could create anything like this. There were few that wouldn't leave a trail behind and fewer that could do it with no form. "If I recall correctly, there are entities contained in meteorites that could cause these types of emotions to be magnified in the Jeggorabax Cluster." He explained.

"Father John!" The red haired man exclaimed finally, in complete shock. "They aren't aliens, they're Demons! The church told us so, you've told us so!" the man yelled.

"They're aliens." Father John admitted the long held lie, exhaling heavily. "Not an act of God, but the faith displayed in facing them counts as one. The Papal Mainframe approved the untruth." The Father said sternly to his subordinates.

The Doctor waved it off, "Never mind the religion, where are they kept?" he growled.

Words were cut off as the door burst open and Ace stood there, obviously afraid and holding a small child in her arms, the child was clinging to her in fear as well. "Professor, we have problems." Ace told him, wide eyed and trying to catch her breath.

"Oh, Ace, I think the problems are only just beginning." The Doctor said staring at her.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Sorry it's late! It's not as late as it usually is, but I work till 7pm est most days! Th<em>_is is longer than normal and a bit sadder. _I wouldn't let her cut it, it would have ended with no new information being shown and that was mean. Plus she's indulging me because I've been temporarily abandoned. _It's only for two months. Three at most. _I've still been left behind by my mum so she can move ahead for work and she's abandoned me with the BOYS! BOYS! _You. Will. Be. Fine! Plus you've got your own laptop now. _I do. My background cycles between SJA, Torchwood and Doctor who. I approve. _Enjoy!_]**


	64. Daughters, Nitro9 and Endings

Ace tried hard to keep her breathing normal, ever since she'd found Maria her heart had been beating just a little faster, her breathing just on the edge of being unable to catch her breath. She wrote it off as the things she'd seen on her way there and back, but even now in the presence of the Doctor it didn't fade like it normally would. Normally no matter how afraid she was if she were with the Doctor it ebbed, this time it didn't. She was jumping at the slightest noises and felt like she was being watched, even though the attention was on the Doctor and the old priest.

She sat on the edge of the eldest priest's, John, desk and held Maria in her arms.  
>The little girl didn't want to go to anyone else and Ace frankly didn't blame her. By now she really wasn't sure if she were holding Maria, or if Maria was holding her.<p>

The priests all looked depressed, distressed and lost now, but not like those on the street.

They were all arguing, but not angrily, just forcefully.

"The only way to stop them is to lock them in." the Doctor said seriously. He was starting to feel edgier, like something was clawing at his insides. Anger, obviously, but what from? He had nothing really to be angry about. Sure, humans were thick but...no, not just thick, complete buffoons. Locking up aliens for use in their own twisted games? To keep them in the name of religion! It didn't matter if they were Energy Entities, they still were alive. They should have been helped home, not left to starve!

His blood boiled, his eyes narrowed as he both listened and ignored the priests plans.

Humans...So Primitives, barely away from Apes. Not worth saving, not a one of them.

The Doctor jolted in shock. Where had that come from? There were humans worth saving. Everyone was worth an attempt at saving them at very least. Why...He fought back anger and horror. No, humans needed to be saved, some could be saved. He'd never let his companions go, he'd always save them.

_They don't deserve to be saved._ A tiny voice whispered coaxingly in the back of his head. _They're not worth it._

"Doctor?" John said his name and brought him back to reality.

"What? Right, sorry." the Doctor rubbed his temple and cleared his mind. "What did you say?" he looked over to the priest.

"I said that if we lock the meteorites in once again they won't be able to project themselves to the community. Won't that save everyone?" the priest said staring at the Doctor.

The Doctor shook his head. "They've already been infected with the feelings. Depending on how long they've been under their effects...they'll feel it for some time, even once the starting influence is gone." He explained/

"So you're saying that even though the influence is gone, they'll still be in a murderous rage?" the female priest, Joan, asked in fear.

"Yes." the Doctor nodded. "How long has this been on?" he questioned.

"Several hours, at least." John said.

The Doctor felt the warmth of rage in his chest. This long and no one had called for help? How stupid were they? Primitives? More like barbarians. "How did this happen anyway? The actual infestation of the community, I mean. Though the keeping of them to begin with was the most moronic idea I've heard lately." he barely kept from baring his teeth and showing contempt as he spat out the last sentence.

"A prospective priest was to face the Dem—aliens." Jonah, the red haired priest, seemed heartbroken as he said it. "He panicked and tried to leave as the door was closing. It won't close if something is blocking it. He shoved his way out, screaming about fear and what was coming. In the few minutes it took to get him fully out...he shorted out the mechanisms that move the door. It won't fully shut." He continued quietly.

"Easily fixed." The Doctor brushed him off. "How far is this place from here?" he questioned.

"Not far at all." John answered just as quietly.

"Have you got any shuttles?" Ace asked suddenly. She was pale, and looked a bit sick. Her eyes weren't quite right. _'Infected, obviously. Of course. Why did I think a human could resist something. Pitiful creatures. Pathetic girl.'  
><em>

"A few." Joan nodded, "Why?" she asked.

"Any space worthy? That could leave to somewhere else, I mean." Ace clarified, shifting the girl in her arms. Maria was curled up, one hand clutching Ace still and the other holding her sister's blanket close.

"Yes, but moving the infected would just spread the infestation." Joan answered staring at the strange woman.

"Not everyone is infected." Ace said eagerly, fighting back the fear she might do something wrong. "Maria isn't. I'm sure that there's other kids who aren't." Ace said trying to come up with anyway to save the children.

John nodded, seriously considering it. "True. Most children do not have the life experience to be affected by these...entities." he explained.

"It's been a few hours." Jonah said pessimistically. "We might not be able to -" he said nearly crying

"Don't finish that sentence. Don't even think that!" Joan growled, "There's always hope." She said her voice wavering a bit.

"Always." John agreed.

"Figure out what you're going to do quickly." the Doctor said calmly. His feelings were coming sporadically. A mixture of rage, apathy and annoyance, coming in waves. Currently it was apathy. "I do believe the church is on fire." The scent of smoke was easily detected by his enhanced senses, but would be a while before they could smell it in the offices.

_'Let them burn...stupid humans.'  
><em>

He closed his eyes hard and held them shut for a moment before opening them again. Everyone speaking quickly above one another.

"Silence!" John bellowed. It was the first time he'd raised his voice since they'd been there and the room went quiet. "Joan, Aaron, Isaiah, Levi, Noah, go round up what children you can that haven't been infected and bring them to the main shuttle yard within the hour." He directed, "Benjamin and Jonah, go ready the large shuttle. Michael go with Joseph and send a message to the other towns. Try and warn them of the same."

"I wish to stay with you, Father John." Joseph, a very young looking priest, barely older than Ace stated daringly. "To help fix what has gone wrong." He said quietly.

"Can we debate somewhere other than a church that's on fire?" Ace asked squeakily, she could smell the smoke now.

"Fine. Michael, try to get as many on call as you can." John told the man, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Joseph, come with me. May God be with us all." He said sending a silent prayer to whoever was listening.

They quickly took off down different hallways, heading in separate directions to carry out their missions.

* * *

><p>"You should have left the child with them." the Doctor said in annoyance. The child was small, before the age of reason. Too small to be anywhere it was dangerous. Too small to be of any use to anyone for anything! Stupid, foolish girl. Why would she think to bring a child? <em>Idiot.<em>

"She was scared." Ace defended herself. She felt like hiding much like Maria did, with her hood up, face burrowed against someone stronger. That was pathetic though, she hadn't got to act like that even when she _was _Maria's age. She was terrified and a multitude of reasons swirled in her head all around one central thread; the Doctor. She was afraid of Rome, afraid of those around, afraid what happened to that boy would happen to her, afraid that maybe she'd really hurt Maria's dad badly, afraid he hadn't actually been hurt and would be looking for them...afraid the Doctor would realize she's completely useless and just leave her already.

The fear was building and building and she felt she might cry, but she didn't tell them, she couldn't! If she was infected she was no help at all. Then again, maybe she wasn't any use any other time either. "I couldn't just leave her, they had jobs to do." She said.

"So do we." he snapped. "And it'll be quite hard enough without children around." He griped back.

Plural...Ace felt a jab in her heart. "Sorry..." she said softly, trying to suppress the lump in her throat.

He heard her fine, but didn't feel the need to respond. "John, tell me, why did they decide to do this? What master plot let to imprisoning aliens for your own needs?" The doctor asked harshly.

They were currently gathered in a small building filled with dozens of religious items. John said he needed 'supplies' before they could lock the aliens away again. There were at least two door's leading different places, but he honestly didn't care where they led.

"The search for purity among leaders." John replied honestly as he pulled different sized robe's off of a rack. "Those who can face their own demons can counsel others with theirs. They were making incorrectable priests. It worked." He explained.

"Till you corrupted the entire Asteroid, yes." the Doctor said mockingly. He crossed his arms and glowered as he examined the religious articles with disdain. He could fix this with his sonic and logic, who the hell needed religion? _Weakling with limited to no brain capacity._  
>John looked back at him seriously. "You've been corrupted." He handed the robes to Joseph, "Change quickly."<p>

Joseph looked in awe at the robes and disappeared towards a back room.

"I'm not corrupted." the Doctor growled. Fury welled up inside him like a fire...Humans, so pathetic. They always think too much of themselves, never giving proper credit to those who were better. Horrible, evil humans who think nothing of imprisoning aliens for their own gain. They'd lock him up too if they had the chance. Even the Brigadier!

No...Not the Brig...he wasn't...yes he was. All humans were swine. Nothing more than shaved apes, not worth saving. He should have let them burn in the church!

"You are." John studied the Doctor's face, they eyes in particularly, "You have been for some time. I believe it's rage, but fear can be mistaken for rage quite often." He said sympathetically.

He growled again, low in his throat. "I'm too advanced to be taken over by something as weak as an Energy Entity." The doctor growled.

"Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." John told him knowingly.

The Doctor tried to ignore him and push down the rage in his chest, but it wasn't working.

Humans...always thinking they know everything. Stupid, thick, horrid humans. Every last one should be wiped out like the pests they were. The Master was right, they should rule over them. "I'm perfectly fine. You're the ones who are wrong." he snapped. "Stupid humans always trying to shove your way in everywhere. You take and you take until there's nothing left and then you find somewhere new to steal from! Another species to oppress." He raged, hands clenched.

John didn't look fazed at all by the venom in the Doctor's voice. "No, we try to live in peace with all species as they would with us." John said calmly.

"Thieves." he snarled. "Murderers. Taking and killing and never stopping. Torturing and starving helpless aliens." He continued growling.

"They aren't helpless, Professor." Ace said shakily, "They're causing hundreds of deaths!" she said shakily.

He whirled to face her. "Retribution. You've taken them and hurt them; starved them till they were unable to help themselves. I should leave you all to rot." He yelled, finger pointed at her.

"They're murderers." Ace protested, trembling and holding tight to Maria who looked almost as frightened as Ace felt. "They're making people kill themselves and others." She said firmly.

The Doctor hissed a breath out angrily. "Self-centred humans! You think you haven't done the same? Taking and killing and imprisoning all species! You kill for no reason other than you can!" he yelled angrily.

Ace was shaking, she felt weak and she desperately hoped she wouldn't drop Maria. "We don't, we always have good reasons. We don't kill like that. We don't make people hurt themselves. They deserve to be locked up forever! Humans have reasons for what they do, Alien's just hurt people!" she nearly yelled, thinking back to Fenric. "They should be locked up!" she shook even as she tried to sound firm.

Something exploding inside of him. Anger like he'd never felt before raged through him like a fire and he took a threatening step forwards, swinging his hand back to strike.

Ace flinched and moved instinctively as Maria cringed as well as his hand struck and sent Ace tumbling to the ground, Maria held protectively so Ace took any blow the floor would deliver.

Suddenly he jerked backwards as if he himself had been struck. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach as he collapsed back against the opposite wall, sliding down it to sit on the floor, palms pressed tightly to her temples.

"Get out, get out, get out." he said fiercely, hands pressing inwards in a vain attempt to physically push the forces out. He wouldn't do that, that wasn't him. Insults were a dime a dozen, but he'd never use physical force for any reason, especially not against Ace...not his Ace.

He could feel the rage pressing back, fighting against him as he tried to force it out. Everything was silent, all he could hear was his heartbeat in his ears and the whispering voice of rage.

_'Humans are worthless. She deserved it.'  
><em>

_'I'd never hurt my Ace.'  
><em>

_'They all deserve to burn. The Humans are monsters.'  
><em>

_'Not all. Not my...daughter.' _The realization hit him out of nowhere, he had indeed become a father figure to Ace, and for some reason he really didn't mind. In fact, he actually liked the idea.

There was a loud roaring noise and it felt like something was expanding in his head, growing big and with more pressure then suddenly it was gone. The little voice, the rage in his chest...all the anger was gone, replaced now with extreme guilt...oh Rassilion!

The silence that he'd been swathed in was abruptly gone and in it's place every noise seemed to boom; the little girl crying, John's voice soft and calm...Ace was crying...

His eyes snapped open and he sought out Ace. She was still on the ground, now resting against the wall though with Maria curled up against her side. John knelt next to them both, talking quietly in soothing tones. Just platitudes, nothing of substance. Words encouraging strength and forgiveness.

The Doctor clambered to his feet and quickly crossed the room. He winced when both girls flinched when he got closer.  
>He knelt down at Ace's side and carefully reached a hand out to place on her shoulder, gaining her attention.<p>

John looked at the Doctor, meeting his eyes in understanding. "She's infected as well. Since she returned with Maria." He said quietly.

The Doctor swallowed the lump in his throat, wishing he'd seen it before and nodded sharply. "Ace? Ace, I'm sorry." He said his voice quiet as he tried to calm her.

Ace sniffed but didn't really respond.

"I..." he took a breath, "It was in my head, I didn't mean to, I didn't want to..." he said trying to defend himself.

"It makes you fixate." John tried to help the Doctor out. "On what you were first mad at, no matter how slight the anger and twists everything around that one thought till everything is that one idea's fault." John looked at the Doctor. "You were annoyed by us 'humans'." He said matter of factly.

The Doctor bit his lip. He wasn't that mad, just a bit annoyed at whatever had made this happen. If it could twist that into this blinding of a rage that it'd make him hurt someone who was...family, what could it do when all three were vying for control? "You're infected too, Ace." he said softly, moving his hand to take hers. When she didn't flinch away he counted it as a minor victory. "Ace, what are you feeling?" he asked her quietly.

Ace shifted to look at him and his hearts nearly broke at the red mark that covered the left side of her face and the droplet of blood on her lip. Her lip quivered as she looked him in his eyes and said trembling, "Scared." she whispered, breathing heavily.

"Were you scared before?" He asked, trying to remain calm even as John lifted Maria up into his arms and away from the duo to try and quiet her crying and give the two a moment.

"Yes." She said shakily.

"Since when?" he asked, digging into his many deep pockets to produce a handkerchief he used to wipe the blood from her lip and the tears from her cheeks.

"Since I found the boy." Ace admitted, eyes closed tightly.  
>He didn't know who 'the boy' was, which pained him to admit. "Why are you scared?" he asked.<p>

"It's infecting everyone. It infected me. It could take everyone." Ace said quietly then lowered her voice even more, "That you'll realize I'm as worthless as you told Fenric I am." She said her voice shaking.

The Doctor felt another icy stab to his stomach at the words. "You're not. I was lying then. I explained that to you." he tucked the handkerchief into his left hand and held her hand tighter with his right. "You're not worthless, Ace McShane, you are brilliant and wonderful and amazing." He said firmly looking her in the eye.

"You'll leave me on earth." She mumbled, "Because I'm so weak." She said staring into space.

"Never!" He denied the accusation vehemently. "You're not weak, not even close. How many humans, any species at all actually, in the universe can proclaim they beat up a Dalek with a baseball bat? Does that strike you as weak? Hmm?" he said trying to explain himself.

Ace's eyes met his and they were shining with tears. She closed her eyes tightly, bringing her left hand up to her temple, trying to brush away at some presence he couldn't see. "Not worthless." she mumbled. "Not weak." She continued quietly.

"Not even close." the Doctor said, feeling pride swelling to replace the guilt and shame that had been there before. That was his Ace, for sure. Fighting things off that an entire asteroid couldn't!

"'M brave." Ace whispered strongly. That was right, she was brave. Of course she was. How many sixteen year old's could survive and adapt to being yanked across time and space before meeting the Doctor? She was strong, look at all she'd done...She had to be, she was...She was NOT weak.

It felt like something burst inside her head, but in a good way, like some heavy pressure that had been pressing down on her was now gone. Ace almost felt sick as she opened her eyes again, blinking to clear the tears and fog. "Professor..." she lunged forward the few inches and into the Doctor's arms.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her strongly, still feeling the guilt over the situation.

"Do I look right, Father John?" Joseph asked hesitantly moments later, causing the Doctor and Ace to look up.

He was dressed fully for a service, in robes like John wore. The white robes made his dark skin stand out more than the clothing he'd had before did. The cross around his neck shined bright silver against the front of his robes and his hands were at his sides, splayed as he displayed his new attire.

"Like a true and proper priest, Joseph." John agreed seriously, shifting Maria in his arms.

Ace sniffled and got to her feet with the Doctors help. "Here, I'll..." she took Maria from the elderly priest, reasoning she could hold onto her better and he was of more use...no, don't think like that, she chided herself, she was of use just as well.

The Doctor nodded and righted his had which had become lopsided during all his movement. "Now, if we're done with the religious things, can we get where we need to be?"

John nodded, "First a stop at the main shuttle yard." He checked his watch. "Maria should be leaving with the others. It's for her own good." He said.

* * *

><p>He'd sent five priests to round up children, two returned. But they'd been successful, partially. They brought back with them six others, all small children. The eldest was a small dark skinned boy who looked to be around five years old, the youngest was swaddled in a receiving blanket, held close in Isaiah's arms. The boy ran and tackled into Joseph, only to be lifted up and held close like Ace held Maria.<p>

"We're ready to go whenever needed." Benjamin told them, hopping out of the door of the shuttle. "Jonah's going to head to help out Father Steve and his town. They're trying what we are." He said calmly.

"Where is Michael?" John asked, "He was to meet us once he sent the message." He asked concerned as he looked for his comrades.

Joan bit her lip and rocked the toddler she held gently, "Michael, Noah, and Levi didn't...The rage out there, the fear..." She took a deep breath and eyed the children, speaking carefully "They're with God." She explained holding back tears.

"And Aaron?" he asked shakily.

"He's stayed." Jonah said as he lifted another small child into the shuttle. "We tried to talk to him, but he's sworn to stay and protect those he can for as long as he can." He continued looking down in silent prayer.

John nodded, contemplating their fates and saying a quick prayer. "Take the children and go. Joseph, you should go with them." He gave the boy one last chance.

"No. Father John, I'm staying with you." Joseph said strongly. He sat the boy down on the ground and crouched down to look at him in the eye. "I need you to be strong, Michael. Like your name sake." He said firmly to the little boy.

Michael shifted on his feet, crying. "But you gotta come with! Mama's gone to heaven with daddy!" he whimpered.

Joseph swallowed hard, not crying himself and trying to be strong. "Yeah, buddy, but I need to stay and help everyone else. We're going to fight back God's Wrath and save everyone. And to do that, I'm going to need you to be strong, brave and pray for me." He said hugging the boy.

Michael nodded, trying to look tough.

"Oh, and I have a very special request." Joseph stood up and took Michael's hand, leading him over to where Ace stood. "Michael, this is Maria. She's all alone and needs someone to look after her while we fix things." Joseph tried not to lie, it was a minor sin, but in this instance he felt God would approve. "Do you think you could watch and take care of her? For me." He said his voice shaking as he tried to stay strong.

"Yes." Michael promised. "Always." He said quietly.

Joseph lifted Michael into the shuttle and motioned Ace forward.

"I've got to stop what's wrong." Ace told Maria as she loosened her grasp. "Go with Michael and everyone, okay? They'll keep you safe." She said calmly.

Maria let herself be handed to Benjamin in the shuttle. Michael grabbed her hand quickly and tugged her to go sit down, both looked back longingly as they were situated in the shuttle. Ace wasn't sure if it was for her or for the asteroid, but either way her heart tugged at the look on Maria's face.

"There's still room." Benjamin said, looking at John and Joseph as he went to shut the door.

"Go." John told him with a smile, "And may God be with you." He said simply.

"God be with you." Benjamin repeated, pulling the door shut and sealing it.

"Let's go." the Doctor said, anxious to get this over with. The anger might be gone, but he could still be infected with one of the other two.

Ace nudged him lightly and indicated they were watching the shuttle take off. Joseph was obviously trying hard not to cry as it left ground and shot into the sky. 

* * *

><p>The way to the cavern was rather ornate. The way in was a carved in 10ft wide path that opened into a large rectangular room that was at least twenty feet long by thirty feet wide. The path was carved and polished marble, the walls gleamed white with stones and the lights themselves were built into the ceiling above them, but in the main room filled with vases and flowers and all sorts of carved wooden structures the lights hung down in beautiful glass domes.<p>

A large door stood on the far end of the room, against the mountain. The door was locked at 3/4th open, but was just as beautiful and ornate as the rest of the room. Taller than any of them each piece of stone that ringed it seemed hand polished and pieced together.

The beauty and awe of the room was taken away from by the fact that the closer Ace and the Doctor got to the door the sicker they felt.

The Doctor could feel sorrow and fear starting inside him, whereas Ace felt sorrow fighting with rage.

"We could lock it from inside." John told him. "Interrupting their thoughts. If it were fixed." He said quietly.

"Easily done." the Doctor reiterated his earlier statement. He pulled his sonic from the pocket of his jacket and pointed it at the door. It whirled and the door groaned, opening itself the rest of the way.

"How will you lock it from inside?" Ace asked him. "And how will you get out?" she asked.

John reached into the robes around his neck and lifted a disk out. The disk was on a gold chain and had a cross etched into it and shone gold in the lighting. "This is a key that both locks and unlocks the door. Think of it as an emergency key: If put in place the doors, all four, lock." He said holding the key reverently.

"How will you get out?" she asked again.

"I don't plan to." he said simply. "I can provide a good enough distraction as the outer doors are sealed." He said calmly.

"What then?" Ace asked.

John shrugged, his fingers playing with the disk shaped key. "Then it's up to God." He said his voice full of faith.

There was a loud rumbling noise, but it didn't come from the mountains around them, but from inside the cavern itself. "Impossible." John gasped, "Those..." he continued.

"What is it?" Ace asked.

"The inner doors are opening." Joseph said, paling in shock. "They aren't supposed to do that if the outer door is open. It's not possible." He said worry again creeping into his voice.

The Doctor looked at his sonic. "The mechanisms think it's closed...I changed it without meaning." he said quietly.

John hurried forward looking inside. The words were glowing brightly, and that was NOT a good sign. "Every door is open." He stated worriedly.

Joseph moved to his side. "I'll distract while you lock it." he said regaining the firm tone in his voice.

Before either Ace or the Doctor could protest the two were inside. John shoved the disk into it's slot on the wall and pressed all the buttons on it and the door started shutting itself; Joseph stood in the centre of the room, hands clutched together as he tried to call up as many horrible memories as he could to call attention to himself.

"No!" Ace moved forward but the Doctor grabbed her hand, pulling her backwards. "We have to seal this side." He said sadly.

"But they'll die." Ace pleaded.

"We need to seal this side to help all of Rome." the Doctor watched as the door shut itself fully with a crunch and the room shivered.

The Doctor pointed his sonic at the door and it whirled but nothing happened.

It was fighting as if to open itself again as the Doctor smacked the sonic against his hand and tried again. "It's not working." the Doctor proclaimed in shock.

Inside the chamber Joseph screamed and Ace flinched.

"Doctor!" John yelled through the door. "I can't hold it shut with the key, it's trying to open again. They have too much influence and

power from the outside. "There's no way to seal it!" His voice was afraid for the first time.

"I can blow it sky high in sixty seconds." Ace turned to the Doctor and shifted her bag, full of forbidden Nitro-9.

He looked into her eyes and could sense the pain the decision gave her and nodded his approval. "Good girl, Ace." he moved closer to the door to yell through to the priests. "We can completely cover the door, but it'll involve blowing the room up. You won't have a chance to get out." He yelled to them.

"We never did." John said honestly. "Do it. The door will seal on this end." He said his voice strong as he prepared to meet his fate.

The Doctor nodded and stepped back. The door was shuddering with effort to open and stay closed. "Do it, Ace. Aim for the centre of the room. We don't want the door broken." He said turning to his companion…no his daughter.

Ace nodded and dug into her backpack to produce the needed explosives. "I can do that." She said smiling sadly. 

* * *

><p>-Now-<p>

* * *

><p>"You just left them there?" Anita asked dully, eyes red from crying. No one had really moved since he'd started his tale, most staying where they'd been with very few exceptions.<p>

Amelia was still curled up against Tish but she'd taken the Doctor's hand in hers when he nearly collapsed in his telling of the story.

"Yes." he admitted shamefully. "I was a whole different person back then, quite literally. I just wanted to get Ace and myself out of there and never look back." the Doctor looked around at their faces and adjusted his bowtie nervously with his spare hand. He still wanted to leave. "I can't believe I didn't recognize it right off, even with the changes nature has brought." He said sadly.

"What happened afterwards?" Rory asked him seriously. "To those that were infected, to the ones who got out?" he continued worriedly.

"You're seeing what happened to the infected." the Doctor felt Amelia squeeze his hand in an attempt at comfort and smiled slightly at her. "To the children and priests...I'm not sure. River said the Papal Mainframe says no one left and no one survived but...Well, the Church always has loved it's secrets and lies." He said thinking.

"What are we going to do this time?" River asked seriously.

"Oh, isn't that obvious yet?" the Doctor smiled this time.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: So...part two of Ace and the Doctor is wound up. Only about two chapters of Rome left before we move on to more...well, active things. <em>Nah, probably only one more. <em>I'm estimating! Jeeze...Also, trying to up the word count to about double as usual, maybe a bit less so we can get more done weekly and not spend another YEAR trying to wrap up one Canon season. _It'd be fun but...I like the new bigger and better stories lines we get to soon! _Sooner if we double up. _We're doing season Five, I wanna do season Six! _She's whining. Ignore her. You did not just find out we're keeping this going past the Big Bang 2.0. So did not out that. Continue as you were.]**


	65. Heroics, Conversations and Breakfast

The sound of loud arguing was starting to get on Amelia's already frayed nerves, even as she was feeling calm and floaty and a bit sleepy. Rubbing her eyes she thought of the pill Tish had that Rory gave her that made her feel this way. The argument startled her out of her thoughts as she frowned over to the adults. It didn't seem like mean arguing, like earlier, maybe it was worried arguing, like when Aunt Sharon and Henry argued when she got in trouble in school. Then again adults were confusing when they argued. Amelia stared at the adults again, fighting sleep as she listened to their argument.

"_I should do it, it's my dig." River said stubbornly glaring at the doctor._

_"Yes, but I did it last time." the Doctor countered glaring back._

_"Exactly, it's my turn then." River said coming closer to the Doctor._

Amelia sighed, they were arguing over who got to set off the explosion inside the cavern to seal it back up again. River and the Doctor had told her that Rome was going to burn inside a star quite soon anyway, the Asteroid was getting really hot already and all the adults had insisted she wear sunscreen even at night time. If the Energy aliens are sealed away then they can finish their work, pack up and go home and not worry any more, at least that's what the Doctor said. She didn't like the energy aliens, they made the Doctor sad and that wasn't right. They made her see things and Tish had cried, and Rory yelled so loud and long his voice was scratchy like when she had a sore throat, but he had said he'd be 'right as rain' after a cup of tea.

Tish was sitting in the dirt next to her, watching the argument like a tennis match. Even Dave and Anita didn't look worried so it couldn't be bad. Amelia went over to Tish and snuggled next to her, glancing over to where Rory was sitting looking a little mad.

_"Please, like you can handle such a sophisticated device." the Doctor scoffed._

_"Sophisticated? All I have to do is pull the wire, twist the top and get the hell out of there before twenty seconds pass." River said, clearly mocking how it was put together and his intelligence._

"That easy?" Amelia heard Rory ask curiously, looking over the small bomb.

The Doctor had been really sad when he brought it out of the TARDIS saying that it was only fitting they use it, even if it did look like a silly hairspray can to her. She remembered the story he told and remembered he talked about a girl named Ace once, but not much and not for long. All Amelia knew was that Ace was the girl who taught the Doctor to braid hair, and that she was the one who made the hairspray bomb.

_"Yes, it's quite ingenious but rudimentary all the same." River told him._

They're arguing because neither wants to see the other get hurt, Amelia realized suddenly. That she understood, like when her, Rory, and Mels argued over who would swing across the river behind the orphanage, or who would be the one to distract the big kids from picking on the little ones even though Mels was littler than both of them.

_"I have less to lose." the Doctor said, getting back to the argument._

_"Now that's a crock." River snorted, "I've got a few friends, family that won't notice I'm gone and a pair of swearing budgies. I'm not going to be missed right away and I'm more expendable." she continued glaring._

_"Not again." the Doctor groaned. "Stop saying that." he grumbled at her._

_"Saying what?" River looked puzzled, "that I'm expendable?" she asked him quietly._

Amelia's head popped up as the half heard argument broke her out of her thoughts. "That's what you said last time." she said quietly, her voice causing the adults to stop and turn towards her. "When we were on the other side of the forest in a bottle, on a spaceship, in a maze on a planet that wasn't Earth." She continued not noticing the adults had stopped.

The adults stared at her in shock with the exception of the Doctor who was looking at her with pride.

"Was this the forest in a bottle that was on the spaceship in the maze on the planet that you lot took Luke to?" Tish asked her trying to repeat the words she had used.

"Yup!" the Doctor and Amelia proclaimed together smiling at each other.

"Well, I may have." River said carefully, "But I haven't yet. But now I will have." She turned back to the Doctor. "See? I won't die. My turn." She said going back to the argument.

Ten minutes passed before Rory got an idea. A solution to the problem the others hadn't thought of. He'd seen River in tears and couldn't stand to see that again and the Doctor's pale skin was a concern to him still. He'd fight to keep from admitting it but somewhere along the way he'd grown to care for the Doctor some, at least enough to worry about his health. He was important to his Amy after all. He didn't want to see Tish hurting, nor Dave or Anita and God knows he was NOT letting Amy do it.

He was the expendable one, the hostage that no one wanted around but kept just to keep him shut up anyway...even if that's not what he wanted to be any more. He wanted to keep anyone else from getting hurt, both physically and mentally, he wanted to stop the argument and, God help him, he wanted to impress the Doctor.

Rory glanced at the two arguing adults and the dozing Tish and Amelia then leaned forward and grabbed the canister off the table and before anyone could stop him he was rushing through the dirt and down through the dig pit. He could hear them yell after him in various emotions as he ran, but he made it through into the cavern before they could stop him.

He knew that they wouldn't dare come into the cavern, it meant the Entities would be more active with more people to feed on. He could do this, he had faced down anger and was still ashamed of how he'd acted towards the Doctor. That meant a flip on whether he'd be affected by sorrow or fear. He held the canister in his hands and looked around once again, it was still dark even with the light from the open doorway shining in.

Digging into his pocket he produced the small keychain torch and turned it on. He shone it around the room and this time could almost appreciate the stone work that must have gone into this and the intricate designs that were obviously religious in nature. If he were a religious man blowing this up might seem like sacrilege.

Good thing he'd stopped believing a long time ago.

The beginnings of guilt were starting to creep up in his chest and Rory tried to ignore it. He shouldn't have yelled at the Doctor, it really wasn't all his fault...Not completely anyway. He may have kicked everything off, but after weeks of travelling with him Rory had come to realize just how much the Doctor did care for Amy. The pills hadn't been given to him by the Doctor, but by the Army Man. Rory had seen him in the visions of anger, tall with dark hair, bright blue eyes and a RAF coat. The calmly stated words asking him to forget that lead to being sick for over a week and hospitalization.

The therapy was for the Army man, not the Doctor or Amelia. The medications were because he didn't believe he wasn't real and that he wouldn't come back and make Rory forget this time. The Army man featured in most of his childhood nightmares, as had the unknown person who'd taken Amelia. Okay, the four psychiatrists had been his own fault, but when they tried to tell him it wasn't aliens and it wasn't some unknown spectre that had taken Amelia but most likely his brother he'd HAD to defend Rhys! That was like a brother code or something, no matter how well you got on you had to defend your sibling from others.

Besides, it didn't help they all told him the Army man wasn't real and he WAS.

At least he'd gotten over his 'biting' people phase.

The torchlight landed on something shining gold near one of the skeletons that he now knew the identities of and sadness warred with guilt inside him. He placed the canister on the ground in the direct middle of the room and left it to find what it was that was shining. It shocked him for a moment when he recognized it. It was dusty, tarnished and coated in places with what looked like mud but it was obviously the key that Amy had been given by her future self. The key she'd used was still stuck in the door across the room though...

Digging a handkerchief out of his pocket and quickly wrapped the disk in it before tucking it into his pocket. Looking around he frowned, it seemed mean to blow the room up, especially with bodies in it. It seemed...almost rude.

"Rory!" he heard Tish yell from outside worriedly.

Ah yes, the thing that had annoyed him enough that the anger was manipulated towards the Doctor: Tish. He took his Amelia, Rory got Amy back but it was different now; he had kidnapped Rory, even if Rory was – with great annoyance – actually enjoying the adventures; he forbid Rory from talking to anyone about them and worst of all he'd taken the only girl Rory had developed any feelings for in the last few years. The one girl he thought he might have a shot with, who he liked and liked him...till the Doctor kissed her.

"Williams, if you hurt yourself I'm not running in after you!" there was a loud smack then the Doctor yelled again, "Kidding! Just hurry up." He heard the Doctor say.

Rory rolled his eyes, "Aye, aye, sir." he said to himself, kneeling down to the canister. Pull the wire, twist the top, run like hell.

He steadied the canister with one hand and ripped the wire out, quickly twisting the top and standing upright. He'd just made it outside the cavern when it exploded behind him.

"Rory!" Tish was at his side quickly as he lay in the dirt catching his breath.  
>"You said twenty seconds." Rory accused the Doctor.<p>

The Doctor squirmed and shrugged, "Nobody's perfect." He said grinning.

* * *

><p>-The TARDIS-<p>

* * *

><p>The explosion had apparently been felt where the other team was if the worried calls River had gotten were any indication. Rory wasn't sure if it was a good or bad indicator of River's adventures and personality that they weren't that worried that she could be hurt but in fact more annoyed she might have blown up something important.<p>

Amy was off in the bath, Tish was changing clothes which left the Doctor and Rory sat around the kitchen table, waiting for their friends. Anita and Dave were putting up the rest of their equipment while River dealt with coordinating plans with their other team.

Rory still felt awkward when dealing with the Doctor, how could you apologize for something like the day they'd had? He'd screamed things at him that he shouldn't have. He'd insulted him and used foul language while in the cave, saying things that he never would have in his right mind and even worse once they'd gotten out. It was the aliens in his mind that started it but he must have some feelings that lead to his anger still...

"So..." the Doctor said, tapping his fingers on the table awkwardly.

"So..." Rory agreed sitting just as awkwardly.

They sat quietly for a few more seconds, the Doctor tapping and Rory worrying his hands together before Rory spoke again. "I'm sorry." He said quietly.

"What?" The Doctor asked shocked.

"I'm sorry I yelled, sorry of things things I accused you of and sorry I blamed everything on you. It was an accident you took Amelia and the rest...the rest was the Army man I'm beginning to think isn't a hallucination like I was told." He said babbling.

"No, he isn't," the Doctor said seriously, "and I WILL be talking to him next chance I get, I didn't lie about that." he stilled his hands and looked Rory in the eye, "Can I...what made you...what did it pick up on that made it aim your anger at me?" he asked.

Rory bit his lip, "It's personal." He said quietly.

"You know the story of my anger," the Doctor's voice was quiet, "Tell me yours."

Rory breathed deeply and rubbed his hands over his face. With a sigh he propped his head up in his hands and looked at the Doctor. "The truth?" the Doctor nodded. "Tish." He said a blush growing on his face.

"Tish?" the Doctor's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "Why Tish?" he asked confused.

"I like her." Rory blurted out. He blushed, obviously embarrassed. "I like her, like her." he added, "I think, I mean I want...I sort of kind of want...I want to date her and you..." Rory stumbled over his words. "You...you stole her!" he said angrily the blush still on his face.

"I stole her?" the Doctor asked, baffled and just repeating the words.

"Yes! We were flirting and happy and...I thought I had a chance, but you kissed her...I saw." Rory continued.

"She kissed me." The Doctor said simply.

"You kissed her back." Rory said accusingly.

"No, I kissed her mouth." the Doctor said sarcastically, leaning back in his chair. "Beyond that, I knew her first so technically you'd be stealing her from me." He said smirking.

Rory threw his hands in the air. "That's not much better!" he growled frustrated.

The Doctor leaned forward, suddenly more serious, "Rory, that was us deciding we had no feelings for one another, romantically at least, after days of people saying we were a couple. I'm not in love with Tish. Well...I love her, but not anything that could be considered romance." the Doctor smiled, "I think she likes you...actually, that's not true...Amelia says she likes you and I generally agree when it comes to things Amelia says." He said nodding his head.

Rory's eyes widened, "So...you think I have anything close to a chance with Tish?" he asked.

"You'd have to ask her." the Doctor shrugged. "Now...you were set off with anger because Tish kissed me?" he asked still curious.

Rory blushed scarlet, "Never said it was logical." He said ducking his head.

"Rarely is." the Doctor said sympathetically. "So...you don't hate me for anything else?" he asked.

Rory sighed and tapped his fingertips together. "I...I really should. I should hate being held hostage, the stupid bracelet and being dragged across time and space by a kidnapper, but...Honestly? No. I...you and Amy...I don't hate you." He said smiling at the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded, "Good. Because I'm not apologizing for Amelia. I meant what I said before." He said firmly.

Tish appeared in the doorway and peeked in, "Am I interrupting male bonding time?" she asked smiling.

"No, we're finished." the Doctor said quickly. He launched out of his seat, patted Rory on the shoulder grinning goofily. "Is Amelia out of the bath?" he asked quickly.

"Yes. She's in her room getting into her jammies." Tish smiled, "I said I'd send our boys in to say goodnight." She said grinning at the two.

The Doctor ran to the door, skidding slightly on the tile and stopped, hands on the door frame looking back at Rory. "That thing you said that I said Amelia said that I agreed with?" he said cryptically.

Rory nodded nervously glancing at Tish.

"Go for it!" the Doctor nodded encouragingly, gave Rory a double thumbs-up and took off down the hallway.

"What was that about?" Tish laughed, taking the Doctor's seat.

Rory's face and ears were tinged pink and he wiped his sweat palms on his jeans as he looked up to meet her eyes. "Tish...I..I fancy you." He blurted out.

* * *

><p>"Knock, knock." the Doctor tapped his knuckles on the door as he stepped into Amelia's room.<br>Amelia smiled at him happily, "Doctor! See, no more dirt!" she spread her arms to show she was nice and clean in her nightshirt. "Can you do my hair?" she asked bouncing over to him.

The Doctor nodded and sat down on her bed, moving as the lump known as Yumo who was hiding under the covers squeaked in protest. "How do you want it?" he asked her.

"Just a braid, please?" Amelia handed him her brush and sat down in front of him.

"Coming right up." The Doctor said gathering her hair.

They were quiet for a few moments, the only noises their breathing and Yumo's snoring.

"Did you...am I..." the Doctor broke the silence biting his lip worriedly as he combed her hair into sections. "Did you mean to call me 'daddy'?" he asked nervously.

Amelia nodded as much as she could with the brush working in her hair but stayed silent.

"Do you...am...Are we..." he stumbled over words, too many sentences and scenarios in his head tumbling over one another in competition to be said. "Do you want me to be your dad?" he continued quietly.

"Do you want to be my dad?" Amelia countered timidly.

The Doctor smiled a brighter even more goofy, if that were possible, then the one he'd sent Rory. "I think I really do." He said smiling at her.

"I've never had a dad before." Amelia said a smile growing on her face.

The Doctor sat the brush aside and wrapped his arms around her from behind, "We'll you have now. And you're not getting rid of me, no matter what a bunch of alien's say." He said happily.

Amelia smiled, "Never?" she asked.

"Never!" He agreed, "Now...Bedtime story time." he said, moving backwards quickly and finishing up the braid. "Have you got any preference for what you want to hear tonight?" he said thinking of all the stories he could tell her.

Amelia looked a bit nervous as he tucked her into bed, Yumo squirming up from the middle of the bed to lay with his head resting on her stomach under the covers. "Can I hear more about Ace? What happened to her?" she asked looking up at her new Daddy.

The Doctor sighed as his hearts clenched in memory. "Ace was fantastic." He said wistfully.

"How come she's not with you anymore?" Amelia asked curiously, moving so the Doctor could get more comfy.

"A long time ago, on that bad day where bad things happened-" he began softly.

* * *

><p>"What's with the dopey looks?" Anita asked the next morning as she poured tea and stole a seat at the Doctor's breakfast table. The TARDIS was much more comfy than the campfire.<p>

"What do you mean?" Rory asked, giant grin in place.

Anita noticed his hand was under the table and held Tish's and groaned, mentally trying to figure out how much this trip had cost her in lost bets.

The Doctor was sitting without protest playing with a giant bowl of cereal.

"You look like you've taken Bliss...or got laid. I'm not sure which." Anita said smirking at the looks she received for this comment.

"Neither!" Tish squeaked in protest.

The Doctor looked up, "Bliss?" he asked curiously.

"New thing." Anita waved them off.

River entered the room, her boots making a solid thump with each step. "Shuttle's loaded for the last time. Dave's gone to load it up then he'll be back for us." She said looking at the assembled group.

River was dressed once again in her normal uniform, but this time it the TARDIS crew's attention.  
>Instead of jeans she had on tan coloured shorts that hung around her knees, several pockets attached that were obviously full; her dark brown boots were just as worn and scuffed as usual, but currently they had mud and sand dried onto them; her tank-top was simple and white and a tan vest covered most of it, more pockets on it.<p>

"What?" River asked as their eyes scanned her. She looked down at herself, she didn't look much different than the last few weeks. If anything she looked more casual.

Rory looked at Tish and whispered something quietly in her ear that made the Doctor snicker.

"You've got ears like a Vulcan, you know that right?" Rory asked the Doctor.

The Doctor scoffed, "Fictional characters have nothing on me." He smirked still smiling.

"What's wrong?" River repeated. "Have I got something on my clothes?" she asked the laughing group.

Tish stifled giggles, "No...but you look like you're ready for a party." She said almost losing her control and laughing loudly.

"That'd be a great Halloween costume." Rory quipped.

"Wear those boots long enough you're bound to end up in hospital." the Doctor agreed.

"Okay...and the weirdness of the morning gets weirder." Anita said as the three dissolved into giggles.

"I've seen worse." River shrugged and sat down, stealing bacon from Rory's plate. "So...What's on your agenda for the day?" she asked them ignoring their laughter.

"Get you lot away without causing any more disasters, find something more appetizing." the Doctor lifted a spoonful of now slightly soggy frosted flakes and let them plop down into the bowl off the spoon. He looked at it with disgust and shoved the bowl across the table to Rory. "Drop Rory off for school and work, take Tish to visit, attempt to plan some sort of birthday party and – and this is my favorite part – go find cake." He said his eyes lighting up at the thought of it.

"Why Cake?" River asked in amusement.

"Cake is good. I like cake." the Doctor told her happily.

"Wait, birthday?" Rory repeated. He paused and his eyes went wide, "Oh crap! I forgot Amelia's birthday." Rory looked quite worried.

"We did too until I found it in the book." Tish consoled him. "I'm going to set one up on Earth you can go to." She continued smiling at him.

"Hey, what about us?" Anita complained. "I like birthday parties. Dave and River do too. We can't get to Earth in your time." She continued pouting.

"You three are bad influences on my Amelia." the Doctor said with a hint of a pout starting on his face.

"Your Amelia?" Rory repeated his words again.

"Yes. My Amelia." the Doctor nodded looking pleased. "We agreed last night." He told them simply.

"I see..." Rory caught the Doctor's eyes. "That thing I said you said Amelia said you agreed with?" he said smiling at the Doctor.

"Yes?" the Doctor said slowly.

"She totally does." Rory said enthusiastically.

"Does the TARDIS make all men go weird or is it just the ones I know?" Tish leaned forward to look around Rory at the rest of the group as the two men nearly danced in place.

"I think it's all men." River said smirking.

"Hey!" Rory and the Doctor yelled simultaneously.

"Since when are you two friends?" Anita asked sweetly, stealing another piece of bacon from Rory.

"Since when are we not?" the Doctor countered.

"Since you've been holding him hostage for weeks and made him wear a shock collar." Tish said dryly.

"You two've been fighting for the last few weeks." Anita agreed.

"I'm staying out of this." River said, holding her hands up.

"It's not a shock collar!" the Doctor complained, "It won't shock him for just talking." He said grumbling.

* * *

><p><em>She was standing on the ground of some planet she didn't know, looking around for something to tell her where she could be. The beach underneath her feet was sandy and warm, the water that lapped at her feet was just chilly enough to make her toes curl. It wasn't like Earth beaches though, the water held a purple tint.<br>_

_As she stood there looking around and taking in the scent of salt and lilacs someone appeared in the distance walking towards her.  
><em>

_As they got closer Amelia could see more about them. It was a woman, she could tell, with long honey blonde hair that looked shiny and soft. She wasn't extremely tall, but she wasn't tiny either.  
><em>

_Amelia looked around at the sky and noticed the sun that shone brightly down on them at the same time as she could see some stars, or rather what looked like stars. _

"_I don't know what planet this is. Do you?" Amelia asked out loud, not sure why she was speaking.  
>She'd grown to accept she had weird dreams; frankly she blamed it on fish custard and the TARDIS. The moment she awoke the dreams faded, but while she slept they were all there in her memory.<br>_

"_I do." the blond nodded and looked at her curiously. "This is Claria."she said._

_Amelia frowned, "I was told it blew up; that lots of people died.  
><em>

_The blond woman sat down on a patch of dry sand and looked quite sad. "They did. A good friend of mine died when it blew up." She continued sadly looking at the sky._

_"The Daleks did it, but they got exploded too." Amelia sat down as well a few feet from the woman. _

"_My daddy told me. His friends died too cause they made it explode." she frowned and shook her head. "I don't like that." she said frowning.  
><em>

"_Neither do I." The blond woman said.  
><em>

_Amelia made a noise in her throat that sounded like a growl. "It won't happen" she said stomping her foot and glaring._

_The woman looked up in surprise and whipped her head quickly to look at Amelia's face. "What?" Her voice was harsh with a whisper of fear in it._

_"He wouldn't have let them die. They can't. The won't." Amelia said with conviction. She didn't know why she knew that for certain, something inside her was making promises she didn't know. Something in these dreams urged her onwards to the unknown yet she wasn't afraid of the black void the unknown generally was when the women she'd met talked to her. _

_The woman stared at her in shock and horror as the dream began to fade.  
><em>

Amelia awoke and looked around her room. Yumo was still asleep, snoring with his head resting on her shoulder, no one was in her room...what had woken her?

She felt a little scared, but mostly determined and a bit mad...Must have been another weird dream.  
>She climbed out of bed and stretched, patting the TARDIS wall. "Morning...Can you stop giving me weird dreams?" she asked politely.<p>

The TARDIS hummed around her, but she didn't know how to interpret the hums yet, just the air when it was warm or cold.

Either way it was morning according to the little alarm clock she had and that meant wake up time.

Time to get dressed and brush her teeth and go find everyone for breakfast.

Yumo watched her from the bed as she got ready for the day, yawning widely and trying to figure out who to beg from this morning.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>It's early! It would have really been earlier but my partner got distracted. <em>Yeah, yeah, my dog had surgery and I took a nap. So sue me! That's also the reason this is early, she felt guilty. _Don't get use to it, I won't put up with you babbling every day! _Sure you wont...Anyway, ****enjoy!]**


	66. Refills, Family and Plans

"And then—Shh!" Amelia heard them talking as she neared the kitchen. She tilted her head curiously as a round of silencing whispers were sent through the kitchen the moment she stepped in.

"What?" she asked looking around at them curiously.

"Nothing." the Doctor said quickly. "Breakfast?" he asked her heading towards the stove.

"I'll make it!" Tish said quickly. "You don't use the oven." She said intercepting him and growling.

"I can." The Doctor pouted as Tish pushed him into a chair far away from the kitchen.

"You made the eggs explode." She chided.

"One-" The Doctor looked outraged as he began to get up.

"According to Martha you've done it several times." Tish interrupted pushing him to the chair again.

"Yeah, but-" he started again.

"Some were still in a chicken." She continued glaring at him.

The Doctor sat back sulkily, "Fine." He grumbled.

Amelia sat down in a chair next to the Doctor and smiled at him, "Morning." She said.

"Morning." he repeated happily. "Sleep well?" he said ruffling her hair.

"Yes." Amelia nodded, "I think I had a weird dream, though I can't remember it." She said smiling at him.

"Must not have been important." the Doctor told her.

"Must not have." Amelia agreed. "What are we doing today?" she asked curiously.

"We're going to make sure River and her friends get off of Rome before anything bad happens, we're going to visit Earth to get Rory to work and school, we're taking Tish home and we're going to find a bakery." The Doctor rambled.

"A bakery?" Amelia said curiously.

"Yes. I want cake that I didn't make." the Doctor agreed.

"What, no complaining that I'll be gone?" Rory whined playfully.

"Of course!" Amelia said quickly. She would miss Rory, but it was only for a few days. "But you always come back, no matter what!" she stated smiling at him.

Rory nodded, "That's right. You're my Amy, I've got to come back!" he said as he smiled back coming over to ruffle her hair.

"My Amelia." the Doctor said under his breath.

"Yes, yes." Rory stuck his tongue out at the Doctor childishly.

"Squabble later." River scolded them and smiled at Amelia. "So...until yesterday, did you like Rome?" he asked Amelia.

"It's fantastic." Amelia said eagerly. "I bet it's as cool as the real Rome." She said giggling.

"Nothing's as cool as the real Rome." Rory and River said together, making them laugh.

"Can you beat Roman centurions?" Rory demanded.

"What about the Colosseum?" River countered. "The Amphitheatres." She continued.

"The swords and shields; battles and lions!" Rory interrupted.

"Geeks." Anita stated plainly.

"They're just enthusiastic." Tish said, putting a plate with eggs and toast in front of Amelia along side a glass of milk. "Can you blame them?" she said smiling at the girl.

"Yes." Anita nodded. "Yes I can." She said smirking.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I-" he started.

"Say one word about us being weird and I'll start pulling examples out about you." River stated.

He narrowed his eyes at her in consideration. "You don't have anything."

"I do." River nodded.

"Can't have." the Doctor waved it off.

"I do." Tish said easily. "Trust that?" she giggled.

She smiled sweetly when the Doctor looked at her and nodded earnestly.

"To use the vernacular given to me by Luke Smith: you suck." he stated making them laugh.

* * *

><p>–<p>

* * *

><p>"Last run." Dave said, brushing his hands off and smiling at the girls. "Ready? Bren's waiting. I think the clon—Joyan and Johan are annoying her. Neither seem to understand she doesn't like using conjecture when it comes to history." He continued picking up the radio.<p>

"I don't think I'll ever understand why you'd want to dig up history instead of seeing it." the Doctor shrugged, indicating the TARDIS.

"Not everyone believes in time travel." Dave said cheerily.

"It's real, I can promise you that." the Doctor said cheekily.

"Yeah, yeah." Dave waved him off. "It's more interesting this way. You don't know everything until you've gathered all the pieces and searched for the right answer." He said smiling.

"Or you ask the locals what they use that tool for." the Doctor retorted.

River laughed as they bickered good-naturedly. "I don't think we'll ever come to an agreement on that." There was a weird buzzing noise and River looked surprised. She dug into one of her vest pockets and produced a weird looking device. She pressed the button and looked down at it. "Hello?" she answered.

_"Doctor Song! We need help!" _they heard Amelia's voice echo out.

Amelia giggled, the Doctor looked at the sky innocently, Rory covered his mouth with the back of his hand and Tish bit her lip and giggled quietly.

They listened as Amelia's voice echoed out of the phone and River agreed to meet her at the hospital to help the Doctor.

River looked at them in affection and annoyance. "Are you going to tell me what I'm going to find." She asked them.

"Nope." the Doctor grinned.

"Any hints on how to fix what's wrong?" she sighed.

"Not a one." Tish giggled.

"Anything I need to worry about?" River knew better than to ask questions, but she couldn't help it.

"Your style choices on Halloween." Rory said, trying to sound serious. "Honestly, your work clothes?" he clucked his tongue. "that's just lazy!" he said stifling some giggles.

They burst into laughter again as River sent Rory a very rude gesture.

* * *

><p>"Just for a few days, right?" Amelia asked Rory as she hugged him goodbye.<p>

"Yes. I'll be back on Monday, like always." Rory told her with a smile. He looked at Tish and the Doctor over Amelia and sought permission silently. When both grinned or nodded he looked back at Amelia. "So...What do you want for your birthday, Amy?" he asked smiling.

She smiled brightly, "You remembered?" she said cheerily.

"Of course we did!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Tish is staying on Earth a little bit longer this time, but we'll be just fine on our own for a few days." He said nodding.

"Why longer?" Amelia asked worriedly.

"I have a birthday party to plan." Tish teased her. "Don't worry, you can call me any time you want, I won't

mind. I bet you and the Doctor have a fun time all by yourselves." She said trying not to sound nervous at the prospect.

Amelia frowned, "Are you sure you won't just stay there?" she asked quietly.

"I promise I won't stay there." Tish promised her with a smile. "I still need to pack anyway." She said smiling.

Rory hugged Amelia again and looked at a loss for what to do, standing to the side of the room as Amelia walked over to the console.

The Doctor stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets awkwardly and mumbled something, shuffling his feet.

"What?" Rory asked.

"I believe that was a 'you don't need a bracelet'." Tish translated dryly.

The Doctor made a noise and avoided Rory's eyes.

"Oh." Rory blinked back surprise as he watched the Doctor. "OK...I'll just...Be going?" he said backing up.

He was right in front of the door when Tish called out, "Oi!" causing Rory to turn towards her.

"What?" Rory asked, turning around.

"That's not a proper goodbye." Tish crossed the room and was down the steps by the door quickly.

The Doctor shielded Amelia's eyes and his own with his hands, both making noises of protestation and disgust as Tish leaned in and kissed Rory goodbye.

Tish rolled her eyes and turned to them. "Go away if it embarrasses you." She said smiling before leaning into to kiss Rory again.

Rory grinned looking dazed as the kiss ended and he and waved at them. "See you on Friday." He said dazed.

Tish smiled back at him. "See you sooner than that. I'm on Earth! Or will be anyway." She said happily.

Rory nodded and hugged her again in goodbye before stepping out into his flat.

Tish turned around once the door was closed and eyed the quite childish looking duo. "What was that?" she asked suspiciously.

"Tish and Rory sitting in a tree." Amelia singsonged.

"I'm gonna get you for that." Tish threatened playfully, chasing after the now running girl.

The Doctor smiled to himself once no one was around to see him and set coordinates for Tish's flat.

* * *

><p>"What type of party do you want?" Tish asked Amelia as she packed her dirty clothing into bags to take home and wash. She had plenty of clothes at her flat to wear during the week.<p>

"Can I have an alien one?" Amelia questioned, sitting on Tish's bed and toying with the Tish's mobile.

"Absolutely!" the Doctor exclaimed from the doorway. He entered with a grin and bounced on the bed. "With ice cream from the Tornado Nebula, Honey cakes from Arcateen V, Milk from Betoz and we can get sweets from Saurtine!" the Doctor said excitedly.

"Hold up!" Tish laughed as she interrupted their plotting. "None of that for an Earth birthday. So, new plan." she said, seeing their sad looks. "I plan one on Earth we do on your birthday with Earth people and the Doctor can plot one for space that River and others can come to. Sound fair?" she said carefully.

The Doctor and Amelia's eyes both lit up with joy. "Deal!" he said clapping.

Tish smiled and turned back to her packing, well aware of what she'd just gotten herself into, but not caring all the same.

"Few things need done while I'm gone." Tish told them as she zipped up the bag. "One, Yumo needs groomed. No, tossing him in the shower with you doesn't count. Get him done properly; he reeks of old spice and peanut butter. Also, no 'accidentally' losing him." She said causing the Doctor to frown.

"We won't lose him!" Amelia promised, making a 'cross my heart' motion.

"Two, Amelia here needs a haircut." She said looking at the doctor pointedly.

"What?" the Doctor looked horrified, "You can't cut her hair!" he exclaimed horrified.

"She's already Time Princess," Tish said referring to the impromptu nickname she'd given the girl. "She doesn't need to become _Rapunzel_ as well." Tish laughed. True enough the girl hadn't had a haircut since she'd joined the Doctor in his travels near a year ago. It had gone from shoulder length to just past the middle of her back.

"But...ginger!" the Doctor protested weakly.

"At least get it trimmed." Tish reasoned with him. "Three, shopping." She continued despite his protests.

"Not again." the Doctor whimpered.

"No, I've learned that lesson. This is more a 'don't steal from anyone and don't do shopping on earth'." Tish rolled her eyes at him, "Even though you've never really done any shopping to begin with." She rolled her eyes as she kept talking.

"Have too. I went with you." The doctor said sulkily.

"You complained and filled the basket with bananas." Tish argued shaking her head.

"Same thing." He grumbled.

* * *

><p>"I need funds." Tish told the Doctor as he dropped one of her bags into her spare room.<p>

"Jack-" The Doctor started.

"Not using Jack's credit card again. I think I should give that back..." Tish said interrupting him.

"He's probably just replaced it by now." the Doctor brushed it off.

"Still, it's the thought that counts. I need funds and a limit to get to when it comes to planning." Tish said to him.

"One minute." the Doctor told her and entered the TARDIS.

It disappeared with a familiar wooshing noise and Tish had to laugh. Seconds after it disappeared it landed again and he reappeared with a paper bag in his hands. "Here." he said, thrusting it into her hands.

Tish opened the bag and stared at it in surprise. It was stacked full with money, "There has to be at least £6000 here!" she said staring at the bag in shock.

"If you need more I can get it." the Doctor said quickly, gesturing to the TARDIS. Amelia had to have a spectacular birthday on Earth. He could do one in Space no problem, but he had no idea how to manage an Earth one beyond lighting a cake on fire.

"No, this should be enough." Tish closed the bag, "Cake, decorations, presents, everything should be...well, more than enough." She said nodding, not believing she could spend all of this on one eight year old's party…she wasn't even sure she could spend all of this on a party for a large group of kids.

"I'll get the cake." the Doctor offered. "You're doing everything else so I get to do the cake." He insisted.

"You sure? It has to be Earth cake." Tish said cautiously.

He made a face but smiled, "Can be done. I get to choose the cake. The bright side is I get to taste test the cakes first." He said smiling.

"Call me if you need anything, no kidnapping anyone else and make sure to be on time on Friday?" She said as she hugged him.

"A Time Lord is never late, he arrives precisely when he means to." the Doctor quipped, stepping away and entering the TARDIS.

"Never should have shown him 'Lord of the Rings'." Tish said to herself as the TARDIS disappeared from sight.

Okay, first off laundry, then to plotting. She had seven days to plan and get everything together for a party in eight days. Easily done, it was just a child's party. She looked down at the bag full of cash again and smiled. One kickass child's party with a lot of gifts. Oh this was going to be good

* * *

><p>It wasn't like Tish's bank account was completely empty, far from it in fact, but the extra funds for Amelia's party meant she had almost no limit to what she could do.<p>

The guest list was relatively small, her brother, sister-in-law, Niece and parents of course, her dad was quite looking forward to meeting Amelia, and she was certain she could guilt Martha and Mickey into coming, again just from curiosity mostly, and if Mickey was coming she could certainly get him to haul Luke and Luke's friends in as well for a 'kids' thing.

She even planed on inviting Cara and Gen. Amelia had met them and liked them well enough on Halloween .She'd just have to clarify to Gen this was one party she was keeping her clothes on throughout.

Rory wouldn't miss it for the world and there was no way that Tish was going anywhere else.

But with funds like she had and a relatively small list of people she found herself looking at more expensive things.

She was halfway through writing a list of things she thought looked nice for Amelia when her phone started ringing.

Tish looked at the readout and smiled. "Hello, Mum. How are you?" she said happily as she looked through her list.

_"Fine, fine." _Francine answered pleasantly. _"Are you in town yet?" _she asked her daughter.

"Been in town a few hours. Why?" Tish asked writing a few more things down.

_"Oh...normally you call me when you decide to come home." _Francine feigned hurt.

"Sorry. But don't worry, I'm sticking around all week. Amelia's birthday is next Saturday so I'm going to be hanging out on Earth planning a party for her." Tish explained writing the last thing on her list.

"_Who's taking care of his daughter while you're here? Where are they anyway?" _Francine asked curiously.

Tish listened carefully to what her mother didn't say and had to smile. "Iain has her by himself. I know, shocking isn't it? We spent a little while in Rome with Amy's mum and some friends of hers. It was brilliant. Who's visiting?" she asked knowingly smiling at the thought of eavesdroppers.

"_Your sister," _Tish could hear the amusement quite plainly. _"and her darling husband have been forced to take a weeks vacation to celebrate an American holiday as they'll be working Christmas for their coworkers." _Francine explained.

Tish wasn't sure if she should laugh or curse the universe that they'd be around asking questions all week. "Let me guess...Jack doesn't want to pretend to be American all alone and Martha couldn't say no?" she asked smirking.

_"So I assume. Everyone will be here for dinner at six, it'd be nice to see the whole family together." _Francine hinted.

Tish laughed at the thinly veiled hint. "I'll be there. I have a stop or two to make first but I'll be there." She said making plans on what she could pick up before she got there.

* * *

><p>It was extremely troublesome to figure out how to refill medication when you can't tell your doctor you've just been time traveling, not overdosing or selling your meds on the street. That's why instead of going to some random Doctor she figured she'd just bug Martha again. But Martha always got extremely suspicious and she had just refilled them a week ago with enough to last to the end of the month...They should have lasted if River and the Doctor hadn't taken what amounted to about four days worth in one go between them.<p>

Martha worked at the A&E of Royal Hope still on alternating weekends, though volunteered was more applicable, and currently Rory was on shift there so she could kill two birds with one stone.

She sent a text to Rory telling him to meet her at the A&E in twenty minutes and made a brief stop by a takeaway joint before heading in.

"Tish? What's wrong?" Martha went from relaxed and confident to anxious and scared the moment she saw Tish enter her workspace. "Are you alright?" she asked concerned.

"I'm fine." Tish assured her, shifting the takeaway bag so she could hug Martha. "Don't worry so much." She said shaking her head at her nagging sister.

Martha scoffed and stepped back, straightening her white coat. She eyed the bag, "Why've you brought food? Mum's cooking." She asked frowning at her older sister.

"Oh, this is for a friend. Just stopped because I figured he wouldn't have time to get anything on his own." Tish smiled. "Martha, I need a favour." She said carefully.

"What's the favour?" Martha asked suspiciously.

"Amy was fooling around in my bathroom when I was getting ready and knocked my bottle over sending the pills down the drain." Tish lied easily. "Just a foolish accident and she feels really bad about it. Anyway, can you please refill them? Just enough for this week." She clarified at Martha's look. "I'll refill them properly at the end of the month." Tish saw Rory enter out of the corner of her eye and gave a little half wave that went unnoticed by Martha. Rory nodded and stayed where he was, clearly pretending to not be listening.

"Tish, I already gave you two weeks more last week because they got lost at a hotel." Martha said cautiously.

"I know, and I feel bad asking you but there's not really anyone else I can ask." Tish said carefully.

"I really shouldn't." Martha bit her lower lip nervously, rubbing her hands together as well. "I mean I just refilled them, Tish. You're not-?" she said looking over her sister nervously.

"Martha," Tish grabbed Martha's hands with her free hand, "I swear I'm not up to anything. They got lost down the drain, it was an accident." She lied hoping Martha would believe it.

Martha searched Tish's eyes obviously weighing pros and cons but nodded jerkily. "Stay here, I'll get you a weeks worth." She sighed.

"Thanks." Tish smiled. She gestured Rory over to her and he quickly closed the distance. "Got you something for tea since you're working and will live off of vending choices." She said smiling at Rory.

She handed him the bag before he could protest. "Just simple burger, fries and a bottle of orange drink." She said leaning against him.

He smiled happily "You remembered." He looked at the bag his smile growing.

"Your love of weird fruit sodas? Yes." Tish made a face. "Especially orange ones. They're foul." She said frowning.

"They are not." Rory said, looking into the bag curiously.

"Are too. You remember that 'organic' stuff that came out on the market a few years back?" she said remembering something the Doctor had told her.

"That stuff was good!" Rory protested, pulling out a fry to chew on.

"I still say BubbleShock tasted worse than the liquid you blow bubbles from!" Tish laughed. She looked at his scrubs and smiled. Pale blue with little pink and blue puppies cavorting around happily. He wasn't wearing the nice shoes he'd been wearing lately though. "Where're your nice trainers?" she asked curiously.

Rory turned his foot left and right off the ground examining the old worn white ones he'd stuck on. "Those are for running. These are for work. That way they don't get messed up at work. You know how many times I've had to clean blood or sick off of my shoes?" he explained.

"Ew." Tish made a face. "Good on you for your work though." She said smiling at him again.

Martha came walking back towards them and Rory shifted anxiously at the look she had. "I should go..." she said looking at both of him.

"Wait by the door if you don't want to be in the centre of her grumbling." Tish teased.

"So...you and Rory still talk?" Martha asked, hoping to start a different topic and thinking back to Halloween.

"Yeah, at least once a day." Tish agreed. "He's really nice. So...pills?" she said smiling at Martha innocently.

Martha took out a small bottle from her pocket and handed it to Tish. "Careful." She said frowning at Tish.

"I am." Tish replied.

"Not always." Martha said critically.

Tish rolled her eyes, "That wasn't a lack of care. Anyway, dinner at Mum's tonight?" she said smiling at her sister sweetly.

"Definitely." Martha said. "Mickey and I are in town for the week. Jack's doing some Thanksgiving thing and has demanded we attend...Listen, Tish, I -" she started.

"I know, I know." Tish brushed off Martha's words and hugged her sister. "I'll see you at mums here in a few." Tish said waving at Martha.

"Will you?" Martha asked against Tish's shoulder sounding almost miserable.

"Of course! Don't be daft." Tish pressed a kiss to Martha's temple impulsively and back away with a smile, tucking the bottle into her pocket. "Love you!" she said hugging her sister as she started to leave.

"Love you too." Martha murmured.

"Why's she so anxious about refilling meds?" Rory questioned, leaning against the doorway to 'look casual'.

"Huh?" Tish looked back at Martha who looked anxious still. "Oh, that. Well, when you down an entire bottle at once people start getting a little nervous about giving you more of them." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, "I'll call you tonight." She said giving him another kiss before leaving.

Rory gaped wordlessly as Tish left, nearly bouncing cheerfully as she went.

He looked over and tried to register why Martha was glowering at him but pushed it away. He'd have to go find somewhere to sit down and eat; he'd never really done that at work before.

* * *

><p>Tish couldn't resist the impulse once she'd stuck her meds away at home and changed for dinner to drop by and pick something up. She was taking the week off from cooking anything big or elaborate, but picking things up.<p>

So she was running about ten minutes late when she got to her mums house. Leo's car was already out front, as was her dad's and Mickey's precious SUV was carefully parked away from any one really knocked at her mum's house so she just let herself in, shifting her shopping bags easily.

Coats hung up, Keisha's bag sitting in the hallway next to Amidala's bag. They must all be gathered in the kitchen.

As she neared the doorway she nearly groaned at what she picked up.

"-overdose!" she heard her brother's voice say as she came closer.

"It's not just prescription meds you know." Her sister's voice echoed causing her to wince before getting a really evil idea.

"Oh totally!" Tish said cheerfully as she breezed into the kitchen. They all looked guilty when she entered and she tried her hardest not to smile. "You know how easy it is to get any sort of medication now adays?" She set her shopping down on the counter and sorted through it. "I mean, just the other day I was walking through the aisles and found candy coated acetaminophen tablets. Can you believe that?" Tish said seriously, setting aside two small cakes she'd picked up to help her mum out and the bag full of mixed sweets she'd grabbed impulsively. "They practically scream 'take all of them'." She said calmly.

"Tish!" Francine looked horrified.

"But hey, I don't fancy acetaminophen overdose symptoms and Amy's allergic to all things Cherry so those are out the window." She turned and leaned against the counter and examined all their expressions. Her father was rolling his eyes but everyone else looked a little worried. "You lot are horrid gossips." She said laughing not even attempting to keep the humour out of her voice.

"We worry." Leo corrected her.

"You shouldn't." Tish rolled her eyes now. "Where's Keisha?" she asked looking around.

"In the livingroom colouring." Shonara told her, "Amidala's trying to avoid the markers." Tish had to laugh at the image of the Siberian husky pup dodging little fingers.

"Tish, I-" her sister started.

"Martha and Mickey need somewhere to stay for the week and you've been volunteered to host them." Clive told her with a grin.

"You know your mother can't tolerate Mickey's snoring and there's no spare rooms at Leo's." he said trying to hide his amusement at the situation.

Tish could quite easily read between the lines and tried not to laugh or groan. "Fine, but only the week. I refuse to have you sleeping on my couch for another month and if my floss goes missing again I will hurt you." She said sighing.

Leo had the decency to look somewhat abashed.

* * *

><p>"So where are we sleeping?" Mickey asked, dropping his bag onto the floor.<p>

"Couch folds out." Tish told him, turning on lights as she walked through her flat. "Or you can try and share the little bed I've got for Keisha in the spare room." she said cheekily.

"Couch is fine." Martha told her. "I'll be up at nine for work at the A&E and home by five, but Mickey'll be here during the day." She said examining her sister and the apartment.

Yet another hidden message. They didn't trust her alone. Oh, this was funny. "Fine. Then Mickey has to help me with my project." She said smiling at them innocently.

"Project?" Mickey questioned.

"You think I've just got a week off randomly during the month?" Tish laughed. "Amy's birthday is on Saturday and I have to plan a big birthday by then. Well, one of her birthdays. Her dad's planning another one but I have no idea yet where it'll take place." She explained pulling out her list.

"Where's it going to be?" Martha asked.

"Somewhere in town. They're...I'm not sure where they are currently but they'll be back in time for the party." Tish explained sitting in her recliner.

"So we'll get to meet this mysterious boss of yours?" Martha asked.

"Nope. Iain's got work I believe, but you can meet Amy." Tish said smiling.

"Fine, I'll help out." Mickey said in a long suffering tone. "But I'm not doing anything girly." He said missing the evil look that crossed Tish's face.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Considering I got off at about 6:45 and hadn't beta'd this yet this is early! <em>Pfft, make excuses. I had my part done by wednesday! _Yeah, yeah, yeah..._I'm just that good. _Wait till week after next when I'm on vacation! _Yeah, well just wait till I'm moving and don't have internet for a few days or so! _A few days? Hah, a few weeks! Wait...crap! _I'll try to get a bunch of chapters done and preuploaded so she has to do is 'add chapter'. _You have no faith. _You have no skills. Enjoy!]**


	67. Party Planning, Stalking and Bonding

Mickey frowned, arms crossed stubbornly as he looked around the party store. It was filled with cool things but here he was sucked into the pink girl aisles. He wanted to go check out the superhero aisle, or the alien one for a laugh but noooo, he was stuck here in princess world.

Grumbling to himself he looked over to where Tish was talking to the cashier. "Yes, I think a two dozen of the rainbow ones." Tish made a note on her clipboard before looking up again, "And six of each individual colour. You're sure you can have them delivered on time?" she asked.

"Of course, ma'am." the clerk said eagerly. "Always on time." Mickey sighed in relief, at least he wouldn't have to carry this package, the twenty bags he was holding was quite enough.

Tish smiled and filled out the form complete with address.

Mickey wasn't sure how she'd done it but Tish had managed to do it but she'd gotten him up and out of the house by eight am and they hadn't stopped moving since. She'd already booked some random place for the party, he wasn't sure where but apparently it was 'large', dragged him to a store to get party plates, cups and cutlery which were now stacked in the back of the car and was now on to decorations which were piled high in the basket. Streamers and banners and weird glittery strand things he couldn't quite place.

Mickey's eyes widened when Tish dug into her purse and paid all in cash. It shouldn't have been weird but she'd done it at the last two shops as well. Even the nearly £600 it took to rent a place for the day had been done in cash.

"Thank you, ma'am." the Clerk squeaked as he counted it out and handed her her change.

"Thank you." Tish replied with a smile and motioned at Mickey, "Well, come on then." She said turning to Mickey smiling innocently as she indicated the ten bags of merchandise to add to his growing collection.

Once he'd finally gotten it all packed away in the back of her car he climbed up front and into the passenger's seat morosely. It was HIS car, so why did she get to drive?

He'd even had to leave Amidala at Martha's mother's house to be watched. He was not leaving his puppy alone and Martha was at work.

"Are we almost done?" Mickey complained.

"You big baby, we've only been at it four hours." Tish scoffed, starting the car.

"I'm starving!" Mickey whined. Oh god, there was more to do? Martha owed him big time for this.

"You had breakfast." Tish rolled her eyes. In truth she was getting hungry too and she wanted to stop to send Rory something.

"I had a banana and oatmeal." Mickey sounded outraged she'd consider that breakfast.

"Banana's are good." Tish teased him, "And oatmeal is...good for you." She said smirking.

"I'm telling your sister you're starving me." Mickey said, digging for his mobile, at the very least maybe he could get some decent food.

"Stop whining." Tish rolled her eyes as they left the carpark. "Or else I'm going to make you eat salad for lunch." She threatened.  
>Mickey almost dropped his mobile. "You wouldn't dare!" he growled.<p>

Tish just laughed.

* * *

><p>Finally taking pity on Mickey after one last stop and two more hours she'd stopped off at a restaurant she didn't really frequent. The food was great but it was always quiet and with music playing and flowers on tables. Frankly she'd prefer a dive. Once Mickey was settled at the table and their orders taken she'd excused herself with a lie about going to the loo. She had other plans though.<p>

Tish stopped at the counter to talk to the hostess, "Do you guys do delivery?" she asked them smiling.

"Yes, ma'am." the woman nodded. "For a small extra fee." The woman continued.

"Good." Tish smiled, "I need to order something for delivery to Royal Hope Hospital." Tish's smile widened, he would be so surprised.

"For a patient?" The woman asked confused.

"No, a very stubborn nurse who won't stop to eat unless reminded." Tish laughed lightly her smile going from ear to ear as the waitress prepared the order.

* * *

><p>Mickey had been to three shops and spent six hours being dragged around acting as a pack mule. This was not what he'd signed on for.<p>

He figured he'd just end up sitting around Tish's flat watching telly with her for a week, not shopping sprees!

Thank God finally she'd agreed to stop for lunch and they'd ended up inside some weird restaurant that he wouldn't have chosen. There were place mats and flowers on the tables for decoration and quiet music playing in the background. What was wrong with a takeaway joint?

Once they'd placed their orders she'd disappeared claiming ladies room.  
>He fiddled with his mobile and sent texts to his wife. His spelling wasn't the best but the point was often gotten across anyway, especially with auto correcting.<p>

_'got food at plaec with floerws. Why me?' _he grumbled as he typed._  
><em>

_'Cause your wife is an idiot who refilled meds. Sorry' _The response came quickly. Though it always took him a minute to read carefully before he'd respond. Though Martha was easier to read then Jack when he decided to use 'text speak'. He wasn't an idiot or anything, words just sometimes mixed themselves up till it wasn't writing but more alphabet soup.

_'Not an idiot. My wife'_ He responded frowning._  
><em>

_'Still am. Love you xo' _his frown changed to a smile as he read this responding just as quickly. _'Love you to xo'_

"You being a lovebird?" Tish asked, sliding into the booth opposite him.

"No." Mickey tucked his phone away.

"Are too. You're texting and smiling which generally doesn't mix with you." Tish acknowledged Mickey's issues.

Mickey shrugged. "She's in a lull I guess." He said back.

Tish waited patiently, thinking how to say what she knew to be true that everyone figured she didn't.

She knew perfectly well that Martha and Mickey could have stayed with her Dad, with her Mum or at a hotel without any issues whatsoever. The fact they were staying with her meant they were watching her.

She waited until Mickey had a large mouthful of pasta before speaking. "I know you've been charged with babysitting me." She said taking a sip of her drink and staring at him intently.

Mickey choked on his food, swallowing hard and gulping down tea to clear his throat. "What?" he sputtered trying hard to sound innocent.

"You'd generally take some job around here, hang around with Leo or go shopping for a new game or something to work on. You don't like sitting around. Hell, you'd go with Amidala to a dog park." Tish rolled her eyes. "You're babysitting me because Martha doesn't trust me on my own." She continued looking straight into the eyes of her Brother-in-Law.

"Not true." Mickey lied weakly.

"She slept on my couch for a month last time and Leo stole my floss and anything 'dangerous'. My kitchen drawers were empty of anything but spoons." Tish said dryly. "I know when I'm being babysat. For that, you must suffer." She said evilly.

"What?" Mickey's eyes widened. "Why me?" he groaned.

"Because you've been told to watch me. We've got an entire week of shopping and planning and delivering invitations. Not to mention setting up for a party, hauling things around and making sure everything is done on time." Tish smiled sweetly.

Mickey whimpered. "No more shopping." He said staring at her in slight fear.

* * *

><p>Rory wasn't sure what to think. Every day for the last three days he'd been sent lunch at work. It as funny on Friday when Tish dropped off a burger meal for him. Saturday she'd sent him a full meal of a salad, a large chicken salad sandwich and even a bottle of tea. His workmates had laughed and teased him because the inside of the cover of the box had the words <em>'eat your veggies, Nurseboy' <em>written on it and a drawn heart.

Sunday a pizza had been delivered and again there was writing on the inside box lid _'Call me, sweetheart.' _Once again they'd all laughed until the supervisor had gently scolded them and told them all to get back to work, bar Rory because obviously his girlfriend knew he didn't take lunch breaks.

Rory had blushed but did go eat.

Now it was Monday. No way she'd send him anything because he had food at home. Sure, mostly it was ramen noodles or peanut butter sandwiches but it was indeed food.

He had Monday and Tuesday off of work, but he still had school to do and classes to get to in the morning, but during the afternoon he was able to stay at home and work on his homework. He was fairly early on in his third year and was still amazed he'd made it this far.

Everyone always said he wasn't brilliant and he hadn't done extremely well in his exams most times, but he tried hard and he'd made it. Of course, he wasn't a genius that could become a full-fledged Doctor at age 23 like Dr. Jones but he would eventually make it as a Paediatrician. River had outed that when she'd called him 'Dr. Williams' at Halloween. That spurred him on when the work was difficult, the idea that one day he would be a real proper Doctor.

It was while he was working tiredly on anatomy homework that there was a loud knocking on his door. He placed a mark in his book and cautiously made his way to the door. It only took about five steps to reach the door. No one ever came around...  
>Rory opened the door and nearly groaned.<p>

"Delivery for a Mr. Rory Williams." A man in a uniform said, holding a large brown box.

"That'd be me." Rory said, opening the door further.

"Sign here." the man said, holding out a clipboard.

Rory looked over it and spotted nothing that'd give any clues as to who sent it but he had a feeling.

When the man left Rory brought the package inside, locking the door behind him carefully and sat the package on the table.

He found a pair of scissors from the kitchen drawer and cut through the tape. A balloon popped out and floated towards the ceiling, making Rory jump back initially. There was an envelope tied to the bottom of it.

"'Thinking of you. Having fun putting together a party. Wish you were here, XOXO Tish'." Rory read to himself and had to smile. He set the envelope and small card aside and peeked into the box. Well, it wasn't lunch this time, but he wasn't sure if a teddy bear in pink boxers and a box of fudge was any better.

He pulled out his phone and pulled up Tish's number to send a message.

_'Are you trying to fatten me up?' _he smiled as he sent the text._  
><em>

_'Maybe.' _Came the quick reply.

_'Sending to my house now? Stalker.' _ Rory smiled.

_'Stalking and dating are not the same thing...usually.' _Rory's smile grew as he read the response._  
><em>

Rory's heart leapt, dating? Really...That...wow...He grinned. _'You're trying to seduce me?' _he texted back._  
><em>

_'Damn right! Dinner tonight? Need a break from siblings.' _ The response came immediately._  
><em>

_'Sure.' _Rory bit his lip and tried not to cheer.

_'Pick you up at 5? Dress casual. No scrubs, Nurseboy!' _Tish answered._  
><em>

_'Sounds good.' _ Rory smiled as he put his phone away and this time he didn't stop the happy dance.

* * *

><p>Rory fiddled nervously with his watch, scooting it around his wrist as he waited outside. He was totally casual. His running shoes, not the nurse ones, a pair of blue jeans and a plain grey t-shirt under a dark blue vest. Casual, he was completely casual, even if it'd taken him ten minutes to do his hair right.<p>

He smiled when Tish's car pulled up in front of his building and hurried to the door, he didn't want her hanging around this neighbourhood any longer than necessary.

"Looking nice." Tish complimented him as he climbed in and bucked the seatbelt.

Tish had a simple pale pink blouse on under a light brown jacket, a brown skirt that skimmed her knees and a pair of short brown heels.

He fought to find his voice and smiled. "You look amazing." He said looking at her.

Tish smiled at him. "Thanks." She said back "You too" she continued looking at him.

"So...where are we going?" Rory asked as she pulled away from the building onto the street.

"Hmm. Where do you want to go?" Tish replied curiously.

"You don't have a plan?" Rory asked teasingly. Tish always had a plan.

"Nope. Not beyond avoiding siblings who have turned into actual stalkers for the last few days and having a nice dinner with a guy I really like." Tish responded putting an arm around him.

Rory blushed at Tish's statement and actions. "Stalking you? Like you're stalking me?" he managed to say.

"Hey, it's enthusiastically charming my way into your heart while simultaneously making sure you actually eat something, not stalking." Tish protested.

"You've already managed that." Rory said trying to sound bold.

Tish smiled at him, "Awww. So..Where do you want to go?" she asked him resting her head on his shoulder.

Rory thought it over and debated with how much money he had. He still had some left over from Australia tucked away after he'd converted it at the bank when he'd gotten back. It was just for any emergencies or if Amy needed something but he could use some; he didn't know Tish had basically done the same thing. "I know a nice little chip shop near the hospital." he offered.

Tish lifted her head and looked at him, "You don't go out often, do you?" she asked teasingly at him.

"No. I really don't." Rory volunteered. He looked in the side mirror and frowned. "The same SUV has been following us since we left my flat." He said smiling at her and grinning.

Tish peeked in the rearview mirror. "Oh, yeah, that's Mickey and Martha. They've probably got the dog with them too." She said smiling back.

"What? Why?" Rory asked curiously.

"Stalkers." Tish repeated with a grin.

* * *

><p>"Wait, so you actually made him swear he wouldn't get another babysitter?" Rory laughed, picking words carefully.<p>

"You know what happened last time." Tish defended her actions, "I had to make sure he'd at least attempt it. He's also taking Amy for a haircut." She said smirking.

"What?" Rory nearly yelped like the Doctor had. "But, but...Her hair!" he said outraged.

"She's turning into Rapunzel." Tish rolled her eyes at the boys antics. "She needs it trimmed." Tish said smiling at him.

Rory made a face. "Her hair looks better long. It's always been long." He grumbled.

"You need one too soon." Tish teased, reaching across the table to ruffle his hair. "You're getting shaggy." She said smiling again at him.

"Am not!" Rory protested with a laugh and ducked away to smooth his hair back down. "I look distinguished. I should grow a beard. Beards are cool." His eyes widened as he realized what he said and he clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Oh, you've been infected!" Tish giggled, "you're just like him." She laughed.

Rory gasped, "You take that back!" he yelled smiling at her.

"Never." Tish stuck her tongue out at him and stole a chip from his plate. "It's true." She grinned.

"Is not! He couldn't grow a cool beard if he tried." Rory pretended to be offended by her statement.

* * *

><p>"It can't be a date." Mickey said, hunkered down across the street where he could see Tish and Rory though the window.<p>

"She went out with him on Halloween." Martha said, holding Amidala's leash to keep the puppy close. "And I'm pretty sure she's the one sending him lunch." She said staring at the restaurant.

"Yeah, but Leo said she acted like she was dating Iain when they met him." Mickey pointed out. He pulled a pair of binoculars out of his jacket pocket and looked through them. They were laughing and talking animatedly while eating and looked close enough, but not desperately romantic.

He shouldn't go along with spying, but with as many stores as he'd been drug to in the last few days he was eager for some sort of revenge. If he had to look at one more princess thing he might just go insane.

Amidala whined and wriggled, wanting to go find out what was making all the smells and visit all the people on the street. "Stand at attention." Martha ordered and Amidala sat still once again, the whines quieting. "Anything?" she asked looking over at Mickey.

"Nothing. Just laughing and talking." Mickey replied. His wife had a right to be worried, of course, he'd back her either way but... "Oh." He said interestingly.

"Oh? What's oh?" Martha asked.

Mickey handed her the binoculars and smirked when she couldn't see him. "He kissed her." He said waiting for her response.

"Oh, ew." Martha complained, moving the binoculars away so she wouldn't have to watch. "That's disgusting. He's younger than me!" she griped.

Mickey shrugged. "Can we go back to the flat? I can think of a few things we can do to get rid of that image." He said smiling at her.

"You're sick." Martha rolled her eyes and tugged on Amidala's leash to head back to the car.

"Hey, you married me. What's that say about you?" Mickey said.

* * *

><p>The Doctor relaxed back in the swing hooked to the underside of the console, rocking back and forth slightly as he listened to the humming of the engines. He'd already finished several repairs that weren't really needed and beat the high score on Space Invaders...twice.<p>

He was bored and that really couldn't stand. But without Tish or Rory on board he couldn't land somewhere and go explore when Amelia was sleeping, it wasn't the responsible thing to do. So here he was, being 'responsible' for the first time in decades which meant boredom.

The Doctor sighed, he wasn't tired enough to go sleep, he'd had his required amount for the week already within the first night of being alone with Amelia. Maybe he should go search for that book Tish kept hiding and get some more information on Amelia's life or at least her disappearance.

After all, him showing up and taking her from her house in the middle of the night couldn't have lead to an entire book or any of the things Tish had mentioned; it just wasn't enough information.

Rory had mentioned something about how his brother had been accused of Amelia's murder and was contemplating that when a scream sounded through the TARDIS.

He was on his feet not a second afterwards, bolting down the corridor to Amelia's room.

"Amelia!" the Doctor exclaimed as he threw open the door to her room.

She was in the bed where he'd tucked her in hours ago but she was thrashing under the sheets obviously in the throes of a nightmare.

Yumo sat next to her, pawing at her shoulder and whining as if trying to wake her up.

The Doctor dashed across the room and leaned over to wake her. "Amelia. Amelia!" he said louder, shaking her lightly. "Wake up, it's just a dream." He said continuing to shake her gently.

Amelia awoke with a jerk, looked around disorientated and promptly burst into tears.

"Hey, it's alright." He said, sitting on her bedside and pulling her into a close hug as she sobbed. "Shhh, it'll be okay." He held her close, rubbing her back soothingly and talking quietly till finally after a minute or two the sobs calmed. "There now...what's wrong?" he said pulling her onto his lap.

Amelia sniffled, holding tight to him. "I had a nightmare." She whimpered.

"You know what's good for nightmares?" the Doctor said.

"What?" Amelia sniffled.

"Talking about them. Want to tell me what's wrong?" he asked softly.

Amelia was quiet for a moment. "You won't laugh?" she asked quietly.

"Never." the Doctor swore.

"We were back on Rome and people were being hurt." she whispered, "And there were angels hiding in the dark waiting." She said as she buried her head into the doctor.

The Doctor closed his eyes. He hadn't thought of the Weeping Angels in a little while, but frankly he was surprised she hadn't had any issues before this...or maybe she had... "Have you had nightmares like this before?" he asked holding her.

"Ones I remember? Uh-huh." Amelia nodded against him.

He winced, "Have you been hiding them?" he asked worriedly.

Amelia shook her head, "Sometimes Yumo keeps me safe. Tish comes and sits with me till I fall asleep sometimes, or lets me sleep with her." The little girl said honestly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked feeling a bit of pain.

"I didn't want you to know I'm weak." Amelia sniffed back tears.

The Doctor tilted her head to make her look up at him. "You are one of the strongest children I have ever met. You've stood up to Weeping Angels, to Shades and Daleks. You didn't flinch when we got eaten by a Star Whale and you stayed calm on Demanshi until I found you, even when hurt." He listed her achievements. "And despite not knowing how to swim you still trusted me when I pulled you out of a window to jump on Junbar." the Doctor looked at her seriously and brushed the hair away from her eyes. "You aren't weak, Amelia Pond, you are far from it. Nightmares don't make you weak, not at all." He said reassuringly as he hugged her tightly.

"Really?" Amelia questioned.

"Yes. I've had them." the Doctor said, "Lots of them and you don't think I'm weak, do you?" he asked smiling softly down at her.

Amelia shook her head, "But on Rome you...the wrong you said..." she trailed off worried she would lose him if she continued.

"Said what?" the doctor asked frowning.

"That I was weak and worthless." Amelia admitted her fear. "That I wasn't ever going to be a good Companion and you were going to leave me on earth because I was useless." She continued hugging him tightly and burying her head again.

The Doctor hugged her close, "You know what the other you said?" he responded quietly.

"There was another me?" Amelia looked surprised.

"In my fear. The other you said you hated me. That I was unfit to be a parent, that I was a kidnapper, a common criminal; that you'd rather be on Earth than with me. " _'That I'll get you killed too'_ he added silently.

"That's not true!" Amelia protested.

"Well, if the other you was wrong that means the other me was wrong too." He asserted. "I think we need a little bonding vacation. How about you go back to sleep and in the morning we'll go find something to do somewhere we haven't been before?" he asked her wiping a few tears from her eyes gently.

"What if I have another bad dream?" Amelia asked weakly as he tucked her back in under her comforter, Yumo curled up next to her with his head laying on the pillow as well.

The Doctor nodded and reached into his pocket and after digging for a moment produced a small stuffed animal. It looked like a tiger toy, about the size of Yumo when she first got him, but it was deep red with white stripes, it had two tails and four ears on it's head. "This little guy," he showed it off, brushing it's fur lightly with his fingers. "Is Dygan. He was my best friend when I was a child, I took him everywhere. He even slept in my cot with me and best of all he kept away all nightmares while I was growing up and even when I was at the Academy, didn't you Dygan?" he made the toy nod and smiled at Amelia. "Now, if he could keep all my bad dreams away, I think he could keep yours away. He fights them!" He said smiling at her.

"He fights bad dreams?" Amelia asked looking curiously at the stuffed animal.

"Just like I fight monsters." the Doctor nodded and tucked the small toy into the bed next to her. "I think you'll sleep just fine with Dygan, don't you?" he asked her.

"I think so." Amelia nodded, if it kept the Doctor safe it could definitely keep her safe! "could you...Could you stay?" she asked picking up the animal and hugging it tight while she looked at the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled, "You know the coolest thing about bunkbeds?" he asked her smiling.

"They're a bed with a ladder?" Amelia asked curiously.

"Beyond that. There's two beds." the Doctor proclaimed, forgoing the ladder and scrambling onto the top bunk. "Also, Yumo can't climb ladders," He said, peering over the side at her. "So there's that too. You sleep, Dygan and I shall fight off any bad dreams that come this way. Okay?" he said looking at her.

Amelia nodded sleepily, "Okay." She said yawning and laying back hugging her new bear tight.

The Doctor reclined back, hands under his head and listened, waiting for both Amelia and Yumo's breath to slow and indicate sleep.  
>Dygan had been his favourite toy for as long as he could remember and he could recall blurry memories of snuggling with the toy while waiting for mummy to get him from his cot when he was still not quite big enough for a big bed like his brother had.<p>

He swallowed the lump in his throat and focused on Amelia's breathing. It'd slowed down enough that he was relatively certain she had fallen back asleep but he didn't leave either way, just in case.

Maybe he'd take her somewhere special tomorrow. There were thousands of planets throughout time, millions of places to go. Maybe Florana? He smiled to himself and pulled out his mobile when it buzzed.  
>Tish messaging. He smiled again and opened it to text back. He couldn't move anywhere but he could make plans. Maybe these humans were on to something with texting.<p>

* * *

><p>"Please?" Tish begged her sister.<p>

"Why? I don't have kids." Martha replied ignoring the note of loss she felt by saying it. Tish has cornered her after realizing that neither Martha nor Mickey had planned on showing up to Amy's birthday if Iain wasn't there.

"Because if you and Mickey don't come it'll just be a bunch of random adults and a toddler." She pleaded.

"Mickey and I are adults." Martha insisted.

"Yes, but if Mickey's coming I can make him bring Luke and his friends." Tish said logically. Plotting, evil or benign, was her strong suit.

"Shouldn't this really be something her parents should do?" Martha asked in annoyance, whether it was at Tish or Amy's 'parents' Tish wasn't sure.

"Yeah, but her dad's got another to plan and her mum can't make it to this one because she's out of the country." For some reason she always thought of River, though it seemed apt. "I haven't got a clue when she'll get back but I think she was going to make it to the other one." She said putting on her best begging face.

"What's Iain's excuse?" Martha asked curiously.

Tish thought it over. The Doctor had finally settled on plans for when she was with Amy and Rory at the party; he was going to go bug Sarah Jane until she kicked him out and then move onto bugging the Brigadier until Tish called to tell him that he could return. "He's got meetings all day." Tish changed her tactics and put on a pleading face. "Please, Martha? She's got to have a neat birthday!" she pleaded hoping her sister would agree.

Martha sighed, "Fine. What type of gift?" she asked resigned.

"Anything arts and crafts." Tish said , quite happy it hadn't taken that long to get an agreement. "I'll need addresses of Mickey's little buddies for invitations." she continued smiling.

"Tish, they're teenagers." Martha rolled her eyes.

"Yes, and there will be cake and shiny gift bags. At least Luke would come and he'll drag his friends." Tish was counting on Luke being smart enough to understand from the invitation who it was and why he was invited. Amy really wanted to see Luke and Rani again.

"You know, that love thing is a hell of a guilt trip." Martha told her.

"I know, that's why I use it." Tish told her, hugging Martha tight and disappearing into her room to find her laptop and add to her schedule.

She had four days left, with the fourth being the day of the party, to finish her projects and to get invitations sent out. Those wouldn't be hard, most could be dropped off by hand or sent with Mickey in the teenagers cases.  
>Gifts had been ordered, well those that couldn't have been picked up in a shop, and everything was all set up...well, almost everything.<p>

"Mickey!" she yelled down the hall from her room as she looked at the laptop screen. "Come here."

Mickey poked his head in moments later, "What?" Not more party planning, his face said as he looked at her cautiously.

"Look at this." Tish gestured him over.

Mickey sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the site Tish indicated. "Why's it covered in colours and what's it say?" The words were multicoloured and in weird fonts.

"You know those large blow up slides and bounce house things they always have at fête's or kids things?"

"Never really got to use them, but yeah." Mickey nodded.

"This site rents them out." Tish grinned as a plan formed.

Mickey's eyes lit up and he motioned for her to wait. He walked to the doorway and poked his head out, "Martha, we're definitely going to Amy's birthday party!" he said nearly bouncing.

Tish laughed, "Come here, overgrown kid, and help me pick out what's coolest." She smiled at his antics as Mickey hurried back over and climbed up onto the bed to look at the photos. 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Wow Time flies, unfortunately not for Mickey. <em>Yeah...but on the brightside I'm on vacation for a week and a half. <em>On the dark side for the sixth summer in a row we'll be separated. _It's a curse. But the darkside has cookies! _Hmph. Not here. Too hot. _Oh please, it's just as hot here. _Nyeh! Anyway, sometime this week we'll put out a new chapter in 'Expanding the universe' which isn't really a future shot but Mickey's backstory between 'Journey's end' and September when he's 'on his honeymoon' in "Children of Earth". **_**Basically, why he's with Martha. Also, maybe random crossovers. **_**You try to post anything about crossing over into 'big bang theory' I'll hurt you more than the 'firefly' idea. _Aww, but they're good ideas! Enjoy the story *Goes off to force writing agreement upon partner*]_**


	68. Lessons, Americans and Arivals

"Amelia?" the Doctor said around a mouthful of cereal.

"Yeah?" Amelia answered after she swallowed her own cereal.

Somehow he'd managed to not only get them a non dangerous place but he'd also located a restaurant that only sold breakfast cereal. Hundreds of combinations with dozens of non-cereal items to be put in as well including sauces!

The Doctor was in heaven with his mixed bowl filled with chocolate and peanut butter flavoured cereals, banana slices, banana sauce and chocolate pieces. Amelia had gone much more sedate with just peanut butter cereal and banana slices.

"When one shows up for a party it's generally in style, is it not?" He asked curiously.

"Um..." Amelia thought about it. "You mean like show up in a flashy car?"

He nodded seriously, "Yes."

"Yeah. Most times it's a long black limo. Only if you're rich though." Amelia said, trying to avoid speaking with her mouth full. "Why?"

The Doctor shrugged and smiled. "Just thinking." He took a huge bite of his cereal and purposefully spoke with his mouthful. "I 'ant 'oo 'ake a 'ide ah a 'ip." He grinned as the neighbouring tables made faces but the kids around giggled. "'anna 'ome?"

Amelia giggled and handed him a napkin. "Of course!"

* * *

><p>"No, not like – ack!" the Doctor shot out from under the water and spat out the water that had gotten into his mouth.<p>

"Sorry." Amelia said embarrassedly.

He'd put the plans to go on a ship on hold for just a while, the ocean had looked too inviting, if cold. So the Doctor had dug through the TARDIS and produced swim gear for the two of them.

Amelia giggled at his outfit, but he thought the striped men's suit looked quite dashing. Amelia said he looked like 'Pugsley Adams', he didn't see the connection, after all he had hair!

Amelia he'd just picked up a onepiece kid's suit from the store and a pair of boys swimtrunks to go over them.

He'd kept to the shallower bits of water and was trying to help her learn to float.

"You're good. Fine." the Doctor said as he gained his footing. The water came up to about mid sternum on Amelia so the worst that happened if either got dunked under was they'd just put their feet down.

"Now, this time just keep relaxed, don't flounder like that. I've got you." the Doctor said. He placed his hands under her shoulders from behind and supported her as she nervously took her feet off the bottom.

As predicted about the time her feet made it ¾ of the way up she jerked instinctively and tried to right herself.

"Sorry!" She yelped as he got splashed. "Sorry...I'm useless at this."

"You're learning." the Doctor corrected her, wiping his face as best he could with the cloth on his upper arm. "At least you trust me early."

"Of course I do!" Amelia said quickly.

"Trust is half the battle at first." He told her as he moved again to help her float.

"How do you know?" she asked nervously. She knew he had hold of her, but being underwater wasn't fun. She'd already had an incident on Rome, so she was scared as bad as it made her feel to admit it.

"You're not the first person I've had to teach." he said, distracting her as she worked up the courage to move her feet.

"I'm not?"

"Nope. For some reason Brits have issues with teaching their kids to swim." the Doctor said rolling his eyes. "I'm told it's the lack of swimming pools, the cold water of the beaches and the lack of need to do so. I think they just have no self-preservation instincts."

Amelia giggled, "Who have you taught?"

He smiled to himself as he felt her feet start to leave the bottom. "Well, I had to teach Sarah Jane to swim because she had a habit of just sinking."

Amelia giggled and didn't seem to notice she was relaxing. "A very amusing young lad named Jamie who insisted he was not drowning but merely 'hiding strategically under the water'. Oh let's see...There was Adric, but that was a lesson only due to the fact Tegan got annoyed and shoved him into the water. I had to teach Rose, you remember Rose?" At Amelia's slight nod he noted her feet were completely off the ground and she was actually floating.

He moved his grip just slightly to let her do it more on her own. "Well she took AGES to teach. Really, longer than you to float. Maybe it's because this suit is lucky? I like this suit. The other me's suit didn't have a top." He whispered in embarrassment. "Oh, and Amelia?"

"What?" she asked.

"You're floating on your own." he said cheekily, showing his hands above the water and laughing as she sunk in shock.

* * *

><p>"Just so you know, usually a call for help on the psychic paper doesn't lead to this!" the Doctor hissed to the other two hiding in the closet with him.<p>

Amelia and him had just gotten out of the water for a quick break when his psychic paper received a message. It was fairly simple but obviously someone in need of help so of course he and Amelia had sprung to the rescue! Only to get themselves trapped in the middle of some big government building in a closet clutching stolen 'crime scene evidence' that was in fact something akin to an alien MP3. He'd already sent a message to Tish for help, just in case.

"Oh really?" the girl who'd dragged him into it all said sarcastically. "Because this is just right on track for me!" she had an English accent, but they were still in America. D.C if he was correct.

"Really?"

"No!"

Amelia looked around the Doctor and offered her hand which was quite hard to do in the small place. "I'm Amy McCrimmon."

The other girl sighed and offered her hand. "Maria Jackson. Who's this then?"

"My dad." Amelia said with a smile.

The Doctor grinned like an idiot at the words and tried to listen to the outside world. Currently all he could hear were running footsteps, yelling and alarms. Honestly, all he'd done was borrow a navy ship, break into a government building and steal some evidence; you'd think they'd sort out their priorities.

"So, any idea's how we're getting out of here?"

* * *

><p>Tish looked down at her mobile as it buzzed and blinked. "Huh."<p>

"What?" Martha asked, looking away from addressing party invitations.

"Iain has somehow got himself locked in a closet with a teenage girl." Tish laughed lightly as Martha sputtered.

"What!"

A few moments later it buzzed again and Tish looked torn between laughing and yelling but gave into laughter. "It's fine. I guess it's a friend of his wife's."

"How young is his wife?" Martha asked aghast.

* * *

><p>"I'm not waiting in here to get caught." Maria declared and pulled out her mobile.<p>

"Whoa, hold it!" the Doctor yelped. "You can't just go calling anyone! This is a delicate situation."

"Don't worry. My friend, Sarah Jane, deals with this stuff all the time." Maria assured him. "She's like the professional at this."

The Doctor groaned and let his forehead thump against the closet door.

"What?" Maria asked curiously.

Amelia peeked around the Doctor once again. "He knows Sarah Jane."

"How?"

The Doctor turned and looked Maria in the eye, "Where do you think she learned it all from?"

"Oh. My. God." Maria's eyes went wide. "You're the Doctor?"

"The one and only." he nodded.

"That might just be worse." Maria said in shock as she hit the speed dial on her mobile. Moments later it was answered and she smiled. "Yes, sorry I'm interrupting tea but...I know you don't mind – I have a problem. Yes, that type. Well, you see I'm currently trapped in a closet in a government building being chased by some big Navy men with badges, several cops and some FBI people. Stole evidence. Hey, the Doctor's the one who stole a Navy ship-yeah...he's right next to me. I'd give him the phone except he's making noises like he's going to faint or throw up. Think you can help?"

* * *

><p>Mr. Smith hummed as he worked steadily tracking down the location of the Doctor and Maria and locating sources he could use nearby.<p>

If he could smile he would have when he finally nailed down their location.

Easy enough to fix, he decided. Some bells and whistles, a bribe or two...

"I swear that man is making his way through everyone I know." Sarah Jane said in disbelief as she hung up her mobile.

"I feel so left out." Clyde said quietly to Luke and Rani.

Sarah Jane whirled to face him. "He's not taking you in the TARDIS and if I can help it he won't kidnap Maria either."

"Don't worry, mate." Luke patted Clyde's arm consolingly. "In horror movies the Alien always catches up with it's target."

Clyde blinked, "Thanks. That makes me feel _loads_ better."

Luke tilted his head and looked at Rani, "Sarcasm?"

Rani just giggled at the two.

* * *

><p>Alarms were blaring louder than ever all around and Amelia's hands were clapped over her ears hard but it still wasn't blocking it out. The Doctor's hands covered hers after a moment and she smiled at the warmth and the muffled noise. He smiled back at her and looked around again as if sourcing a way out.<p>

Suddenly the door opened and he assumed what could be mockingly called a fighting stance to protect the girls.

On the other side stood a short plump blonde lady with pink stripes in her hair that was pulled up with something fuzzy and orange holding it in place.

She wore bright colours that showed skin but not in a bad way.

She looked nervous and adjusted her neon pink cat's eye glasses. "Um...You wouldn't happen to be called 'the Doctor', would you?"

The Doctor looked at her quizzically, still guarding Amelia. "I might be...who're you?"

"You're Maria Jackson?"

Maria nodded. "Same question as him."

"Um. I'm Garcia. Agent. Sort of. Mr. Smith sent me to get you guys out." She motioned for them to follow her and looked around. "Sort of agent. Not really. Technically a technical analyst but no one ever knows what that means." she babbled holding some sort of hand held computer in her arms as she walked quickly. "So I always have to say agent even though I'm not allowed to purport myself that way to the public."

"How do you know Mr. Smith?" Maria asked curiously, following her down the hall.

The Doctor was a few steps behind them, hand holding onto Amelia's tightly as he watched to make sure no one was following them, hoping this wasn't a trap.

"He caught me. Well, he didn't catch me because there was nothing to be caught but he sort of did because I was looking for information and he said I shouldn't be there and then we started playing tetris." Garcia said without really stopping for breath. "And then there were computer files and searching for information and somehow tech got involved and now here I am breaking criminals out of my place of work."

"We're not criminals, we're-"

"I don't want to know for the sake of my sanity." she cut the Doctor off quickly. "You'd think he'd not make me do anything like this but apparently not all British people are nice like Mary Poppins would have you believe." She muttered to herself something about mean people that Amelia couldn't quite catch.

Soon they encountered a glass door that was locked shut.

Garcia sighed and looked down at the handheld and bit her lip worriedly. "They're going to kill me if they catch me." she worried out loud as she typed in a password that opened the door.

Three hallways and another locked door later Garcia was nearly ranting but still a bit quiet.

"Of course he thinks he can make me do illegal things because he's caught me at them before but those were in the search for justice and can not be counted as bad so he has no blackmail." she groused, hand gesturing. "And that promise at a Tetris upgrade was just low!"

"What's she mean?" Amelia asked the Doctor, tugging his hand lightly.

"Uh...I'm not sure." the Doctor admitted. "I think Sarah Jane's computer is harassing people again."

She stopped at a final door that showed the outside and whirled to face them. "Mr. Smith said to tell you –" she pointed to Maria , "To put what you've got in a box without messing with it and send it to him, you are not to 'not give it to the overgrown manchild who sides with the dog'."

Maria laughed as the Doctor looked sulky.

"He's also told me to tell you," Garcia pointed at the Doctor, "That you're clear with the Navy, they no longer have your photo and to stay out of trouble."

The Doctor whined, "What? Not one from Sarah? Generally she lectures too."

"Do you want a Sarah Jane lecture?" Maria asked.

"Not really." he said quickly.

Garcia opened the door for them quickly. "Go before I get in any more trouble."

She shut the door behind them once they left and turned to glare at the security camera. Mr. Smith had already rerouted the feed leaving static in it's place but she was relatively certain he could still see her so she made a rude gesture at it and stormed off towards her office. God help that man if she ever actually met him.

"What are you doing out here? You're supposed to be in your office or in the bullpen when the alarms go off." A tall rather scary looking man with short black hair stated with concern.

"Yes, sir." she said quickly. "On my way there now.

* * *

><p>"What exactly is it anyway?" Maria asked, looking at the object they'd stolen. It looked like a scanner from the tills at the checkout counter at the grocers'.<p>

The Doctor reached for it but she held it out of his reach. "It's just a basic scanner to gather data for holographic projections."

"...it's a projector?"

"Basically." the Doctor nodded.

Amelia was staying close to his side, shooting worried glances back at the building as she held his hand. "Dad?" she asked quietly.

He smiled down at her and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "So...You're one of Sarah's kids?"

"Yeah...I guess." Maria nodded, tucking the device into her coat pocket. "You're really the Doctor?"

"The one and only." he said smugly, adjusting his bow-tie.

"Somehow I pictured you more...dignified." Maria looked at the green bow tie, the scuffed shoes and the clothes that made him look like a student trying to emulate his teacher.

"Oi! I look smashing as is." the Doctor whined making Amelia giggle. "So...I'm parked right around the corner." he took a cue from Amelia. "Fancy a trip?

Before Maria could answer her phone started ringing from her pocket and she winced. She pulled it out and looked at the ID. "It's Sarah Jane..."

He suddenly looked guilty and tugged Amelia's hand lightly. "Er, maybe some other time then?"

The Doctor nearly broke into a run trying to leave before he got into any more trouble.

* * *

><p>"I've got something for you." the Doctor told Amelia as they played in the game room. She'd gotten fairly good at Space Invaders. Yumo just blinked at the screen when the Doctor tried to teach him.<p>

"Really?" Amelia looked up curiously.

"Mhmm." he dug into his pocket and produced a long thin wrapped box about 6inches in length. It was wrapped in brilliant purple paper with red ribbons.

"Open it!"

Amelia smiled and undid the ribbons easily and tore off the paper. It was a jewelry box like the ones in the commercials that held bracelets and necklaces.  
>She opened it slowly and her face lit up in a smile. Inside was a beautiful silver bracelet that shone in the light, blue gems were encased in cylindrically shaped silver settings. "Like what the other me had." Amelia said smiling up at him in awe. "It's beautiful."<p>

"And complex." the Doctor said with a bright grin of his own. He gestured for her to turn it over and lightly touched the backs of the beads. "It's already got electronics inside for it's base purpose but I've...fiddled with them."

"How?" she asked, holding her arm out for him to put it on her.

"Very low level perception filter." the Doctor explained as he fastened it around her right wrist. "It'll keep people from seeing anything you don't want seen. Unless they know what they're trying to see or are just mentally advanced enough to tell there's something there to be seen." he paused when she looked at him oddly. "It's like the Fish People. This way you don't have to wear a mask. People will see you but won't recognize you as Amelia Pond and if asked they won't really be able to describe you in any deep details beyond what any person would notice at a glance."

"I like masks." Amelia replied even as she traced the beads. Once fastened they'd made a beeping noise and blinked rapidly but now they were settled on a very low glow that faded in and out. "Why does it blink?"

"Currently?" the Doctor smiled and tapped one of the beads. "It's just recording and repeating your heartbeat."

"The other me's one was beeping and the lights blinked a lot faster."

"Yes, well I suppose her heart rate was elevated due to stress, mischief and running. Alternately I do believe beeping is a warning sign for several things including a message from the 'parent' bracelets warning them to head home." the Doctor rolled his eyes and tapped her lightly on the nose. "I think that must mean you were in trouble with me."

Amelia giggled, "Never!"

Yumo flopped on the ground and whined at the giggling duo.

"I don't care if it's pretty, I'm not getting you one." the Doctor told the Uval with a serious tone. "You don't need 'the shiny'."

* * *

><p>Tish paced nervously in her living room wishing, not for the first time, she could see the carpark from her flat. She had windows in the living room, the kitchen as well, but thanks to her location she couldn't really see the carpark, just the front of the building. She shouldn't complain, many of the flats had a lot less...nice of a view and at least she could see the entry.<p>

"Why on earth are you pacing?" Martha asked as she entered the flat, still annoyed at Tish and Rory for today's events.

Well, annoyed at Rory for sure but Tish was just suspicion. Someone, most likely her sister, had sent a package to Rory alongside his lunch. The package consisted of a pair of black silk boxer shorts with a oversized pink kissmark embroidered on right thigh with "Call Me" written across the back in hot pink.

"Reasons." Tish said dismissively.

"She's been pacing for an hour." Mickey said informatively where he sat on the couch watching football with Amidala. "It's rather funny."

"Bite me." Tish muttered. The Doctor had called an hour ago, informing her of when he'd be arriving and to 'keep an eye open outside'. She hadn't got anymore information other than he'd call her back. He couldn't do anything too outrageous, could he? He knew Martha and Mickey were here...

Her phone rang and she reflexively answered it. "Iain? Oh. Sorry Rory." she turned to look at her now suddenly interested Sister and brother-in-law.

"Yeah? Yes, it is cute when you blush. Why should I? Message? Yes well..." She suddenly looked less sure of herself. "Iain called. He and Amy will be here sometime tonight. No, he's not staying...Yeah, dropping her off then 'business meetings'. I don't know. Something in front of my building. You want to stop by tonight or see us at the party tomorrow after work?" Tish nodded. "Okay...Yeah...Love you." she smiled to herself, "Bye."

She turned around to look at the 'inconspicuous' duo. "What?"

"Nothing." Martha said quickly.

Mickey just grinned.

* * *

><p>'Wait out front', that's all he'd said 'wait out front'. Tish grumbled to herself and tugged her jacket closer. It was drizzling out and COLD, she'd been waiting ten minutes and was about to call the Doctor up and curse at him. 'Wait out front', ha! Martha and Mickey had declined waiting with her but if she looked up she could see them peeking out her window.<p>

It was Friday night which meant Amy was sleeping over and then the party the next day. Tish still had around 1/3 of what he'd given her for the party and everything was already stocked which meant they'd most likely be visiting cinemas, toystores and other 'kid' things if they didn't leave tomorrow night.

She wasn't exactly 100% sure what he'd be getting up to, but visiting friends couldn't be all that bad. What's the worst he could- no, she was NOT finishing that thought.

She'd about given up waiting when a limo turned the corner and pulled up in front of the building. It wasn't the limo itself that got her attention, not that they were usual around her neighborhood, but the fact that there was a handprint on the window in the back that looked suspiciously like frosting.

"They couldn't have..." Tish murmured to herself as she walked up to the door and opened it on instinct.

Inside was Amy in bright pink footie pajamas with golden crowns imprinted across them. She had her hair done up in braids and tucked under a top hat.

Yumo was sitting on the floor eating what looked like ice cream from a large bowl quite happily.

The Doctor was sprawled on the side seat, feet clad in dragon shaped slippers crossed at the ankle, he too wore a hat but not one she'd seen in years. It was a plastic and looked like a hard hat but on either side a cup holder was fixed with tubes running from it to near his mouth.

"Please tell me that's not beer." she sighed.

He shook his head and spoke, mouth full of cake. "'s 'eg 'ilk."

"What?"

"Some kind of milk." Amy clarified for her. "We got it on Betoz. It tastes kind of like blueberries."

The Doctor nodded enthusiastically and took a giant bite of one of the small cakes that covered half a platter. "'Oner'ull!"

"You're disgusting." Tish told him seriously.

"Am 'ot!" he protested, spewing crumbs.

"Ugh." Tish rolled her eyes. "He's such a bad influence on you."

Amy giggled. "Is not!"

"See? He's already got to you." Tish teased her. "Have you got your bag?"

"Uh huh." Amy showed her the pink backpack. "Just me? Yumo has to stay with dad, huh?"

Tish grinned and mouthed the word 'dad' to the Doctor who grinned brilliantly and gave a double thumbs-up. "Yup. Sorry. Have you got a coat? It's raining."

Amy looked around and spotted it under the Doctor's legs. She pulled it on as best she could and hugged the Doctor. "See you tomorrow afternoon?"

"Closer to tea." the Doctor said sulkily but hugged her close anyway. "I'll be there, I promise." he looked at the Uval on the ground. "I'll even bring him along."

Amy leaned down to scratch Yumo's ears and climbed out of the Limo after Tish.

"I've got one question." Tish asked as she held Amy's hand to lead her inside.

"What?" Amy said curiously.

"Where on Earth did you two just leave!"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: I'm all alone...So sad. Posting solo for the first time in ages because she's at a movie with her aunt and parents in FLORIDA. What's so cool in Florida? Hmph. Anyway yeah...not quite as long as it has been lately but I wrote this entirely on my own and even had to use a different beta. Then again I did post a 10,000 word Mickey fic so hey, life's a trade off! Enjoy!]<strong>


	69. Homesick, New cars and Reunited

Tish stared at the her ward as she opened the door to her flat "Wait, you crashed a wedding?" she asked letting Amy in.

Amy smiled goofily in a way that reminded Tish strongly of the girl's adopted father, "Nuh uh! We had an invitation!" Amy protested, wiping rain from her face and taking her jacket off to hang it up. "I just don't know whose invitation it was." She continued, frowning as she tried to work it out.

Tish laughed and shook her head ruffling the girl's hair, "You two amaze me." She said smiling at the girl.

Amy giggled and stepped out of the entry way into the main room.

Tish watched as Amy froze in place looking at Martha and Mickey with a puzzled look of consideration like she was uncertain of something and stepped forward.

"Amy this is my baby sister Martha and her husband Mickey." Amidala made a grumbling noise from under her blanket on the couch and Tish rolled her eyes, "that'd be their dog, Amidala. She's a big baby." Tish said smiling again.

Amy didn't look away though. Something about them was tingling in her mind...The Dream Lord yes, but was she supposed to be upset? Wait...She wasn't...There were memories? Weren't there...She was twelve...no, eight. Eight tomorrow, not twelve. She hadn't been twelve yet...She didn't have a brother...did she? No...She shook her head slightly to get rid of the fog and confusion that had settled in and smiled at them. "Hi, I'm Amy McCrimmon." She said shyly ducking behind Tish.

"Nice to meet you, Amy. I heard it's your birthday tomorrow?" Mickey said politely. Something about the girl was familiar but he couldn't place her. She must have had just a very common face, nothing about her really stuck out bar the bright hair.

"Uh huh." Amy nodded. "I'll be eight." She said looking at him carefully.

"Big age, Eight." Martha said clearly at a loss as well.

Tish looked between the three and realized this was going far too well. Amy didn't even have a mask on! "Um, Amy let's go get your stuff settled, okay? I'll tell you about our plans for your birthday." Tish said quickly hoping to distract the trio,

"Okay." Amy followed Tish down the hall and into the spare room where a small kid's bed was set up for Tish's niece. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine." Tish said quickly, shutting the door to the hallway and lowering her voice. "Amy, why don't they recognize you? You haven't got a mask on." Tish asked worriedly.

Amy reached up to touch her face and encountered bare skin...right that was a requirement being around them...why? "Dad fixed me a bracelet." Amy held her arm out to show her the bracelet he'd given her. "He says it's got a 'ception filter on it so they only see what they want to see. You see me because you know it's me but they don't so I don't look like me." Amy tried to explain it.

"Ah." Tish searched through her memory for any more information and found it lacking. "I'll ask him myself for more but...if that's on you won't get recognized?" Tish's smile grew again, that would make her plans go smoother tomorrow.

"Not unless they know me." Amy agreed, "Or they've got lots of mental ability and dad says we don't have to worry about the idiot." She said simply looking at her nanny.

Tish laughed softly and sat on the bed to look Amy in the eyes. "How are you doing, seeing them again?" she asked smoothing the girls hair down.

Amy shrugged, "They're cool. The stories I've heard are amazing." She continued smiling.

"I mean after the Dream Lord and memories." Tish skipped stepping around the topic to get straight to the point.

"Memories." Amy repeated. She blinked and rubbed the side of her head in thought. "They helped save us from the Dream Lord who was trying to make us die in dreams. Right?" Amy asked confused.

Tish froze inside, Amy didn't remember those five years like Martha and Mickey did? "Do you remember everything?" she asked the little girl.

Amy frowned in thought. "Yeah, we were being chased by people who shot goo and they protected me but we were also freezing." Amy frowned as she tried to remember.

"How long were you there?" Tish asked.

"I don't know. A few hours?" Amy offered, hoping it was the right answer. She'd only just met them when the Dream Lord made them sleep so it couldn't have been any longer!

Tish nodded and bit her lip, trying hard not to show any signs of worry to the child. "I think...You reek of blueberries, old spice and..." she leaned forward and deliberately sniffed Amy, "Eww, ginger beer." Tish frowned.

"It was a really nice wedding." Amy smiled.

Tish wrinkled her nose, "Get your gear and take a shower. I'll make tea and then we can watch a movie, okay?" She said giving the girl a push.

"Okay!" Amy dug through her bag to find a different set of pyjamas. "Can I steal your bath?" she said smirking.

"Why?" Tish frowned.

"It's bigger!" Amy said smiling and bouncing as she looked into Tish's eyes.

Tish rolled her eyes, hamming it up. "Fine, fine...but don't use all my bubble bath. Do I need to run it for you, Time Princess?" she teased.

"No, I can do it!" Amy said eagerly, "I know how." She insisted.

Tish smiled as Amy opened the door and disappeared across the hall into her room. The smile slowly faded though. Amy honestly didn't remember five years? How could she not if Martha and Mickey did...'a few hours'? Oh...this could be very not good. The cracks made you forget but if she'd forgotten that through the cracks then Martha, Mickey or the Doctor would be gone so it couldn't be that...

Tish frowned, she was going to have to ask the Doctor about it tomorrow when she saw him. She sat back on the bed and watched as Amidala slowly inched around the doorway to look at her.

"Spy." she said casually and the puppy ducked out again. Tish heard her tail hit the walls as Amidala dashed back to her owners. "At least she can't talk...to anyone here anyway."

* * *

><p>"And then the groom got grumpy and told Dad to stop heckling people at his wedding 'damn it'." Amy said animatedly as she ate. Tish had thrown together a salad filled with peppers, mushrooms, onions and thinly sliced steak on top. While Amy ate it without quarrel Tish could tell by the look her brother-in-law held that he'd be taking off for a burger as soon as he could.<p>

"How'd he know him?" Tish asked.

Amy shrugged and speared a pepper. "Through work. Dad said he's known him since he was young." She explained.

"How do you heckle a wedding?" Martha asked curiously. So far she hadn't asked too many leading questions of Amy which Tish was thankful for. Mostly Martha and Mickey seemed entertained by the girl.

Amy took a breath and tried to deepen her voice, "'You know, I think I like his third wedding best'" she then changed her voice to a slightly smoother tone, "'Iain, I've only been married twice', 'hmph...for now' 'can we continue the ceremony?' 'no, it's dull'." Amy rolled her eyes as Tish laughed.

"Well did you at least learn anything good this week? Obviously he missed one or two of my instructions." Tish teased, noting that Amy's hair looked exactly the same.

Amy chewed as she thought about it. "Never poke a woman, say she looks podgy and ask when the baby's due unless you know for sure she's pregnant." She said matter of factly.

"Oh God." Tish groaned, "Was she?" she asked almost dreading the answer.

"Yes. But dad didn't know that. The Navy was unimpressed with him insulting one of their captain people." Amy understated the story, not wanting her to know about their little run in...at least not in front of Martha and Mickey. "Did you learn anything?" She asked curiously.

"Hmm." Tish pretended to think about it and shot a look at her sister. "Well, I learned my siblings are stalkers." She said in a loud stage whisper to the girl.

"Are not!" Martha said quickly. "It's not stalking if it's with concern and love!" she yelled.

"Hah, I'm sure that's the thought every other stalker has." Tish shot back.

Amy repeated the word to herself, trying to remember the meaning. "Oh! That's the word for the guy that follows others around and hides a lot, right?" she asked the adults.

"Yeah." Mickey said as both sisters bickered playfully.

"Oh. Dad called r—mum that." Amy said, quickly recalling the lie about River that Tish had told her. If the Doctor knew Tish was using River as an example of her mother he might just turn purple.

"Why?" Mickey asked curiously.

"Cause she always seems to be there when he doesn't want her to be." Amy shrugged.

* * *

><p>"And then they realized there was one thing left: Hope." Tish read from the children's book Amy loved. Amy was in her newest pyjamas, a rather bright orange shirt with neon purple cloth pants that were both emblazoned in hot pink geometric patterns. "So Hope was released along with all the worst things in the world." Tish looked down and noticed Amy had her eyes closed and was breathing slowly. Clearly asleep Tish set the book aside and tucked her in a bit tighter. She leaned down and kissed her forehead before getting up. She left the door open a crack so that some light from the hallway would act as a nightlight.<p>

Tish walked into the living room to find Martha and Mickey curled up watching a movie.

She looked at the screen and made a face. "Monsters vs Aliens again?" she asked rolling her eyes.

"I like this movie." Mickey said defensively,

"It's new and you're gonna wear it out." Tish shot back. "I'm going to go take a nice long bath and go to bed." She said yawning.

"It's only 9:30." Martha said.

"Yeah but I need to be up early we've got birthday plans. Speaking of," Tish turned to Mickey, "Don't stay up too late, you've got to get up with me." She said smirking evilly.

"What?" Mickey jolted and looked terrified. "I did my package carrying, seven days of it!" he yelled indignant.

"Yes, but you've got more travelling and babysitting duty tomorrow. I talked to Sarah Jane about her kids coming with Amy to this arts shop where they make sculptures, plates and such and she said fine but you need to go with. It's like she doesn't trust a stranger alone with her son." Tish said melodramatically and rolled her eyes.

Mickey looked at Martha as Tish went to go start a bath. "She's just having a laugh, right? I don't have to get up early, do I?" he begged.

Martha winced, "I think you might have to." She said patting his shoulder.s

* * *

><p>The Doctor sighed quietly to himself as he toyed with the console of the TARDIS. His ship was too quiet. Even more quiet than when the humans slept, at least then the TARDIS generally kept him occupied. But currently even she wasn't making too much noise, either sulking about the missing humans or busy doing something that could either be very good or very bad.<p>

He looked down at Yumo who slumped on the glass as if in defeat.

"We're neglected, Yumo." the Doctor told him seriously. "Pushed aside because of the threat of being arrested or found out by friends. Without cake!" the Doctor's eyes widened and Yumo perked up at the mention of cake. "Oooh, speaking of I need to order them a cake." He dashed to the other side of the console and dug for his cell phone. Obviously someone would know where you could order a good cake on Earth.

He realized later he may have overestimated when he said ten tiers, but Amelia and Tish liked cake...so did Mickey and Martha.

* * *

><p>Amy sighed and rolled over in her bed once again trying hard to get to sleep. She hadn't slept away before. They'd slept off the TARDIS once or twice when they'd been somewhere else and 'immersed in the local society' but she'd never not had the Doctor with her.<p>

She looked at her watch that was glowing slightly and it said 6:14 and it blinked steadily, the numbers nearly mocking. She didn't have to be up for another hour but she hadn't slept well at all.

There was no hum. There was no change in the lighting because someone walked down the hall or because someone looked in to check on her. She didn't have her teddy bear the Doctor gave her and Yumo wasn't with her.

She pulled the covers back and climbed out of bed. Her bare feet hit the carpet and she frowned as it was cold. It was never cold on the TARDIS. Amy slowly pushed the door open the rest of the way and looked around. She could see down the hall Martha and Mickey sleeping on the folded out couch, their dog was snoring on the recliner near them. She crossed the hall and knocked lightly on Tish's door.

"What?" came a sleepy voice.

"I can't sleep." Amy replied.

"Come in." the voice came again, accompanied by a yawn.

Amy opened the door and walked in, quietly shutting it behind her. She nearly smiled when she saw Tish had a night light going as well in the corner. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

"It's okay." Tish replied sitting up a little to look at her alarm. "A bit early though." She said looking at the little girl.

"I couldn't sleep." Amy repeated.

Tish scooted over in the bed and pulled the covers back, "Come lay down, try to get a bit more sleep." She said gesturing for the girl to join her.

Amy quickly crossed the room and climbed into the warm bed, letting Tish tuck her in. "It's too quiet." She whispered.

"I know how you feel." Tish told her as she settled back down against her pillow. "I had issues the first few nights as well." She continued as she made sure the girl was settled.

Amy sighed quietly, "Yumo isn't here." She whined.

"You'll see him this afternoon." Tish countered.

"Dad isn't either." She whispered a few moments later.

Tish wrapped an arm around the girl and hugged her. "He'll be back tonight, remember? And you can tell him all about our awesome day and your birthday…speaking of…" Tish squeezed her lightly, "Happy birthday!" Tish said giving her ward a hug.

Amy smiled and hugged Tish back, "Thank you." She said quietly

" Now can we please try to get some sleep?" Tish teased her, clearly still drowsy. "We've got to be up in an hour." Tish said looking at the clock.

Amy giggled and snuggled down next to Tish.

* * *

><p>Mickey grumbled to himself as he drove down the familiar streets to Sarah Jane's home. It wasn't that he minded driving or even playing taxi driver but at eight in the morning? On a Saturday…He was going to be driving around with three teenagers, one adult and an eight year old in his car while his wife laughed at him from work and his poor dog was suffering at his mother-in-law's house.<p>

This was inhumane and all because he'd been dubbed the babysitter of the week over Tish.

And this was even his new car! They wouldn't let him cover the seats with plastic to protect them, even though they were LEATHER and brand new! He'd worked hard for this car…okay, so he'd done two bounty jobs that had gained him a fair amount of cash in return but still! He'd nearly got punched doing it.

It was shiny and new… He sighed forlornly as he drove into Sarah Jane's drive and parked. He brushed his fingers over the seats in apology and climbed out.

Mickey knocked loudly on the door to Sarah Jane's and stood back waiting. It was way too early. What kind of birthday started this early? Really! You weren't supposed to be forced to wake up this early on your birthday, it was just cruel!

Sarah Jane answered the door after a few moments and smiled at him. "You know, a party starting this early is generally one that's still going from the night before." She said teasing as she looked at the disgruntled man in front of her.

"Experience?" he laughed as he hugged her in greeting.

"Yes." She stepped aside so he could come in and shut the door behind him. "Looking forward to your day being surrounded by kids?" she teased.

"Not really. Actually not in the least." Mickey admitted. "But Martha's working, Francine has begged off, Clive is 'busy' and Leo refused. So…here I am!" he grumbled sending one last look to his new, un messed up car.

"You'd do it anyway if asked." Sarah Jane said knowingly.

"Not the point." He complained as he followed her into the kitchen. He stole a seat at the table and crossed his arms grumpily. "This is too early to be awake while on vacation." He lounged backwards and smiled slightly as she busied herself making tea. "What are your plans for the day? Lots of work?" he asked her.

"Jack's coming over." Sarah Jane said.

Mickey made a face, "Why? No, strike that. I don't want to know." He said shivering at the evil thoughts that had crossed his mind.

"Don't be lewd." She tossed a tea towel at him with a laugh. "He's leaving with you guys tonight and figured he'd come visit me for the day instead of staying at his son's again since we haven't spoken much this week." Sarah Jane explained.

Mickey huffed out a breath and re-crossed his arms differently. "Still…He has to sit in the back and obey the rules of Mickey's car." He insisted.

"I'm sure." Sarah Jane said smirking.

* * *

><p>Luke paced back and forth in Rani's kitchen waiting for her to get ready. He'd been up, ready and dressed by seven, why wasn't she ready yet? He checked his watch again and found it only seconds more after eight than it'd been last time he looked.<p>

He'd called Clyde repeatedly and finally got an assurance about ten minutes ago that Clyde was dressed and '_Heading to your house now!'  
><em>

"Settle down, Luke." Gita chided him with amusement as she sat at the table in her bathrobe sipping coffee. She'd been forced to wake up by the knocking on the door half an hour ago.

"Sorry." Luke rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I'm just really wanting to go." He said eagerly.

"No need to apologize, my dear. I'm just surprised you'd want to go to a children's party let alone that you convinced Rani to go." Gita said smiling at her daughter's friend.

"I've never been to a proper kids party before." Luke said honestly.

"Really? Never?" Gita asked looking at the boy.

"No." he shook his head.

"What about your parties? Surely you had some nice ones." Gita said with a smile.

"I've only had one." Luke replied and shrugged.

"Really? Why?" she asked again.

Luke was spared having to answer by Rani's entrance.

"Do I look okay?" Rani asked. Mickey had told them they should dress casual and in clothes they wouldn't mind getting dirty. Luke had thrown on a pair of jeans and an older grey shirt that had a band he didn't know printed on it.

Rani'd opted for the same it seemed and donned a simple pink t-shirt and a pair of worn jeans.

"You look great." He said with a smile.

"Great?" Rani asked, eyebrow raised slightly as she smiled.  
>"Yeah..."<p>

"Ready? I think Mickey's waiting. I heard a car." Gita interrupted them looking out the window.

"Yes. Luke?" Rani smiled at his enthusiasm. She felt just as excited herself to see Amelia again but Luke…Luke was positively bouncing like her mother did when a relative they hadn't seen in a while came to visit. "Let me get her gift." Rani said walking towards the living room.

"Be sure to call me when you get there and when you're leaving." Gita followed Rani into the living room as Luke trudged after them trying hard not to whine.

"Yes, Mum." Rani replied, picking up the decorative bag that held the gift she'd chosen.

"And if anything goes wrong." She added.

"It's a kid's party, what could go wrong?" Rani rolled her eyes, secretly wondering what could go wrong given who was going to be there. "I'll talk to you in a bit." Rani hugged her mother and kissed her on the cheek before allowing Luke to pull her outside towards his house.

"Oi! Wait up!" Clyde's voice interrupted the scene.

The two looked over to see Clyde jogging up the street towards them, a little out of breath and holding a wrapped box under his arm.

"Oh god, you're twins." Rani said with a small laugh.

Clyde was wearing an outfit that looked just like Luke's, from this distance it even looked like the same shirt…wait…

"Who've you got on your shirt?" Rani asked.

"Huh?" Clyde looked down at his shirt, tugging it out lightly with his fingers. "Led Zeppelin." He shrugged and poked Luke's shirt. "He's got the same." Clyde said pointing to the nearly identical shirt on his friend.

"I don't know who they are." Luke looked down curiously at his own shirt then Clyde's near identical one. "My cousin gave this to me when I was three days old." Luke said referring to the children of his mother's oldest friends. They'd pretty much swarmed the house bringing tonnes of gifts the moment they found out he existed.

"You're 'cousins' need to do a better job explaining music." Clyde told him cheerily.

"Why? I thought that's what you're for." Rani teased Clyde. "You're failing, bud." She smirked.

"Can we go?" Luke said, indicating his house and Mickey's SUV waiting out front.

"Yes, yes." Clyde rolled his eyes, "Let's go meet the princess." He said teasingly.

"She's not a real princess." Luke reminded him.

"Yeah, but I don't know the name for the kid of a Time Lord so princess it is." They'd filled Clyde in on the secret of Amelia Pond once they had him sworn to absolute secrecy on the subject. When Maria had contacted them the other day she'd kept mum on the secret about there being a child till Luke told her they knew. Both Maria and Clyde complained about being left out, but understood. Now Clyde just complained that he hadn't got an adventure yet.

* * *

><p>"Oh God." Mickey groaned as he heard the door open. "It's like a horror movie." He said quietly.<p>

"You fight aliens and chase down people freelance." Sarah Jane shot him an affectionately annoyed glance. "Yet you're scared of a kids party." She smiled at him.

"You weren't dragged around with Tish shopping!" Mickey protested.

Sarah Jane shrugged, "I don't know Tish that well. That's why you're going." For some reason Mickey's sister in law had acted a bit weird around Sarah Jane and Luke the few times they met , mostly for short times at pick-ups and drop offs but for longer at Mickey and Martha's wedding.

"Mickey! We're ready!" Luke proclaimed happily.

Mickey groaned and let his head thump into his hands.

"Oh buck up!" Sarah Jane chided him, trying hard not to laugh and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "It's just a kid's party." She said trying not to laugh.

Mickey sighed and climbed out his chair looking the part of a weary soldier. "Right, you three are going to be in my brand new and damned expensive car so there's got to be some rules. One: No food or drink in the car. Two: No shoes on the seats. Three: No mucking with the windows or heat. Four: I choose the tunes." He said petulantly.

"Fine." Luke nodded and smiled brightly again. "Can we go?" he asked bouncing.

Mickey groaned, that much enthusiasm…it was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p>Amy bounced in place and smiled happily at the world around her. It was so far a nice happy day, for the entire three hours she'd been awake, and was guaranteed to get better! She didn't even have to wear a mask anymore! Martha had been really nice and brought her a tiny cake for breakfast. Tish had grumbled at her but Martha proclaimed it was 'tradition in any house we're in' so she'd gotten to eat cake for breakfast mostly.<p>

Then Tish had taken her out to some 'Spa' thing. Since the Doctor hadn't gotten her hair trimmed Tish did it. Amy's hair now rested just below her shoulders like it had when he'd picked her up instead of so long it got tangled and had to be braided. She liked it when it was long but not too long where it was a nuisance.

Because it was a special day the lady had even given her curls! Her hair was fluffy with big curls that sort of blended into her hair and Tish said made her look 'adorable'. She'd gotten her nails painted in a bright purple as well and was now standing outside the Art's store where Mickey had dropped them off anxiously awaiting the next step. They couldn't go inside, not until everyone arrived.

Tish said that someone she knew that was a friend and 'not Rory' , though he'd be there too, was coming to visit. TWO someone's.  
>She'd only really had two friends before she got taken, not counting Henry's brothers her age she'd had to play with, and was relatively certain that Mel's wasn't allowed to know she'd time travelled so that meant it had to be someone she'd met since then.<p>

She hadn't met too many kids her age but…

Amy really hoped it would be Luke but she doubted it. Sarah Jane had forbid the Doctor from taking Luke again and Luke probably couldn't come.

There was always Kali and Tybre! She'd tried to talk about them before but every time she mentioned them the Doctor got upset and changed the subject so she'd stopped trying to ask about them. She'd asked Tish if she knew why but Tish hadn't known.

"I see Mickey's car." Tish told Amy with a smile.

Amy bounced on her feet and watched it eagerly.

Mickey pulled up to a stop in the street and lowered his window, "I'm going to go find a place to park and be right back." He grumbled.

"No running away." Tish scolded him even as he laughed.

The car doors opened and out climbed two familiar teenagers and their friends.

Amy stared in shock as the car drove off leaving Luke, Rani and someone new behind.

Luke made it to the sidewalk before he caught the running Amy up in a big hug.

"Hi." Luke said, his voice a bit muffled as he hugged her tight. "I missed you." he said quietly.

"Missed you too!" Amy sniffed, determined not to cry.

"What am I, the neighbour?" Rani protested lightly.

Amy turned from Luke and hugged Rani too even as Luke replied seriously. "Yes." Causing everyone to laugh.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Look at that, she got a new game, I took a nap and we're still done on time! <em>Luck. Birthday party soon, I swear! For anyone really curious about Luke's 'cousins' you can find that story under the account name 'noutanounceoflogic', it's called 'first week' I think. _Shamelessly plugging her own fics. _Oi! They're based in the same universe you...most of them..._Yes, they're just not exact. We've done good so far but school starts in a few weeks_ and I'm moving in about two weeks _so yeah...hopefully we'll be able to keep posting. _I'm going to get as much done as possible and uploaded for her to post labled 'this first' 'this second' 'next up hun' 'don't forget this one'. _She thinks she's funny. Enjoy!]_**


	70. Finding out and birthdays

Once Mickey returned they'd regained their composure and were inside the shop.

"What exactly are we doing?" Clyde asked, looking around at all the art supplies. There were large bottles of paint stacked on the walls, giant rolls of paper just begging to be worked on and more clay then he could think to ever use. It was like a dream, everything he'd ever wanted in one location.

"Making plates!" Amy declared, "And painting things. Tish said so." She said nearly bouncing at the thought of all the fun they were going to have.

Tish laughed, "Yup. We're going to get covered in paint, aren't we?" she said smiling at the little girl and the excited teens.

Amy nodded enthusiastically. "Yup!" she said smiling happily.

Mickey looked dubiously at the supplies, "Why?" he could just imagine the mess that would come with this.

"Because it's a birthday!" Tish exclaimed, "And crafts are fun!" she said smirking at him.

By time they were done they had paint everywhere, somehow Luke had managed to get it on top of his head. He said it was on purpose and Rani agreed that hot pink looked quite dashing in his hair.

* * *

><p>"What's it like at your school?" Amy asked curiously. Today was by far the best birthday ever. She got to get her hair done with CURLS, her nails got painted, she got to see Mickey, Rani and Luke again, they got to paint things and make plates and now they got to hang out inside an arcade with the promise of takeaway for lunch.<p>

"Like any other school really," Clyde said as he helped her aim the 'blaster' at the video screen and another grossly exaggerated villain fell. "What's yours like?" he asked her curiously.

"I don't go to school. Tish teaches me." She said, trying to keep track of the 'targets' on the game. "I work in the library." Amy said concentrating hard on the game in front of her.

The woman in question was laughing currently as she and Mickey attempted some sort of game that mainly consisted of them jumping around like idiots on top of panels that had arrows on them as lights flashed and music played in the background. Tish looked less stupid so she assumed that meant that Tish was winning.

"Really?" Clyde asked curiously as if he hadn't thought of that before.

"Uh huh." Amy said sticking her tongue out a little as she kept concentrating.

"Well um...You have to go to a bunch of different classes with a lot of other people all jammed in." Clyde said as he thought about it. "And there's a lot of teachers and they all teach differently and different subjects. Plus they all give out homework so even after your done at school you've got like two hours of work or so at home. I think you've got the better deal." Clyde told her. "You get to go explore!" he said a bit envious as he adjusted her hold on the blaster.

Amy smiled happily, "Yeah, I do." The game ended as one of the bad guys touched her screen and "GAME OVER" displayed prominently.

"Yeah, she gets to see history in action!" Rani agreed, coming up behind them and squeezing Clyde's sides to make him jump and laugh. "Even if it does involve Vampires!" she said grumbling.

"They were Alien Fish." Amy protested as she put the blaster back in its holster.

"Yeah, but Churchill had Daleks." Luke surprised her from behind and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "And according to mum the Queen had werewolves and Downing Street got Slitheen." Luke added.

"Really?" Amy looked surprised. "I'll have to ask dad." She said thoughtfully.

"Dad is it now?" Rani asked with a smile.

Amy smiled brightly and nodded, "Yeah. He said I can call him that." She said grinning and nodding.

Luke grinned and hugged Amy, "Good for you!" he said smiling at the younger girl.

"Now don't get all soppy." Clyde teased them, reaching out and ruffling Luke's still paint splattered hair "It's an arcade, not a Psychiatrists office." He continued smirking at them.

"What's a Psychiatrist?" Amy questioned as Clyde dragged them off to another game.

"Someone who talks about your feelings and tries to make you remember things." Rani clarified simply.

"Oh." Amy filed that away. Rory had mentioned the word before but she didn't know what it had meant. "What's this game?" she asked, indicating one that had weird bike looking things in front of it that were too big to be a normal bike. Clyde paused and looked over it, a smile lighting up his face.

"Ah, this is a racing game. See, you move and the guy on the screen moves." Clyde said eagerly. "Wanna try it?" he said hopping on one.

"Yeah!" she said allowing Luke to help her up onto another bike.

* * *

><p>Amy allowed herself to be led by Tish from the car park to the inside of some building, Tish's hands covering her eyes lightly.<p>

"Almost there." she teased Amy as the girl whined. "Luke could you...?" Tish asked smiling at the older teen

"On it!" he said.

Amy heard a door open and felt the air go a bit colder as they entered a building and could hear a buzzing noise like a leafblower. "Wha-?" she asked questioningly.

"Ready?" Tish asked.

"Yeah." Amy said quickly.

Tish removed her hands to let Amy see the room and Amy's eyes went wide as several voices yelled, "Surprise!" Amy looked around in shock.

"Oh...wow." she breathed out as she took in her surroundings..

There were large colourful inflatable things set out across the room, what looked like a giant obstacle course, a large bounce-house and another bounce-house with something hanging from the centre; Balloons and streamers in dozens of colours everywhere, hanging from the ceiling, tied to chairs that sat around a few small tables; the back wall had a table pressed against it that was almost completely in different gift bags and wrapped boxes, there were even boxes sitting next to it. People were milling around that she recognized, even Francine was there!

Amy turned to Tish, eyes wide, "For me?" she asked amazed.

"Of course!" Tish said, hugging the girl tight. "Who else for? Happy Birthday." Tish said hugging the girl before pushing her gently forward into the room.

Amy's eyes lit up as she looked around the room. "Happy Birthday." She said quietly to herself.

"Come on then," Mickey said eagerly, "Can we play now?" he leaned towards the bounce toys looking like a small child.

"You sound like a child." Tish laughed and nudged Mickey lightly.

"Yeah, but...Toys!" Mickey proclaimed gesturing to the obstacle course.

Tish smiled and nudged Amy. "Have at it." She said shaking her head.

* * *

><p>The Doctor rubbed his hands together and tapped them lightly against his thighs. He was bored and it was Amelia's birthday. He'd gotten her a cake ordered and set up for delivery on Earth, he already had her Space party planned and set up. This left way too much free time. He could just skip ahead to where the party ended but...<p>

Well, he had told Tish he'd go visiting today.

He smiled brightly and looked at Yumo who was sulking and staring at the doors. "Want to go visiting? I'll show you a dog that's miles above you when it comes to 'cool'." he asked staring down at the blue dog below him.

* * *

><p>He threw open the TARDIS doors with gusto even as the warning noises from Mr. Smith faded from his ears and looked around.<p>

He spotted Sarah Jane sitting at her desk and he burst into a smile. "SARAH!" he said loudly smiling.

"Doctor." she greeted him as he scooped her up into a hug and kissed her cheeks.

"Aww, why don't I ever get greeted that way." a whining voice sounded from the couch.

The Doctor looked over and narrowed his eyes at Jack. "I don't like you as much." He said frowning at the man he hadn't noticed.

Jack clutched both hands over his heart as if shot. "Ow!" he said sarcastically.

"Why are you here?" Sarah Jane asked him, pulling away from his hug.

"I was told to occupy myself on Earth for a few hours." he shrugged. "So here I am." The doctor answered honestly.

"I'm how you occupy yourself?" She raised an eyebrow and watched him, arms crossed.

He grinned, "Sometimes, and - " he trailed off as a yapping noise reached his ears and his face filled with horror, "Oh no." he groaned walking quickly towards the TARDIS.

The Doctor reached the TARDIS doors to fling them shut as a small blue blur came running out.

It yapped as it ran in circles, some sort of jar stuck over its head.

Sarah Jane knelt down and quickly removed what she realized was a peanut butter jar from its head and was presented with...

"Is that a Uval?" Sarah Jane asked suspiciously.

The Doctor scowled, "Yes." He glared at the Uval. He was supposed to stay inside until the Doctor called for him. Plus, the Doctor was relatively certain that jar had been half full an hour ago.

"Why did you get a Uval? When did you get a Uval?" Jack asked curiously, looking over the back of the couch. He moved to where he was kneeling on the couch cushions, feet dangling off the edge as his torso rested against the back of the couch.

"He's not mine, and I'm not allowed to get rid of him or turn him into a hat." the Doctor sat down on the stairs and glared at the Uval who was cuddling up against his Sarah.

"Why can't you get rid of him?" she asked looking at him.

"Amy forbid it." he sighed heavily, refusing to admit he actually had grown to like the Uval and without thinking slipping into Amelia's Earth name.

"Who's 'Amy'?"Sarah Jane asked him, scratching the Uval's ears and standing up.

"My-No one. No one at all. I don't have anyone. Did I say Amy? I don't know an Amy." he said quickly. The Doctor's mind was screaming 'abort mission!' but for some reason he found himself unable to run

"Oh, did I hit something I wasn't supposed to?" Sarah Jane teased as Jack smirked.

"No! Course not." he stood up from the steps and inched backwards.

"Is she your companion?" Sarah Jane asked staring at him.

"No! Not really. Sort of, not though..." The doctor stuttered.

Jack just grinned even as the Doctor glared at him.

"Wait..." Sarah Jane paused in thought, "I know that name in relation to you..." she said trailing off as she tried to remember.

"No you don't. No one knows anything because there was never a name." He backed up till he was against the back of the sofa, back resting next to Jack's head.  
>"Sure..." Jack said quietly. He looked up at the Doctor knowingly.<p>

"Yes, I do! Where do I know it... Tegan!" She snapped her fingers and pointed at him, "Tegan mentioned you had a child named Amy. Went so far as to ask if it was mine...When did you have a child?" she demanded.

"I didn't. Never. Don't have a child. Never had. Not mine." the Doctor clutched the couch back.

"I know when you're lying." she said calmly, watching him. "Heard she was light, but her mum dark." She said her voice getting louder as she began to remember.

"Tish isn't her mum." The Doctor insisted automatically.

"Tish?" Sarah Jane's eyes widened, "Tish JONES?" She looked from the Doctor to Jack. Jack was nodding like a tattling child, wide smile in place.

"No! Did I say Tish? I ment Rick. Rich? Not Tish." He paled a little and looked like a mouse in a corner facing down a lion.

"You've got Tish Jones and had a child?" Sarah Jane wasn't sure if she should be angry, annoyed or amused.

"No." the Doctor said weakly.

"Yes." Jack corrected him.

"I didn't have a child, I accidentally kidnapped her." the Doctor protested Jack's words without thinking.

"...What?" Anger kicked in full drive as mother instinct hit overdrive. The Doctor and Jack could have sworn the air went colder. "You kidnapped a child? From who?" Sarah Jane demanded angrily.

"I don't know. I never asked their names. I don't know if she remembers their names." he waved it off and tried to look like he wasn't having heart attacks.

Jack moved over slightly on the couch towards his left, if the Doctor fell backwards, like he looked like he might, he didn't want to be in the way.

"When did you take her?" Sarah demanded her voice going quiet.

"That's a matter of perspective." he said hesitantly.

"What year?" Sarah Jane said, her tone held no room for arguing.

"Ni-Nineteen Ninety-Six." the Doctor stuttered.

"Where did you take her from?" she continued her tone insistant.

The Doctor swallowed hard and nearly whimpered. "Leadworth..." he said quietly.

The Doctor saw the dots connect in her mind and could nearly count down to his death.

Jack saw the look in Sarah Jane's eyes and could nearly see an aura of anger surrounding her. Maybe it wasn't funny to make him out this secret.

"YOU TOOK AMELIA POND?" Sarah Jane yelled loudly.

Yumo scampered to hide under her desk and the Doctor tumbled backwards over the sofa. Jack ducked to hide.

"We call her Amy now," he said weakly, peeking over the edge of the back.

He ducked as a stack of sticky notes flew his way.

Jack laughed as the Doctor dodged the notes and stepped easily out of the way. When she wasn't mad at him it was funny.

The Doctor looked around desperately and narrowed his eyes at Jack. He stood up and pointed at Jack. "HE KNEW!" the Doctor yelled in an attempt to get some anger off of him.

Jack's eyes widened as something flew his way and he hit the ground as well.

* * *

><p>The Doctor peeked up again from behind the sofa. She'd gone quiet, and neither he or Jack had had anything thrown at them in two minutes. But anyone who knew Sarah Jane Smith knew that she was most deadly when she was quiet so they kept their distance.<p>

"Sarah?" The Doctor's voice was quiet, almost timid.

She was sitting in her computer chair, hand over her face, elbow on the desk very quiet.

He climbed up a bit to kneel on the sofa and watch her. "Sarah?" he said again softly.

"I spent twelve years helping Sharon search for her niece. I've wrote dozens of articles, helped in searches, written for shows and did an entire book on Amelia Pond. I've participated in so many efforts to find her and now, NOW after twelve years I found out my husband kidnapped her?" Sarah continued yelling at the Doctor.

She looked up at him and he flinched as if he'd been shot. Last time she'd refered to him as her husband he'd been hit upside the head with a thesaurus.

"Husband?" Jack demanded.

Both ignored him and he repeated the words silently to himself, making a face.

The Doctor looked out at her from between his fingers and noticed she wasn't yelling, or crying. In fact she looked...

"Are you laughing?" he questioned carefully.

"Yes! This is absurd." she said, laughing quietly, her shoulders shaking. "I'm not sure if this is hysterical or horrifying. You kidnapped Amelia Pond. God, does she know? Has she heard about her being missing?" Sarah Jane asked worriedly.

"She's eight," the Doctor said dryly, "She accepts what she's told. Besides, Tish hid everything related to Amy that's in the library." He said grumpily.

"You did take Tish, didn't you." Sarah Jane said.

The Doctor climbed up over the couch and sat on the back of it to look at her. "Yes. I need a babysitter. Don't tell anyone, please?" he begged.

"Why, are you afraid you'll get hurt?" Sarah Jane smirked.

"No. Tish just doesn't want anyone to know. I think she finds it funny." he shrugged.

"You took Luke as a babysitter too, didn't you? Parental rights was just a last ditch effort to keep away from admitting it." Sarah continued glaring at him.

"Yeah..." the Doctor nodded. "In my defence I came for you. You were out of the house." He said sulkily.

"So you took Luke? Why not take someone with more experience?" she asked him calming a bit.

"I did!" He was surprised how civil this was now she'd gotten her anger out. "Martha and Mickey." He said in an attempt to defend himself.

"Oh God...you really did send them to Therapy." she groaned and covered her eyes again.

"Everyone keeps saying that. Why do they keep saying that?" The Doctor demanded.

"Because you did." Jack said frankly.

"Okay, so Tish was your next choice?" Sarah Jane continued getting information.

"No, Tish was number twenty-one on that list. I had a whole list but everyone either said no or was too scary to ask. Jack was too drunk so I just dumped him back on Earth." The Doctor growled.

"Hey!" Jack protested, "I was not drunk when you left me!" he said defensively.

"Only because I forcibly sobered you up first." the Doctor shot back, "He was third choice. Well, actually he was near last on the list, " the Doctor ignored Jack's protesting yell again. "But he's immortal. I could shove him in the path of anything deadly and not worry." He said smirking.

"Thanks." Jack said dryly.

"Wait!" Sarah Jane held up her hand to still the bickering. "Tish has Amelia Pond." She asked again.

"Yes." He answered absently.

"It's her birthday." She said a thought occurring to her.

"And?" the Doctor looked puzzled even as Jack's eyes lit with understanding.

"Luke, Clyde and Rani went to Tish's for a kid's birthday. Her charge Amy McCrimmon." Sarah Jane said as the situation became clearer.

"Borrowed a Companions name. It was McCrimmon or Lethbridge-Stewart for scottish ones..." The doctor said confused.

She smiled at him and grabbed her keys. "Thanks." She said starting out the door.

"For what? Wait, you can't go! Don't out her! Then everyone will know and we'll all be in trouble!" the Doctor yelled, trying to run after her but Jack jutted his foot out to trip him. By time the Doctor escaped Jack's grasp Sarah Jane was gone.

"What was that for?" the Doctor complained, getting to his feet.

Jack grinned at him and hopped to his feet. "You tried to get me in trouble." He growled.

"Yeah? Well now Sarah's going to go find Amelia and we'll all be in a lot of trouble!" The doctor whined.

"Nah." Jack brushed imaginary dust off of his shirt. "Sarah Jane wouldn't do that. She's probably just gone to tease Tish and check to make sure that Amelia's actually doing okay and not about to keel over from scurvy and some alien disease." Jack said looking at the Doctor.

"I'm smarter than that!" The doctor said beligerantly.

"You kidnapped her son and two of his friends." Jack countered.

The Doctor shot Jack an annoyed look.

* * *

><p>Tish was getting worried, the party had been going on for a while now and while everyone was happy, Rory hadn't shown up. He'd been working, as had Martha but Martha had come over an hour ago.<p>

"Thought your boyfriend was popping by?" Francine asked Tish, watching as Clive played with Keisha and Amy in the bounce house.

"He's on his way." Tish said, checking her phone. "He's probably running late." She said frowning.

"Oh, he IS your boyfriend then?" Francine said teasingly.

"Sort of." Tish smiled at her mum.

"Looky here." Francine waved at the door where Rory had come in looking a bit in awe. He wasn't in scrubs, but in jeans and a t-shirt with his running trainers on.

"Hi!" Tish waved at him, gaining everyone's attention.

"Rory!" Amy yelled happily, turning from her game and running across the large room to nearly tackle the man in a hug.

"Happy birthday, Amy!" He moved her birthday gift out of the way to hug her back tightly.

"We've got games. Come play?" Amy pleaded tugging at his hand.

"I see!" Rory smiled, "Go on. I'll catch up in a minute." He said smiling at his once best friend.

Amy nodded and ran off to climb into the bounce house again, now joined by Luke.

Rory looked over and noted Tish's semi-annoyed look. With a sigh he headed over and placed his gift on the overflowing table. "Sorry, I know I'm late." He said smiling sheepishly.

"Shift go long?" Tish asked smiling back.

"No..Not exactly." Rory winced and stuffed his hands in his pocket. "I sort of had to play baby rescuer." He said frowning a bit.

"What? Why?" Tish's mind was filled with images of his job in Paediatrics.

"Well, Mels took this baby and-" he said quickly in a hushed voice.

"Mels stole a baby?" Tish demanded making most in the vicinity turn to look.

"No, not really! It was just collateral until they paid her which they did when I returned him! In her defence it was the other guy who offered him up." Rory tried to defend his friend. Just because she was a bit eccentric and had more than a few run-ins with the law didn't mean she'd do anything that bad!

"That's not better!" Tish said.

"No, like it turned out fine. She got her money and his wife didn't kill him. I gave the baby back and it's all good." Rory said quickly. "She's really good with kids too."He pulled out his phone and opened it, flipping through as best he could till he found the photo. "See?" he said smiling a bit at the picture.

The woman in the photo couldn't be out of her teenage years yet. She had dark brown hair done back in braids that hung around her shoulders, light brown skin and was holding a baby that was obviously mixed race as well looking quite proud. Of course it would have been cuter had they not both been dressed like chavs.

"Cute." Tish said dryly.

"They really are." Rory said with a grin, not noticing Tish's sarcasm.

"I didn't know you'd invited Sarah Jane." Francine interrupted them.

"What? I didn't-" Tish's eyes widened as she saw the woman at the door, smiling and holding a birthday gift.

Rory swallowed hard, "We're screwed." He said quietly. 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: So next week is the next chapter I get to update myself for a while, but you'll still be getting updates. I get to drive a 6hour trip with five animals, my dad and a giant u-haul through a mountain, LITERALLY, to our new home. <em>Don't worry, I'll be here posting the pre-aproved chapters she's got. <em>Foolproof, yes. Youproof? Not so much. I'm relatively certain I'll return to something on fire and her freaking out. _Will not!_]**


	71. Time lines, Conversations and Outted

In reality she shouldn't have been too surprised to find out that the Doctor had something to do with Amelia Pond's disappearance. After all, what child disappears without a single scrap of evidence besides a kitchen full of half eaten food and an exploded garden shed?  
>Both UNIT and Torchwood had checked it out at the time, but UNIT found nothing and if Torchwood found anything they weren't talking, at least not to her.<p>

It was strange, one small girl disappears in a very small town and no one notices? The sequence of events and the actions afterwards had always thrown her too.

_Eight pm:_ Sharon Pond and Henry Thompson leave her home for a date in a nearby town leaving Michelle Bennett, the next door neighbour, best friend of Sharon and mother of Rory Williams, to babysit.

_Eight-thirty pm:_ Rory Williams falls while playing chase with Amelia Pond causing a rather large cut to his head; a phone call is placed to the restaurant that Sharon and Henry are at, Michelle walks across the yard to alert her sort of step-son who was visiting for spring break, Rhys Williams, of the incident and sends him to keep an eye on the girl while Rory is taken to the hospital.

_Eight-forty-five pm_: Rhys Williams, aged 17, leaves his brother's house to check on Amelia, sends her to bed before promising he would be right back then leaving the house to go back to Michelle's home to find his friend, Colin "Banana Boat" Davies, aged 18, and raid his father's liquor cabinet.  
>There was nothing for the next two hours. No information forthcoming, nothing anyone remembered and not a single thing was heard. That was what was perplexing. They had other neighbours; there were people that took walks that late but no one remembered a thing, except for one recalling a male yelling and a cat screeching.<p>

_Eleven pm:_ Rhys Williams and Colin Davies stumble, more than a little soused, from Michelle's home across the street to Amelia Pond's home. Rhys William stumbles upstairs, checked in on Amelia and didn't notice anything amiss in his drunken state and the dark then goes back downstairs. His story has never changed despite the fact that after that point both boys blacked out drunk on the living room couches.

_Eleven-thirty_: Sharon and Henry returned home to find both teens unconscious in the living room, the kitchen a mess and Amelia Pond nowhere to be found.  
>By midnight the police had been called, the house had been searched and they were starting to canvass the neighbourhood. Neither Rhys nor Colin had been intelligible till the next morning and neither Michelle or Rory had anything to add of worth.<p>

Something they'd given Rory at the hospital had made him horribly sick and left him vomiting, feverish and mostly unconscious for days. He kept mumbling about an "Army Man" but it was a delusion brought on by an extremely high fever,that was all.

She'd shown up about a week after Amelia disappeared, not only to write an article, which she did, or to pass on information to the news and get Amelia's photo out nationally, which she did, but to help search. The idea that something could happen had been shocking.

She'd remained close to Sharon ever since, visiting a few times a year to catch up with Sharon and Henry, now husband and wife, and visit with Rory and his mum. She'd watched the little boy grow up and every day he looked more and more like...no, she wasn't going there.

Sarah Jane had never fully believed any of the scenarios that the police had come up with, though she'd included all of them in her book, but the most plausible, and the one that most the world bought into, involved placing the blame on Rhys Williams and Colin Davies. She'd never truly bought that story however; there were far too many holes and barely any evidence.

After years of travelling and as long as she'd be in journalism she'd learned that just because the answer was most plausible did not by any means necessarily make it correct.

With a start Sarah Jane realized she'd been off in her own little world long enough that she'd already made it from the store she'd stopped at briefly to the building where Tish was holding the party.

She made sure she was presentable, mostly out of nerves, grabbed Amelia's present and exited the car.

* * *

><p>With years of practice her look of unease was quickly transformed into a self-assured smirk as she looked around. Quickly eyes were on her, some happy, some confused and a few extremely guilty looks.<p>

Tish was one of those guilty looks. The woman positively radiated with guilt and a touch of fear.

Martha smiled and waved pleasantly to her. Mickey waved happily and looked pleased, even as he slid down a giant inflatable slide.

_'Tish doesn't go half out.' Sarah Jane thought to herself looking at the over the top set up.  
><em>

Speaking of...She spotted the guest of honour bouncing in one of the bounce houses with her children, how she'd come to think of both other teens as 'hers' still baffled her slightly, all wearing some sort of battle helmets trying to dodge a giant moving ball. It actually looked like the now eight year old was winning.

She found Francine easily and noted the same curious gaze that Martha held on her face. Curious was easy to deal with as long as one had a lie on hand.

Then her eyes fell on the person who was standing next to Tish. _'No...please...'_ Her plea went unanswered as the young man turned around and it was confirmed to be Rory.

Amelia was clearly occupied so Sarah Jane strolled over to the gifts table towards the one person whose connection to Amelia, as she was now, she didn't know.

She hoped it was nothing more than pure coincidence he was here; that he was here because he worked with Martha and just tagged along or because he liked Tish. She nearly begged with a deity she wasn't certain she believed in fully to make it so because if it wasn't, that meant this man, this young man who she'd practically watched grow up, would not live more than a few more months.

"Sarah Jane! I didn't expect you." Tish said, always the gracious hostess.

"My visit was interrupted and I had nothing better to do." Sarah Jane lied easily, placing her gift on the table.

"Mickey said Jack was visiting." Martha said curiously.

Sarah Jane smiled enigmatically, "Well, a mutual friend of ours showed up and Jack decided to tackle him with either love or annoyance and I realized that my being there could only compound matters so..." she shrugged and spread her arms slightly in a 'here I am' gesture.

Martha smiled, catching Sarah Jane's drift. "Was this man wearing a certain 'cool' article that's been out of style since it was produced?" she asked smirking.

"Of course. I'm told it's the height of fashion." Sarah Jane retorted making the other woman laugh, Francine smiled brightly but it was two other reactions that caught her eye. Tish winced however imperceptibly and Rory...God, Rory looked torn between laughing and being terrified.

This couldn't be good.

"Mum!" Luke proclaimed, bounding across the room in just his socks. "I didn't know you were coming." Luke, never one to conceal emotions easily, looked both delighted and wary. His mind was abuzz, as always, but just conflicting emotions came forth, mostly happiness.

_'He knew' _she thought suddenly as the implication hit her. He'd know the Doctor had Amelia Pond and he'd never said a word. "Captain Jack was detained by a mutual friend with questionable fashion sense so I thought I'd come visit." Sarah Jane found it hard to be annoyed at her son for long. Maybe she'd hold out better against Rani? One look across the room at the laughing teen and she knew she couldn't fare any better there. "So, are you going to introduce me to the birthday girl?" she asked the other adults.

"Oh...Right." Tish said weakly and waved to Amelia. The girl looked curious but came over anyway.

"Amy, this is Sarah Jane Smith, Luke's mum. Sarah Jane, this is Amy McCrimmon." Tish said introducing the little girl.

"Hi." Amy said softly, holding her hand out shyly.

There was something that told her not to look closely when her eyes tried to seek out Amelia's face. A perception filter, obviously so when she concentrated it seemed to break down in her eyes though she knew no one else would notice.

A year had made a big difference, though it should have been thirteen. The girl was a bit taller than she had been, her hair a shade darker and was currently in soft curls around her face. Her face was a bit less round and she looked like she'd actually gotten some sort of tan sometime recently. She looked far less babyish than she did in photos and athletic though that was most likely due to the amount of running they were always forced to do. Amelia's nails, far from the torn dirty ones Sharon had despaired over, were trimmed nicely and painted.

On her right forearm there were two scars running side by side, each around two inches long and obviously long healed. Wait, scars? Her might thought back and the storey Mickey told came to mind making her realize this must have been their dream child. A quick glance in Martha's direction showed the woman didn't notice the resemblance. _'Perception filter.' _She thought making a note to talk to the Doctor about that.

If she didn't know for sure the girl was Amelia Pond she wouldn't have connected the two at first, even without the perception filter.

Sarah Jane took Amy's hand in her own. "Nice to meet you, Amy." She said smiling and kneeling to the girl's level.

Amy smiled brightly, "Are you staying for my birthday?" she asked happily.

"Yes, I think so. Would you like that?" Sarah Jane asked as she looked at the girl.

Amy nodded, "Want to come play with us on the bounce house?" she asked looking over to the massive castle that took up nearly a fourth of the room.

Sarah Jane laughed, "No, but thank you. Why don't you steal Luke back though?" she said smiling at the thought of Luke's first time in a bounce house.

* * *

><p>"So, why did you choose Sarah Jane?" Jack asked.<p>

The Doctor didn't answer immediately, distracted by his own thoughts. Jack was moving around the kitchen with far too much familiarity to the Doctor's tastes.

He'd easily located everything he needed in the cupboards and was waiting on the water to boil. Though Jack had trailed his fingers over a large padlock on one set of doors he hadn't tried to get in, which caused the Doctor a bit of cheer but still...

"Why do you know where everything is?" the Doctor asked.

"I've made tea before." Jack scoffed, setting out cups.

"I meant why do you know where everything is in her kitchen." The Doctor grumbled.

"I've made tea here before." Jack amended his previous statement.

"Please, she doesn't even cook in here." the Doctor scoffed and leaned his head into his hands, resting his elbows on the table. Jack was...well, still a mystery. "I doubt she knows where everything is." He said smirking.

Jack shrugged, pouring the water into the cups and bringing them to the table. He sat one down in front of the Doctor and one in front of the chair he sat down in. "I've got a good memory." He said trying to deflect the question in the air.

The Doctor scoffed, "No you don't. It took you about two weeks to find your room." He sniped.

"She kept moving it!" Jack protested, "Every time I'd find it the TARDIS put it somewhere else." He said indignant.

"She wouldn't do that." the Doctor brushed him off, knowing damn well the TARDIS had done that. What was life without some fun in making the lecher end up in the pool or in a library on occasion?

"She would and did. I ended up in what looked like an overlarge boot cupboard once." Jack wigned.

The Doctor smirked to himself and looked down at his tea. It smelled different than the one on the TARDIS. Maybe Tish bought something else. He dipped his finger into the scalding liquid in a way that made Jack hiss and tasted it. Definitely different.

Jack watched in amazement as the Doctor proceeded to add enough milk and sugar to fill the cup to the brim. It now looked like off coloured milk, not tea.

"That's not how you drank it before."

The Doctor stirred it carefully trying not to spill any of his mixture and acting like a child sipped from the cup without picking it up to lower the liquid level. "I've changed." He said, wiping his face as he straitened up.

"You're a bit more disgusting, if that was possible." Jack carefully added only TWO spoons of sugar to his tea and stirred slowly. "And childish." He said teasingly.

"Am not." the Doctor said. "You're not supposed to be here anyway." Score for the petulant child, "Go back to Torchwood." He grumbled.

"I'm on vacation." Jack said simply, sipping tea just to prove that he too could handle that hot of a liquid.

"You don't get a vacation when you're rebuilding and saving the Earth." The Doctor insisted.

"Do so." Jack said, mouth currently burning. "Martha and Mickey are on vacation too, so they'll work Christmas for my other two. This also gives Gwen and Rhys some alone time, bar Lois, in which I'm not a centre point of pain." He continued, still trying to cool his mouth.

"Might regret asking, but why are you a centre point of pain?" the Doctor asked, slurping his tea like a child.

"Gwen's pregnant -" Jack started.

"Jack!" The Doctor yelled outraged.

"Not mine!" Jack said quickly. "Rhys', I swear. But she's about three and a half months along which means he's starting to get all 'protector' mode and wanting her to not go chase aliens any more but she still wants to go and the hormones are driving me nuts because she'll cry and he gets mad at me." Jack sighed and shook his head as if it were pitiful, but he had a small smile.

"What IS Torchwood's rule on pregnant women?" he asked.

"Don't get knocked up." Jack said simply. "Barring that no alien tech at baby showers and two months paid maternity leave. After all, we were a corporation for quite some time." He smiled and sipped more tea despite the heat. "My Torchwood specifically? I got fed up when figuring out maternity things back in the 60's and between the leader at the time, nice man called James, we figured out a great solution for when the girls, and boy in one case, had to take leave." Jack continued.

"What's that then?" the Doctor asked, looking around the kitchen.

"Five months along, when you first feel the baby kick or when your work trousers no longer fit." Jack grinned, "All three things are outside of my control. So far she's under the time limit, hasn't felt it move and her trousers still fit, if a bit tight. She'll be sitting out by Christmas and we'll all be happy." Jack said smiling.

The Doctor made a noise Jack couldn't decipher and eyed him, "What about your building?" he asked.

Jack smiled and leaned back in his seat. "Old Tower's been dug out completely, tech that could be salvaged was salvaged and taken to the base. Construction of the new Tower is under way and I've got a crew coming in to build the plans we've already got drawn up." He explained.

"A group of humans you plan to retcon afterwards?" he said disapprovingly.

"Nah, a crew from Lyrr. Hear they've got a Demanshi helping them out now and someone who can control electricity." Jack didn't miss the look that crossed the Doctor's face at his words and wasn't really sure where the disapproval and anger lay. "Now that last one's a bit broad, I know, so I'm just hoping that he's amiable to humans. If not I'll just swap them out, right? No need for violence." Jack said hoping to figure out what had disturbed the Doctor.

The Doctor made a noise he couldn't decipher again and recrossed his legs at the ankle, staring at something Jack couldn't see.

"Doctor?" Jack said his name with concern.

"Hmm. Needs biscuits." the Doctor declared to his half filled teacup.

"Sorry, not sure where those are located." Jack said, realizing the subject was now closed. "I think she hides them from Luke to be honest." He said more to himself.

The Doctor stood and walked across the room to the padlocked cupboard, digging into his pockets.

"That's nothing of use." Jack told him.

"Who told you that?" he asked, pulling out his sonic.

"Sarah Jane. She said it was just some stuff for a friend of hers." Jack trailed off when the Doctor removed the padlock and opened the doors. Everything inside seemed to be shades of yellow or other bright colours generally associated with sweets or kids. "What the fuck?" he yelped.

The Doctor dug through it and located a blue box. He left the cupboard open and walked back to the table. "Jaffa Cake?" he asked offering the treat to the other man.

"She locks up her sweets?" Jack asked with surprise.

"No. She's got mine locked." the Doctor corrected him as he opened the box. "Mostly it was a 'stay away' but I think over time she's got the message that if it's locked it's mine, no matter who did the locking." He explaind eating his prize.

"Why have you got your own cupboard? What's in it?" Jack stood to go search it and was pulled back down by the Doctor.

"Mine." the Doctor said, mouth full of Jaffa Cake now.

"Why have you got your own cupboard in another person's home?" Jack repeated, taking one of the cakes.

"Because she loves me." the Doctor said smugly. "Now, about the new Torchwood. Rule 1: No trying to kill the Doctor." He started.

"That might be subject to change." Jack said around the Jaffa Cake.

* * *

><p>It really was amazing. Amy running around playing, a carefree child not anything like what everyone had thought over the years. It would boggle many minds that were not use to time travel to see this happy eight year old and connect her to the woman who should be turning twenty today.<p>

In fact...Sarah Jane checked her watch, no she still had time before the broadcast came on. She'd been working hard the last few weeks to put together more information in a dossier for a special that was going to broadcast that night. She'd turned down an appearance, preferring to stay off television, sticking to the written medium and she knew for sure that both Williams brothers had done the same.

"You look distracted." Francine commented, handing Sarah Jane a drink from the cooler. They were the only two standing to the side by now, everyone else engaged in games of some sort. Rory had been dragged onto the obstacle course by Tish and Amy and looked like he was having fun.

Sarah Jane smiled politely, "Just thinking." She said watching the others.

"About anything specific?" Francine asked her.

"Trying to recall if I put everything right in the files I sent over last night." Sarah Jane smiled at Francine's questioning look. "They're doing a report tonight on Amelia Pond for her twentieth birthday. I did write the book on her so..." Sarah Jane shrugged slightly and watched the group. She sent Francine a sideways glance, "You know." She said knowingly..

Francine gave her a 'who, me?' look.

Sarah Jane just rolled her eyes.

"Since sometime in October." Francine admitted finally. "You?" she questioned.

"This morning, actually." Sarah Jane laughed, "About thirty minutes before I got here. Some investigative journalist I am." She said simply.

Francine laughed, "Well, to be honest did you really think it was a possibility? I read your book and you scoffed at the 'alien' theory." She said snickering.

"I had to!" Sarah Jane protested, laughing all the same. "I couldn't say it was 'plausible', could I?" she said now laughing at the accuracy of that theory now before waving slightly when Luke looked over at her. "How about you?" she asked.

"I hit him over the head, demanded they start stopping by on Sundays for checks and told him to get a babysitter that wasn't me." Francine told her cheerfully. "He had no idea what he was doing. Thankfully that's changed." She explained.

"And you suggested your daughter?" Sarah Jane questioned.

"No! God no! That was a surprise that I found out after the fact." Francine shook her head but chuckled, "Trust me, she's been having fun since Halloween messing with her siblings. They think she's off gallivanting with a rich man in random countries playing nanny." Francine explained smirking a little.

"Why? Would they react that strongly?" she asked.

"No, not at all! Well, Leo might." Francine conceded, "But Martha would accept it. She doesn't exactly have much to say. The only reason she's having a fit now is because she doesn't know exactly where her sister is and thinks she still has to protect Tish at all times. Can't say I blame her." Francine watched her daughters playing and smiled. "No, Tish is just doing it because 'it's funny'." She explained.

"Ah. Seen that excuse way too many times from the Doctor." Sarah Jane laughed, "Particularly when doing something he shouldn't." she said smiling.

* * *

><p>When the Doctor said 'I'll get the cake' he must have really meant 'I'll get everyone cake for a year'.<p>

Tish was still shocked by his idea. It was one kids' party, honestly! What kid needed a ten tier cake with a whole ton of cupcakes too?

_'We're gonna die of sugar overdose'_ Tish decided.

The cake was large, indeed, but also quite amazing. It was perfectly circular and covered in smooth white fondant but decorated with different coloured frostings. Not just haphazard though, someone had meticulously took the time to paint on , with frosting none the less, some paintings she recognized from galleries.

The one that stuck out the most however was Van Gogh's 'starry night' which covered a large section of the bottom tier.

Once all the kids, along with Mickey and Rory who both looked happy, were seated with cake and juice the adults sat down at the bigger table.

Sarah Jane watched with some amusement as they all talked animatedly about something and glanced to her immediate left where Tish sat between herself and Francine.

Hmm, as an investigative journalist it was never a good thing to let your subject see all your cards but as a normal human...

"You know," Sarah Jane said softly so only Tish could hear, "Give the age difference, the physical changes and the perception filter you could _almost_ not notice that she's Amelia Pond." She said evenly.

Tish choked and Sarah Jane smiled to herself, scooping frosting off her cake as Tish tried to regain control of her voice. 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Wow, last update I get to do for a little while. God, I'm freaking out. Honestly. 8 hour trip in a U-haul with five animals and my dad. Straight through trip, no stopping overnight. In fact I think we're traveling overnight...I better start writing more, otherwise she'll never get to update, that could be bad. Our readers might revolt!]<strong>


	72. Cake, Union Jack and Specials

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Tish said hoarsely.

"Yes, you do." Sarah Jane replied. "It's not that hard to piece together overall after everything I've been told. Tegan was quite amused by the 'Time Princess', though I'm less than amused by her asking if the child was mine." Sarah Jane kept her voice low as to keep from being overheard, she wanted to tease Tish, not out her secret to everyone. "Then you've got my son, that should have been a giant tip off, yelling about babysitting and a girl called 'Amelia'. Rani's story had holes where a third person should have been but you know what the big tip off was?" Sarah Jane asked smirking a bit at the other woman's horrified face.

"What?" Tish whispered.

"The Doctor showing up at my home and admitting accidentally like an idiot because a Uval annoyed him." She said laughing at Tish's expression.

"What is with him and Yumo?" Tish hissed, her annoyance plain to see.

"I assume the same thing that was with him and K-9. They compete for affection even when they're not competing. Now, how long have you known?" Sarah Jane said smiling at the younger woman.

"Since October." Tish said, not finding a reason to lie to the woman who already knew the truth. "You?" she said quietly.

"A few hours." Sarah Jane said with a smile at Tish's expression. "I must say when Jack said he had a new companion I wasn't expecting you." Sarah Jane shook her head lightly and smiled reassuringly when Tish's eyes darted from Sarah Jane to her sister and back. "Don't worry, I won't tell. That's your story when you want her to know. In the meantime however, I do have a few requests. No, we won't talk about them here." Sarah Jane said before Tish could protest. "It's not safe if you want any secrets kept. Come to my house tonight, the Doctor will be there, Jack, your sister and Mickey will be on their way back to Cardiff and Luke can play with Amy while we...catch up. Sound fair?" Sarah Jane said insistent.

Tish swallowed, bit her lip and nodded. The woman could out her in an instant, yet didn't. Either Sarah Jane wanted something from Tish or she genuinely was just concerned and wanted to know what was going on. Given what she'd heard from her sister, Mickey, Rory and the Doctor plus what she'd seen before Tish was leaning towards genuine concern. "Yes. Sounds fair." she said timidly.

Sarah Jane smiled at her and looked over at the kids table when laughter sounded in time to see Mickey trying to lick frosting off the tip of his nose.

"Kids these days." Francine complained lightly to Sarah Jane.

"Your kids maybe." Sarah Jane teased. Luke might have pink paint in his hair, but at least he didn't have any frosting on his face!

* * *

><p>True to Sarah Jane's words Jack left with Martha and Mickey by around eight that evening. This left the Doctor home with Sarah Jane and Luke for however long it took for Tish and Amy to arrive.<p>

The Doctor was having way too much fun with that.

"Really? How can there be 'too much' cake?" the Doctor demanded as he dug into a layer the size of a dinner plate that had been sent home with Sarah Jane.

Tish had declared that everyone was getting leftovers, knowing full well the Doctor would repeat this feat with her next Birthday party or try to out do it. When he thought she wasn't looking he'd cut a rather large slice and stuck it on one of her saucers, sliding it under the table to Yumo who looked positively joyous.

"Ten tiers and a dozen cupcakes is way too much for that few of people." Sarah Jane said for what felt like the hundredth time. "Honestly." she looked over her shoulder at him as she stacked the dishes Jack hadn't done on the drainer to dry. He currently looked like a chipmunk, cheeks puffed out as he tried to fit way to much cake into his mouth. "Oh, ick. At least chew with your mouth closed." she said clearly a bit put off.

"I 'an't 'ose ih!" he mumbled, as she threw a tea towel at him. After a minute and a giant gulp of tea he made a happy noise and smiled at her. "What?" The Doctor asked innocently.

"You're like a child, you know that right?" Sarah Jane said shaking her head.

"Am not." he declared sulkily as she sat down across from him at the table. "So...plans?" the Doctor asked as he sliced off another large bite of cake.

She rolled her eyes but didn't yell at him for it this time. "Tish and Amy come over, we send kids to play and then I guess I'm supposed to lecture you for hours about messing with time, kidnapping children and crime. Should probably be a real harpy about it." she mused, crossing her arms and resting them on the table.

"Real plan?" He asked, trying to speak around cake.

"Hmm...Send the kids to play, ask why I wasn't trusted with this, act extremely hurt and guilt trip you until you replace my shopping?" she suggested cheerfully.

The Doctor scoffed, "Sounds good, because you'd hurt me, don't do that or I'll cry and never." he answered all her points in order.

She shook her head and laughed. "Somehow I knew you'd say that." she said smiling.

Sarah Jane went quite for a moment, thinking and trying hard to figure out how to word what she wanted to say, what she wanted to ask.

"Doctor?" she questioned.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"There was a boy...man at the party, named Rory Williams." She looked down at her own hands. She shouldn't do this...shouldn't meddle but she'd never forgive herself if she didn't try. "He's a friend of Tish's and he used to be Amelia's best friend. Please, don't take him with you. I don't...Just don't take him." she looked up at him and spotted the highly guilty look, the slightly flushed cheeks and her heart sank. "You already have." she asked quietly.

He nodded slowly, spared having to answer only by the fact his mouth was full.

She took a deep breath, swallowing hard to rid the lump in her throat. Meddle or not, it was too late, she should have known. "Then...Please look after him. Take care of him and just...Don't let him get hurt? Protect him. I...He's...Please?" she stuttered.

The Doctor nodded again, looking solomn. "I always protect my friends." He reached over and clasped her hand in his own. "You know that." he said comfortingly.

"I do but..." she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying not to blurt out anything that would alter things. "Rory's...I've watched him grow up." she said looking out the window in remembrance.

"Hey, trust me." the Doctor said, smiling slightly and squeezing her hand in his. "I'll take care of him. Amy and Tish would skin me alive if I let anything happen to him. I'd probably feel bad too. Honestly, there could be tears." the Doctor smiled as she finally laughed, albeit quietly.

There was a knock at the door and Sarah Jane composed herself, "Don't choke while I answer that." she said glaring.

"Respiratory bypass!" he called after her.

There was a loud belching noise from under the table and he peeked down to see Yumo sitting down, stomach a bit distended and the saucer absolutely clean.

"Did you just burp in the kitchen?" He looked around then back down at the Uval who looked completely unabashed. "I think I should scold you for that but..." instead the Doctor stuck his teacup that was only about ¼ full by now under the table for Yumo. "I've probably done worse." he said more to himself.

* * *

><p>Tish tapped her fingers anxiously on the steering wheel of her car as they drove to Sarah Jane's home. Amy was in the passengers seat looking a bit sleepy. Tish couldn't blame her though, she'd been up and running since about six am and had been running, bouncing and playing all afternoon. It seemed even copious amounts of takeaway, sweets and cake wasn't going to keep her up much later than bedtime.<p>

Of course she should have known Sarah Jane would figure something out. It was only a matter of time after all. What little she knew of Sarah Jane told her that the woman was smart, sneaky, sly, overly protective and would do anything to help someone.

Tish bit her lip to shake back old memories and glanced over at Amy to centre herself.

Once her breathing settled she tried to still her fingers as well.

Sarah Jane had been covering Amelia's case since the very beginning, back when terror had gripped the hearts of mums everywhere and the police were baffled.

Tish still hadn't forgotten all the hubbub surrounding it back in 1996. She had been twelve years old and perfectly able to grasp most of what the news was yelling about. That did not, however, mean she'd appreciated her mother's new rules for public. She was a big kid, holding onto Martha or Leo's hand was uncool. Little seven year old disappears, people scream Aliens, neighbour's teens, unknown assailants and 'Custody disputes' when her parents are in the middle of yet another custody fight and well...

_"Don't let them out of your sight!" _Francine's voice chided her mentally. _"You've seen the news!" _her mom's voice continued.

Actually, that's what made them settle amicably instead of some messy issue that took place over years embittering them even more. From then on her dad got them every other weekend and alternating holidays. Hell, they'd split when she was five, you'd think by age twelve they'd have had it figured out.

"Tish?" Amelia's voice came from the backseat.

Tish looked over at the sleepy voice then back at the road. "Yeah?" she answered the girl.

"Where we goin?" Amelia asked sleepily.

"To Sarah Jane and Luke's house." Tish said, locating her turn.

"Why? I thought Sarah Jane would be mad?" the little girl questioned.

_'Me too.' _ "No, I don't think so. She knows who you are now, so I think she just wants to say hi to the real you." Tish responded still watching the road.

"Oh...Luke's there?" Amelia asked a tone of happiness in her voice.

Tish smiled, "Yeah, he's there." She pulled into the drive and took a deep breath. She turned off the car, grabbed the keys and unhooked her seatbelt. "Let's

go say hi, right? Your dad and Yumo are here too." she continued.

Amy's eyes lit up and she scrambled out of the car.

Tish laughed slightly and followed her to the door. Now or never, right? She reached out and knocked on the door.

After a minute the door opened and Sarah Jane smiled at them, "Hello, girls! Come in, please." She stepped aside to motion them in. "We're sitting in the kitchen, Luke's in the shower but he'll be out soon." she said smiling at them.

Amy nodded and smiled, unsure of what she was supposed to be doing. On Earth she was supposed to be McCrimmon, but if Sarah Jane knew who she was did she still have to say McCrimmon? What if she asked something that the Doctor didn't want her talking about and she didn't know it till it was too late?

She was still puzzling over that when she turned the corner and looked into the kitchen.

The Doctor sat at the kitchen table, legs crossed at the ankle licking frosting from his fingers, an empty plate in front of him, Yumo sat at his feet looking like one strong breeze would blow him over.

The Doctor looked up at her and smiled brightly, "Amelia!" he said loudly.

Energy renewed, Amy nearly ran the distance across the kitchen to hug him. "Dad!" she yelled hugging him tightly.

The Doctor pulled her onto his lap and into a hug. "Did you have a good birthday?" he asked smiling.

"Uh-huh. It was fun, we got to play on giant bounce things that were like trampolines and had slides." Amy replied, moving so her head rested against his shoulder. "I wish you could have come." she said sadly.

"Well, if I had come I wouldn't have been able to set up your Space party. Nor send out the invitations." the Doctor said slyly. "Which, by the by, means that River was indeed invited, alongside Anita, Dave and a few others." he said smiling happily.

Amy smiled brightly and hugged him again, leaving one arm hooked around him as Yumo struggled to climb up to see her.

The Doctor looked down at Yumo, "My girl."

Yumo looked up at him pitifully.

"Fine." the Doctor reached down and hefted the now much heavier Uval onto both their laps. "Our girl. Behave." He finally looked up as Amy giggled, petting

Yumo, and took note of the women in the doorway. "Jones! See you've lost a shadow." he said smirking.

"He got called to help a friend." Tish stuck her tongue out at him and crossed to the table. "He'll be ready on Tuesday, like always." Tish said back.

"He has other friends?" The doctor said smirking.

"Don't be mean." Amy scolded her dad lightly. "He has Mels, doesn't he?" She looked at Tish for confirmation.

"Yeah, trouble making Mels." Tish explained smiling at the Doctor.

"Mum, have you seen-" Luke slid to a stop at the kitchen doorway, eyes wide and let out a small squeak. Tish wasn't sure if it was from the fact Amy, the Doctor and herself were all in his kitchen with his mother or if it was from the fact he was clad only in a pair union Jack boxer-briefs.

The Doctor reached down and covered Amy's eyes. "Hello again, Luke." the doctor said smiling.

"What are you missing?" Sarah Jane asked, trying not to laugh.

"My blue flannel pyjama bottoms." Luke said hesitantly. Since he didn't really move to cover himself Tish realized it must have been shock at who was all there.

"In the pile of clothes you haven't put up yet." Sarah Jane looked at her son and Tish nearly flinched at the look. She'd got that herself from her mother many times, that look that basically says 'I know something you've done wrong and we WILL talk later.' "Why don't you get dressed and show Amy your room while the Doctor, Tish and I talk?" she said smiling at them.

Once Luke and Amy were off settled in Luke's room playing with Lego in their pyjamas, Amy's princess ones having been grabbed from the TARDIS, the adults sat down in the living room to talk.

"Tell me the story, please, from the beginning." Sarah Jane said, sitting on the opposite side of the sofa from him as Tish sat in the armchair diagonal from them.

"Which story?" the Doctor asked, genuinely unsure.

"What led you to Leadworth that night?" Sarah Jane said finally. She was tempted to ask about when the interior of the TARDIS had changed, but as far as he knew, she hadn't seen the inside yet.

"Regeneration." he said frankly. "It hasn't happened for you yet, but it has for me." He laced his fingers together and leaned backwards to rest his head on the back of the couch. "Christmas this year I...I won't give away too much, don't worry because everyone lives, but something happened and I regenerated. I was able to hold it off long enough to say goodbyes to my companions, that me was particularly maudlin at the end, but putting it off for so long wasn't exactly a good idea; when I finally regenerated it was particularly violent and I not only changed myself, but I exploded the interior of the TARDIS as well." the Doctor looked a bit ashamed by that. "I was crashing, the TARDIS couldn't handle the interior being on fire along with my regeneration. I couldn't fly it right and at one point I actually found myself hanging out the doors and nearly impaled myself on Big Ben!"

He gained a quiet laugh from Tish about that one. "I crash landed sideways on a garden shed out back of a house, no one was really around and when I climbed out, soaking wet and in the bedraggled clothes of my last self, there was a little girl in her nightgown and bright red wellies waiting for me and asking if I was a policeman." The Doctor continued.

"Amelia." Sarah Jane said and he nodded in agreement. "We never did figure out what happened to that shed." she said quietly listening.

"I broke it. Sorry." He smiled, clearly not sorry at all. He recrossed his legs at the ankle, propping them up on the coffee table. "Anyway, she asked if I was a policeman. I wasn't sure why she needed one, my brain wasn't functioning, and all I could think about was apples! Apples are nasty though," he made a face in remembrance of that night. "As are beans, bread and butter and carrots. Fish fingers and custard are amazing, however." He ignored Tish frantically shaking her head in the negative and Sarah Jane wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Once I had the proper nutrients and my body started to settle down I asked her about why she needed a policeman. Turns out there was a crack in her wall she heard voices through and it scared her." The doctor continued to explain, not wanting to anger Sarah Jane.

Sarah Jane nodded, "Sharon told me. She felt horrible about not having fixed it before everything happened." Sarah explained.

The Doctor nodded, "It wasn't just a crack in a wall though, it was a crack in space and time. It opened to another world, a prison actually. A prison that had lost a prisoner through that crack." He added, "A multiform prisoner." he said as an afterthought.

Sarah Jane winced, "That's a whole new level of not good." she explained.

"Exactly!" the Doctor smiled, glad she understood. "By time I realized that though the TARDIS started going a bit haywire and I had to take a five minute hop into the future, just to get it to stabilize. Amelia begged to go with me, I didn't want to at first, but it was only five minutes." He blushed a pale pink and looked at his hands rather than either woman. "We arrived back, I told her to stay in and hide while I went to deal with Prisoner Zero, rather easy to do actually concidering it was starving in a home no one lived in, then...Well, I realized how far into the future I'd gone. By then I had no choice!" He pleaded with Sarah Jane to understand his side of the story. "The Papers I'd found said she didn't come back so she couldn't come back. There was nothing I could do. It was keep her myself, drop her with you or give her to the Brig and well...I decided to keep her with me, at least until I found her a proper home. But then she was mine and I couldn't give her away." he said quietly.

He tensed and bit his lip, a dark look on his face_. 'Should have left her, then she wouldn't be the executioner.'  
><em>

"Doctor?"

He jerked his head up, face clearing and looked at Sarah Jane. "Nothing you could say would convince me to give her up."

"Oh, I'm sure I could come up with something that would come close enough." Sarah Jane said, moving to mimic his pose, ankles crossed and hands clasped together as she watched him closely. "The question you need to ask yourself is 'would I do it'?"

Tish looked between both adults, unsure of whether they were actually arguing or just having a contest of wills. After a minute or two of them just staring at one another she sighed. "Well, if you two are going to just have a staring contest I'm stealing your telly. The Amelia special is on tonight." Tish said, crossing her arms.

"I know," Sarah Jane said, not looking away or changing posture, "I helped put it together."

"She has a special?" the Doctor asked curiously, looking away finally, his entire posture changing from authoritative to curious kid in seconds.

Sarah Jane relaxed as well, smiling now. "Yes. It's her birthday. Her twentieth birthday, to be exact. She's also been missing thirteen years. Why wouldn't there be a special?"

* * *

><p>"Hold on," Amy told Luke sleepily, rubbing her eyes and trying hard not to yawn, "I've got to go ask dad something."<p>

"Okay." Luke said with a smile, pausing his work with the Lego bricks and sitting back against his bed, "I'll stop until you come back, otherwise it'll all be done."

"Thanks." Amy smiled at Luke and left the room, stepping over the snoring Uval in the doorway.

She walked carefully on the stairs, trying not to trip or yawn but she was really sleepy.

_"-when you say mum you don't mean Sharon or Tabitha."  
><em>

Amy frowned, looking into the living room. "Who's Tabitha?"

Sarah Jane looked up quickly, as did both other adults.

"No one you need to be concerned with." the Doctor said quickly, a reassuring smile on his face made her push away any protests, her drowsiness got rid of any leftover doubts. "What do you need?"

"I'm tired." Amy said moving forward when he reached his hand out towards her.

Tish moved quickly to mute the TV and thankfully Amy didn't notice the photo of herself, Rory and a small darker skinned child all together in fancy dress.

"I've no doubt; you had a big day today." the Doctor agreed, taking her hand in his and moving so she could sit on his lap.

"Are we sleeping here or on the TARDIS?" Amy asked, resting her head against his chest so she could listen to the strong comforting beat of his hearts.

"Probably here but on the TARDIS." the Doctor said, playing with her hair absently as he felt her drifting. After a moment he frowned and seemed to stare off into space. His mouth opened into an O and he looked at Tish. "You cut her hair!"

"Technically a stylist did it." Tish said cheekily. "It's only been trimmed."

"You-"

"I like it." Amy said sleepily.

The Doctor shut his mouth and frowned. Soon he smiled and brushed her hair back from her face, "Then I like it too."

Amy fell asleep not long after, cuddled against his chest as he talked with Sarah Jane and Tish, all three watching the special Amy was to know nothing about.

The Doctor frowned when a mention passed the screen of a 'hallucination the youngest Williams child had'. "The Army man." He murmured.

"A bad drug reaction, he had nightmares." Sarah Jane told him.

"A drug reaction, yes, but it wasn't a nightmare."

"You've never worn army clothes." Sarah Jane looked surprised, "Have you?"

"No. I forgot to talk to him though..."

"Doctor?" Tish looked confused as Sarah Jane felt.

"Remind me next time I see Jack to lecture him about retconing Rory." the Doctor said, rubbing Amy's back soothingly when Sarah Jane nearly yelled in outrage and surprise. 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>I am<em>****_posting this and -_ ****No, no you're not. I have internet** **back. Step away from the update button. _But I-_GO SIT DOWN. _Okay..._This week is about 2000 words shorter, but I have been moving. 7 hour car trip - _You survived _- Yeah, and now I have TARDIS blue walls and a matching blanket. This week rocks. _Ye_s, yes, y****_ou live in the TARDIS_. Yup. I've even got a rolly polly belching dog, but she's not a Uval...or blue...or tiny...forget that analogy. _Enjoy!_]**


	73. The Cupboard Under the Stairs

"Something is bugging you big time." Sarah Jane said quietly to the Doctor when Tish went to go get them some drinks.

The Doctor looked over at Sarah Jane, shifting his hold to keep Amy from sliding any when he moved a bit. "What makes you say that?" he said nervously.

Sarah Jane took note that he didn't deny it. "You're being...not you. Your face went dark earlier, your eyes are darker than normal and you haven't tried to get K-9 to electrocute anything since you got here. Not even Jack." She stated looking straight at him.

He made a noise that could be either acknowledgement that Sarah Jane was right, or a dismissal.

Sarah Jane reached over, placing her hand over his hand that rested on Amy's knee. "Doctor, if it's upsetting to you then it's generally not good at all. Even if it's not a world ending thing and just an 'unhappy' thing you shouldn't keep it in." Sarah Jane told him, voice low enough not to wake Amy. "You know I'm always here to listen." She said quietly.

The Doctor took a deep breath then nodded ever so slightly. "I know. But we can't talk here." He looked downwards at Amy then moved his eyes to track Tish's movement as she re-entered the room.

"Tish, would you mind watching Amy and Luke for a little bit while Sarah takes me somewhere?" the Doctor asked Tish, his voice changing from the deeper one he'd had when talking to Sarah Jane to something more light and carefree sounding. "I'll leave the TARDIS and you can just hang out with Luke. Show him the big TV or the pool, even the game room, while we're gone then when I get back you can do what you want." He said looking over at his companion.

Tish read between the lines and realized they had something to talk about she didn't need to know and nodded easily. "Sure. I might see if I can't catch that whole special again to see the parts I missed. Amy'll sleep the entire time you're gone more than likely and Yumo..." she looked down at the snoring creature.

"Thanks to cake overdose I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon." She said looking at the dog again as it rolled over its leg twitching slightly in its sleep.

The Doctor smiled in thanks and stood up easily with Amy in his arms, making sushing noises when she started to wake some. "Sarah, call up the Brig and make him meet us at safe location #3. Tell him 'Communication blackout levels SFA' and bring supply kit 5." He said firmly looking at her.

Tish looked confused, as was the point, but picked up Yumo and followed the Doctor as he went to put Amy in her bed.  
>Sarah Jane was surprised at the words he'd used, ones she hadn't heard from him since at least seven regenerations ago, and a bit more surprised at which ones he'd called for.<p>

Communication blackout was obviously used to say 'don't tell anyone' but there were levels invented by the closer UNIT members, especially the ones who worked with the Doctor or were his friends. Level F, friends: Don't tell even your friends; Level A : All, don't tell a soul; Level S: Spouses can't know a thing'. To call for all generally meant not to trust anyone at all and not to let it go any further than it already had gone. Supply kit 5 was...

She pulled out her phone and dialled a familiar number.

_"Sarah?" _Liz answered with concern. _"Why are you calling this late?" _she asked sleepily._  
><em>

Sarah Jane winced at her luck, "Sorry, Liz, I didn't notice the time. I need to talk to Alistair." Sarah replied.

* * *

><p>The Doctor stayed quiet as they drove down the roads from her house. He didn't say a word the entire thirty minutes they were in the car. He did, however, fiddle with the radio, locate some god awful pop station and turn it up.<p>

They exited the car outside what looked like a normal little two story home surrounded by a wrought iron fence that stood at least seven feet tall when the sharp looking points at the top were considered.

"Hasn't changed."the Doctor said softly, looking up at the light blue outside of the home, barely noticeable in the dark if it weren't for streetlights and the moon.

"No, it really hasn't." Sarah Jane agreed, moving up the walk to the gate.

She fiddled with her keys and pulled out an oddly ornate key she used to unlock the gate with. Instead of swinging open however it popped a small panel out of the thick black iron that was just barely big enough for someone's fingertip. It was a very small scanner meant to keep out anyone who didn't have a key and a fingerprint scan on file.

Sarah Jane placed the pad of her middle finger over the scanner, pointedly ignoring the slight snicker from the Doctor as she did so, and spoke clearly. "Sarah Jane and Dr. Smith." She said in an even voice.

There was a quiet beep and the gate swung open, the small scanner disappeared again. "Don't start." she said as they entered, locking the gate behind them.

"I was young and he was annoying me." She whispered as they continued.

The Doctor hummed slightly, arms crossed behind his back as they stopped at the front door. "I didn't say a word." He said badly holding in the laughter bubbling inside him.

"You thought enough." Sarah Jane repeated the process at the gate once again at the door, this time however it was the doorbell that swung open to present a scanner and she had to use her other hand. "Yes, I'm well aware of the image." she complained as he giggled quietly. "I repeat the fact I was young and they were bugging me with security things and kept asking for a finger." She said as he burst out laughing only to stop when Sarah Jane hit him.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside, moving a little so he could enter before she shut it behind her again. He could hear all the locks reengage the moment it was shut and looked around. "It really hasn't changed." He said his mind showing him the image of the old room even as he looked at the identical one in front of him.

The carpet was as white as it had been the first time he'd seen it, the wallpaper perfectly in place, no rips or stains generally associated with anyone living there, but then again there wouldn't be.

The house was perfect and pristine because no one lived there, not really.

If you were to go upstairs you'd find two bedrooms perfectly made up for adults and one smaller bedroom that looked as if it were awaiting a child to return to it, complete with a stuffed bear tucked onto the beds. The kitchen was decorated like any, but if you opened the cupboards or fridge you'd find them bare. The water ran, the electricity worked, but no one stayed there.

"I'm not sure that's a good thing. This stuff wasn't quite 'in style' back in the 70's." Sarah Jane looked around nostalgically and smiled before walking down the hall, the Doctor just behind her.

She quickly reached the cupboard under the stairs and smiled back to him, "Whose idea was this?" she asked smirking.

"I'm certain I have no idea." the Doctor replied, the picture of innocence.

"Ha!" She opened the door and reached inside, just above the doorway, to locate a small switch that she hit quickly. There was a groaning noise and the two stepped backwards. The floor of the cupboard seemed to be folding in on itself and scooting backwards in on itself till a set of shallow steps appeared running parallel to the steps above it, only these led down.

"Ladies first?" the Doctor said bowing.

"After you." Sarah Jane replied, gesturing.

His feet hit the metal grate of the stairs and he ducked under where the floor was in order to spare himself a headache; Harry had always walked head long into that thing, every time they came.

The room hadn't changed a bit either, beyond a bit of wear and tear brought on by occasionally having occupants.

The floor was an off white tile, matching the white walls. Across from the bottom of the stairs several metal lockers stood, housing both uniforms and spare civilian clothes alongside several weapons he still disaproved of. To the right of the lockers was a small alcove housing a door which led to a tiny bathroom and several counters. The counters held a stainless steel sink and a breadbox he knew didn't hold bread. There were cupboards above several sections of the counter painted an off white colour as well.

In the Centre of the room there was a worn brown suede couch on top of a hand woven red and white rug that Jo had sent back and across from it was dark blue armchair. Between the sofa and the chair was a round wooden coffee table that opened like a cabinet underneath.

Up against the far wall where there was space and behind the armchair rested a fold out card table and several metal folding chairs.

"Haven't been down here in a while." Sarah Jane said, hitting the button to send the stairs back up to their original state.

"It has been a long time." he agreed, looking around nostalgically. So many times they'd hid down here, not from some sort of alien or human menace, but because the Brig had been trying to make them, Liz, Jo, Sarah or himself, do paperwork or later the Brig hid with them from his higher ups. He was almost certain that if he were to look in the cupboards or under the sofa cushions he'd find copies of reports they'd 'lost'.

"I assume you're not going to tell me anything until the Brig gets here." Sarah Jane said correctly as she sat down on the couch, stretching out slightly with her feet up on the cushions. "Otherwise you wouldn't have called for this?" she said staring at the ceiling.

The Doctor smiled and nodded slightly, leaving to dig through cupboards. After a little digging he pulled out a deck of cards with a sound of triumph, "Up for a game before he gets here?" he asked clearing the old magazines off the table and beginning to deal.

"Why not?" She agreed, sitting upright again.

* * *

><p>About ten minutes into their game a small alarm noise sounded and a green light pulsed once before the same grinding noise was heard. They watched as the stairs slid out of the wall, sliding into place to create a ramp before a click was heard and one by one they dropped down to form stairs.<p>

The sound of the Brigadier's footsteps along with the tap of his cane echoed a little as the man slowly came into view, a large dufflebag over his shoulder.

He looked at the duo pointedly as he hit the switch with the side of his fist to send the stairs back up. "You couldn't pick a more convenient location? Preferably one without two scanners and a broom cupboard?" he asked glaring at the Doctor.

"Where would be the fun in that?" the Doctor asked with a grin. He leapt to his feet a moment later, taking the bag from the Brigadier effortlessly and putting it on the floor by the armchair before turning back to hug the 'older' man tightly. "It's good to see you, Brigadier!" the Doctor said squeezing the older man.

"It's General now, technically." he replied, hugging the Doctor back.

"But you'll always be our Brigadier, Brigadier." Sarah Jane said, waving him over to sit down.

If he'd been focused on the moment and not what he had to say to them or his requests he might have found it odd that the Brigadier didn't even blink at his new body and if he had thought of that he'd have wondered why both Sarah Jane and Luke hadn't been surprised either.

"Of course. 'The General' just doesn't sound right." the Doctor replied, crossing to sit in the arm chair instead of on the couch where they had been.

"Now that I'm here are you going to tell me what it is I'm not supposed to tell anyone?" the Brigadier asked, settling himself on the couch next to Sarah Jane.

"Which of course my wife is muttering angrily about as she's the one that answered the phone." He looked at Sarah Jane who actually looked a bit abashed.

"I've been informed if it involves anything off planet or a mission I can sleep in the guest room until our grandchildren hit university." the Brigadier said frowning a bit.

"No, nothing off planet." the Doctor said. "Besides, don't you still do missions? Last two times I've tried to contact you when I had to deal with UNIT I was informed you were 'stranded in Peru'." He said honestly.

"Well, I was in PERU, but I wasn't in Peru." he replied with a grin. "They never asked and with my clearance everyone assumes that my work is set by the highest ups and it means I get to avoid any crap they want to pass on to me." he said smirking.

PERU was the 'non-governmental' agency that had been started in the late 70's by the 'elite', see also 'eldest', members of UNIT who realized that the goals that had originally been in place had become tainted and UNIT was quickly set to become as bad if not worse than Torchwood. It hadn't been hard at all to gain members that were completely trusted, within their group of friends alone they could start a medical side, a laboratory, a military side and it wasn't hard in the least for people with their means to build bases.

They were non-violent and took to the stealth side of things, working in the shadows to fix problems before UNIT or Torchwood could screw them up.  
>Plus they'd kidnapped a Dalek and kept it as a pet in it's own cell since sometime in the early 80's, how could the Doctor not like them?<p>

The Doctor smiled at that. "So you're using PERU to avoid the assignments you don't want?" when the Brigadier nodded his smile widened, "Isn't that exactly what you used to yell at me for?" he asked sadly.

"I-...that doesn't count." The Brigadier said smirking at the Doctor.

Sarah Jane giggled and the Brigadier sent her a sideways glance, "Shush you! If we're done laughing at me, Doctor wasn't there a matter you needed to discuss?" he asked simply looking at the man who had brought such interesting situations into his life.

The Doctor's smile disappeared and he looked grim again. "Yes. Yes there is." He leaned forward in his chair, hands clasped together, elbows resting on his knees. "I learned of it a while ago, nearly a year but I didn't want to alert anyone to it because...well, because I wasn't totally sure that it would happen but now...I know that even if it doesn't I need some people prepared." He started walking around the room and waving his arms as he talked.

"Doctor?" Sarah Jane looked concerned.

"There's a species a long way from here called the Demanshi. They're...well technically it's three species, but it's not it's more like a subsection like Race...no, it's like eye colour? Sort of...forget the analogy it's not." He continued not breathing as he spoke.

"Doctor, breathe." Sarah Jane reminded him when he started to babble.

"Right. Sorry. Well, there's three subsections for lack of a better word; Warriors, Warlocks and normal Demanshi. Normal Demanshi are between Seven and Nine feet tall as an average, they have hands the size of dinner plates and weigh between two and four-hundred pounds. They've got horns on top of their head and would have no issue at all flipping a car. Oh, and they're bright blue." He added as an afterthought. "Warlocks hold sway over the elements. They can create a tornado from regular airflow in a room; they can control water by pulling moisture from both the ground and air; they can cause earthquakes and sink holes where there was once only stable solid ground; All it takes is a single spark and they can throw fire up to fifty feet away."

The Doctor noted the concerned looks and paused briefly, taking a breath before starting again. "They are spread across nine planets. Well, three, technically. One planet is forbidden to go to, four are for the children and one is basically a giant university and farm." He continued taking a small breath.

"Large population." Sarah Jane observed, still wondering why he was telling them this.

"Their Chief Warlock once told me they 'number as great as the stars'." the Doctor gave a wistful smile at the phrase. "They are quite...impressive. The ultimate Military machine, outside of the Romans of course. It's a very good thing that they rarely decide to go to war." He said not really paying attention to his companions but needing to say this.

"Then why are you telling us all of this?" the Brigadier asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Because they're going to declare war on London within the next few years." he said softly. "I don't know how many human lives are lost but..." he paused and cleared his throat. "They have a story they told me while I was there. An actual story from history. Their Queen was kidnapped, along with her eggs, the first nest from their Queen and King, and brought to London. When they got here they found the eldest hatchling missing, the Queen imprisoned and no one able to speak to them. They tried to bargain for the Humans to give them back their Queen and the hatchlings but...well, no one could speak Demanshi." the Doctor reiterated. "They declared war, sent an entire generation of their people – close to a thousand, maybe a bit more – invaded and fought to get them back. Something...Someone was taken aboard that they call 'The Executioner of Our Kind." He continued.

"Quite a title." the Brigadier said slowly. Looking to his left he noticed Sarah Jane looked very pensive and was tapping her fingers against her legs like she were typing notes on a keyboard.

"They say she wore the skin of her dead enemies, her fingers dripped with blood and venom, she wore the fur of another still stained with blood around her neck and her hair was permanently coloured by the blood of those she had slaughtered." he couldn't meet Sarah Jane's eyes when she inhaled sharply, staring instead at his own feet. "They say she did something to the ship, killed the guards to escape and 'brought the roaring flames'." His voice came faster and faster as did his movements as he got further into the story.

"Roaring flames?" the brigadier asked.

The Doctor nodded, obviously having a bit of difficulty talking about it. "She escaped to Earth somehow and the ships exploded. The only survivors were two protectors in a small shuttle craft and the eldest hatchling. Both protectors were permanently disabled by this action. I met Queen Dasre, the hatchling." he added for their benefit. "While 'the Executioner' was with me. She forgave the one time, but said if she ever laid eyes on her again she would make her pay." He said sinking into the couch as he neared the part he dreaded to say.

"Why would she let go someone who'd done something like that?" the Brigadier asked in confusion. Sarah Jane's fingers had stilled and she looked almost as if she might cry.

"Because 'the Executioner' was only seven years old." the Doctor said softly, looking up to meet their eyes.

"Doctor...no..." Sarah Jane whispered the plea. "It can't be." She said sinking into a chair.

"It is." the Doctor sighed.

"Does someone want to expand?" the Brigadier looked between them, aware there was a big secret he was left out of.

The Doctor looked at the Brigadier, "This stays under the Communication Blackout and the only reason I'm telling you is because it relates to the tale and because...because you're my oldest friend." he took a deep breath to steady himself. "Without going too much into the details, I accidentally abducted Amelia Pond and have adopted her as mine. She's my daughter, I'm not giving her up." the Doctor's voice left no room for argument.

The Brigadier sighed, nodded but didn't look too upset. "I figured you had something to do with it, I just could never prove it. Is she safe, happy?" he asked.

"She's at Sarah's asleep after celebrating her 8th birthday all day." the Doctor smiled, "she's fine. She doesn't know. I don't want to tell her. I have no idea what to do." He whispered sinking lower into the chair.

"Because it's a toss up at what could cause her to do that." Sarah Jane said, absently biting her thumbnail as she thought about it. "She might do something like that because she travelled with you and something scarred her with regards to the Demanshi or..." she trailed off thinking.

"Or she did it because of an animosity towards aliens brought on by abandonment issues from an alien she looked up to as her Dad abandoning her on Earth." the Brigadier finished Sarah Jane's thought. When they both looked at him with a slight awe he shrugged uncomfortably. "I do know some things that aren't military you know." He said simply.

"So you see my issue." The doctor whispered.

"Yes." They said together.

"What do you need us to do?" Sarah Jane asked.

"I need you, Brigadier, to make sure that PERU gets to the Queen and the eggs instead of UNIT or Torchwood." The doctor said looking both of them in the eye.

"I thought you liked Torchwood now?" Sarah Jane asked thinking of Jack.

"While I am friendly with those working for Torchwood 3 I'm also well aware they have the subtlety of a charging rhino, the grace of a drunken elephant, the people skills of my Sixth self and the communication skills of a two year old." he stated plainly causing the Brigadier to snort and Sarah Jane to laugh.

"PERU can take over when the time is right. I'll keep my ear to the ground and send out the 'troops' when needed." the Brigadier promised.

"Sarah Jane, I need you to go with them." the Doctor told her seriously. "You can translate anything without thinking. I need someone who can tell the Demanshi Queen what's going on and keep her calm until the ships can arrive." He said firmly looking at her.

"Still?" the Brigadier asked Sarah Jane with surprise and amusement.

"Yes." she grumbled making him laugh. "It's not funny! Do you know how hard it is to explain why I'm speaking a language I shouldn't know when I don't even know I'm doing it?" She yelled indignately.

The Brigadier just laughed harder.

"I swear the TARDIS did it to my brain to drive me insane." She said growling.

"I'm sure she did it to be nice." The doctor said sympathetically.

"I have one question, Doctor." the Brigadier said, leaning forward to look the Doctor in the eye.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Are they immune to bullets?" the Brigadier asked an evil smirk on his face.

The Doctor laughed, understanding the remark. "Not that I know of." the Doctor picked up the 'supply kit' and opened it, looking inside with a bright smile. "You remembered!" he cried as he pulled out a pack of Ginger beer, a box of Jaffa cakes, two packages of vinegar crisps, a six pack of cola, a big bottle of rum and a large plastic bottle of Vodka.

"The last time I had to put together that kit was..." the Brigadier paused in thought, "I believe it was the night you made the lab explode, ruining several nice machines we had to replace and went on the run with Jo." He said smiling at the memories.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "It wasn't that bad." He insisted.

"Doctor, the ceiling was on fire." Sarah Jane interrupted.

The Doctor just smiled and tossed one of the bottles to Sarah Jane while he opened a Ginger beer.

* * *

><p><em>Amy opened her eyes to find herself laying on very soft grass, but it wasn't normal grass. This grass was crimson red and came up over her knees. She sat up lazily and found she was still in her pyjamas.<em>

_**'Dreaming again.'** the dreams were so strange, once asleep they came pouring back but disappeared like sand through her fingers during her waking hours._

_She didn't mind this time though._

_Amy climbed to her feet and looked around. There was crimson grass as far as she could see with arresting mountains in the distance. What caught her eye most, however, was the person who seemed to be doing cartwheels._

_She moved through the grass, brushing it with her fingertips as she tried to run towards the person, hindered slightly by dreams._

_"I-" Amy started to speak only to be interrupted by the man._

_"I love it here. It's always been my favourite place." a man's voice said as he stood up from doing a somersault and straightened his clothing, tugging his shirt into place and brushing a stray piece of grass out of his hair._

_He was tall, well, taller than she was, with short cropped blond hair and a big smile that lit his eyes up._

_"Where are we?" she asked him curiously._

_"My home." he replied, arms spread wide as he spun in place taking up all the sights and sounds as if they were going to be ripped away from him any moment._

_"This isn't Earth." she observed._

_He snorted."Hardly." With a grin he flipped again, pressing his hands hard against the dirt and grass to preform another cartwheel. "I love it here." The man said again staring at him._

_"Why are you here?" Amy asked curiously, rubbing the grass between her fingers. "How are you here?" she said looking calmly at the man._

_He snorted once more and sent her a sly grin, "Those girlys aren't the only ones who can sneak into dreams." He flopped down on the grass and smiled up at her. "You're eight, aren't you?" the man asked staring at her._

_"I turned Eight today. It's my birthday." Amy said happily._

_"Eight...that's time for the Academy." He smiled but it was a very sad smile, Amy thought. "Just be careful, sometimes when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss stares back." he rubbed at the side of his head and smiled again. "You don't look much like them." He said turning from her to look at the sky._

_"Like who?" Amy looked around and felt herself being pulled away. 'Waking up!' she realized. "Who are you?" She called desperately._

_"Call me Kos!" the man's voice echoed in her head as she woke.  
><em>

* * *

><p>Amy gasped as she woke up, looking around desperately but after a moment she wasn't sure what she was looking for. She patted the covers till she found Yumo's comforting shape by her side and grabbed Dygan to cuddle close, just in case she had anymore dreams.<p>

* * *

><p>"Then Amelia goes 'We won't get sent to jail, the Doctor blew it up!" the Doctor giggled as he finished off his drink.<p>

"Oh, ow my sides." the Brigadier tried hard to keep breathing right even as he coughed up vodka mixed with one of the cans of soda. "Doctor, haven't you settled down in your old age?" he asked looking at the Time lord.

"No more than you have. Speaking of!" He dug through his pockets and produced a napkin which he wrote on quickly with a bright pink pen. He then handed the napkin to the Brigadier. "Read that out loud." He insisted.

The Brigadier turned the napkin several times and squinted at it before mangling the words trying to speak. He paused and looked at Sarah Jane who was laughing quietly. "What did I just say?" the brigadier asked drunkenly.

"He just made you godfather of his child." Sarah Jane laughed at the expression on his face.

"I thought I already was Luke's godfather?" the Brigadier questioned with confusion causing Sarah Jane to hit him on his arm.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>School's back in session! I've got 21 four year olds to take care of. <em>She likes, she's insane. '_she' is both a teacher and sitting right here! _Yeah yeah. She's got kiddo to watch during the day, - _Watching them isn't much different then watching you, but they don't sleep in till 2 pm -*_Ignoring you!* I keep injuring myself at my new house yet somehow we keep getting chapters done. I amaze me. _You amaze me. _Thank.. _that isn't a good thing._ _Enjoy!_]**


	74. Drinking, Cracks and Memories

Tish awoke with a groan as something loud assaulted her senses. She sat up off the couch in Sarah Jane's living room. Her watch told her it was seven in the morning which meant they'd been out all night.

She followed the noise into the kitchen where both looked a bit worse for wear. Sarah Jane was putting the kettle on and the Doctor was raiding a cupboard that had a padlock on it.

Tish cleared her throat to catch their attention. "So...anything interesting happen?" she asked leaning against the doorframe as she spoke.

"Not in particular." the Doctor replied as he withdrew from the cupboard with a bag of jelly babies and a jar of peanut butter.

"Nothing at all?" Tish asked curiously.

"Hmm. Realized the Brig's tolerance has decreased slightly. Found out Sarah Jane's still way to stoic and my head briefly hurt quite badly but, no, not anything real interesting." the Doctor replied. He opened the lid to the peanut butter and promptly began eating it using jelly babies as little spoons.

"Of course his tolerance has gone down, the last time you drank with him was in the 70's!" Sarah Jane protested, "Anyone's would go down." Sarah said smirking as she watched the doctor's discomfort.

"Yours went up." He pointed out.

"Yes well...I've had practice." Sarah Jane brushed him off. "Sorry, Tish, I should have called." She said smiling at the other woman.

"You stayed out all night drinking?" Tish wasn't really too mad but the image of the Doctor drinking was just baffling!

"No!" the Doctor shook his head in protest. "We were done drinking by around 2am. But I'm told you aren't allowed to drive when you've been drinking even though I've done just fine in the TARDIS before." He insisted.

"If by just fine you mean you landed ten miles and fifty years off course upside down and backwards then yes, you did just fine." Sarah Jane agreed.

"How come you're not hungover?" Tish sat down across the table from the Doctor, making faces at his eating habits.

"Advanced biology." the Doctor said smugly.

"Practice." Sarah Jane told her. "That and I'm relatively certain if you tested my blood I might still be legally drunk." She pondered whether or not that was true for a moment then smiled again, "Or at least just under the legal limit." She said glancing at the Doctor.

"You drove?" Tish asked concerned.

"He did." Sarah Jane gestured to the Doctor. "He's mostly sober by now, he didn't drink as much comparatively. His body burns it faster and I'm smaller than him." Sarah Jane clarified when Tish looked confused.

"Oh. You actually let him drive a car?" Tish looked a bit scared by that idea. "I mean, he can barely drive a TARDIS. I was in a jeep with him in Australia and he nearly rolled it several times." Tish commented impressed.

"Hmm. He knows better in my car. Though your brother-in-law once crashed my old car on purpose." Sarah Jane said.

"Really?" Tish asked looking at the older woman and snickering at the image of Mickey destroying the car.

"Day after I met him, actually. He drove it into a school." Sarah Jane said laughing.

* * *

><p>Rory wasn't usually a clock watcher when at work. If anything he'd work so hard and get so caught up in what he was doing he'd go OVER shift until someone alerted him, but today he couldn't stop looking up at the clock or glancing at his watch.<p>

"Rory," Evelyn called out to him, waving a file.

"Yeah?" Rory looked away from the clock and smiled. "What's next?" he asked smiling at his co-worker.

"You've got Mr. Jimmy again. He's got to go down to PT." Evelyn said as she handed him the file. "From what I hear he should get to go home in another week or two." She said smiling back.

"That's great!" Rory exclaimed.

Poor Jimmy had gotten into a rather bad car accident with his parents and until he was able to move on his own without pins and daily injections for pain he wasn't allowed to go home with them. His parents weren't able to provided the twenty four hour close care needed with their other children and jobs so the nurses had picked up the slack. The poor four year old hated the hospital with a passion but couldn't exactly do anything about it. "Does he know?" Rory asked excited for the little guy.

"Yup. His mum was by earlier to tell him. Poor woman nearly cried with happiness when we told her." Evelyn said smiling at the memory.

Rory took the file, leafed through it and hurried to the right room.

"Hey! Mr. Jimmy, how are you feeling today?" Rory asked the boy cheerfully as he tucked the file into the back of a wheelchair.

"I get to go home." the little boy declared gleefully.

"I heard! Only a few more visits." Rory said. The little guy was quite inspiring really. There had been doubts when he'd come in about him ever using his legs again or regaining any mobility in his left arm. He was now able to walk with help of special splints on his legs and could grasp cups and other large things with his left hand.

Rory set up the wheelchair with the blanket like always and carefully lifted Jimmy to sit in it before tucking another blanket over top of him and handing him his favourite toy. "Do you think you can do it all this time?" Rory asked the little boy.

Jimmy was quiet, clutching his stuffed gorilla close then nodded. "Yes. I'm a big boy now. Strong!" he said proudly flexing his arms.

"Yup. Strong as the blokes on TV who lift cars." Rory agreed without sounding patronizing. Bet one day you'll be strong enough to lift an entire elephant!" he said acting the part and making elephant noises.

Jimmy giggled, "Silly!" the boy laughed at his nurse's antics.

"Am not! I bet you could do it." Rory said seriously.

* * *

><p>Jimmy sat down on the small chair in his PT room. He hated the room with mats and crutches and stupid poles he had to walk between. It was really stupid when he had to try and untie knots with his toes, but he could do it now.<p>

It hurt lots and he wanted to cry and go home but then Ms. Lee who made him do the work would give him a hug and afterwards when he was good nurse Kylie snuck him an ice lolly then his mummy would come and they'd say what a big boy he was so sometimes he didn't mind the pain afterwards.

Rory and Ryland always called him 'Mr.' and said he was a big boy and that helped too but sometimes they had to give him injects and that always hurt but then nurse Ryland would make a joke and give him a bright plaster and nurse Rory always gave him a hug and let him cry if he wanted.

He was going home soon.

Jimmy looked around and spotted something bright and glowing on the wall. It wasn't making any noise at all but it was really bright and felt warm. It seemed like it was calling to him.

He struggled hard but made it to his feet. "Stay." Jimmy said softly, placing his gorilla on the now vacated chair as fought to regain his balance. Ms. Lee hadn't taken the crutches away when she'd gone to fetch Rory and a 'surprise' for Jimmy so he still had them stuck to his arms. Nurse Rory called them his 'robot helpers' which was really neat. Slowly but steadily he made his way the ten feet to the wall.

He was going home soon.

Jimmy reached out and touched the light, feeling warmth spread through his body.

He was going...

He was...

He...

Jimmy was pulled into the light completely.

* * *

><p>"Rory, what are you doing down here?" Lee asked curiously as Rory stood against the wall in the hallway.<p>

"Hmm?" Rory blinked and looked around. "I was here for..." He frowned and dug for his file. There wasn't anything in it. "Crap! I think I grabbed the wrong file. I'm so out of it today, I'm not sure why. Sorry, Lee, I'll see you when I bring down Sam on Thursday!" He waved goodbye to her as he jogged down the hall towards the elevators.

"Go on, get out then. This is my territory!" Lee called after him teasingly. Wasn't she supposed to be doing something? No...She didn't have any kids this morning. Free time to catch up on...

The lights were on in the room she used for the little kids. Why? She hadn't had any kids yet today. She looked around the room anyway and spotted nothing but a stuffed Gorilla sitting on one of the child sized chairs.

What was she...

Right!

Paperwork, she had paperwork to do.

* * *

><p>"Alright then, who's ready to go start the next birthday?" the Doctor said eagerly as he quite nearly pranced across the console room.<p>

"Sounds fun, but we've got to get Rory first." Tish reminded him.

"Yes...Forgot almost." the Doctor nodded. "Next stop Williams attempt at a flat." He said looking around at his daughter and friend.

Rory hated letting anyone into his flat, more from embarrassment than privacy reasons, so they barely stopped in before he'd climbed aboard.

A quick overview of his two days of work they weren't there at along with him half-heartedly chiding Tish for making sure he was sent things everyday and they were off in the Vortex.

"So did you get everything you wanted for your birthday?" Rory asked as he helped Amy set up her little art desk in the corner of her room.

"Before I even went to the party." Amy told him with a bright smile. "I get to see the stars, I've got a dad, I've got my best friend back and I got to see Luke again. Presents were just...more." she said bouncing.

Rory smiled at her and tucked the chair under the desk. "I'm glad you're happy. Then again you've always been the happiest child I've ever known." He whispered to her.

Amy laughed at him and crossed the room to her dresser where tiny growling noises could be heard. "I haven't forgot you." She opened the container kept next to the cage on her dresser and produced two pieces of pet food. Opening the cage door she slipped her hand in and dropped them on a clear spot near the two tiny Panda's.

Rory looked into the cage and saw the miniaturized beasts lumber around in the long grass that made up a section of the cage. He had to hand it to whoever produced these pets, they not only managed to miniaturize the animals, but their natural environment as well.

"I bet you could get the Doctor to get you pets like me and Tish." Amy said as she closed the cage door again. "You could have tigers like Tish does." She said smiling at him.

"No thanks." Rory laughed, "You know me and cats, we really don't get on." He said smiling at the memory that as a child had terrified him.

"You don't?" Amy asked seriously.

"Not at all. You remember Henry's cat? That thing nearly ate me alive. Not to mention Boots." Rory said only half listening as he was lost in memories.

"Boots?" Amy questioned. The word was familiar but...

"Your cat." Rory reminded her worry growing as he paid more attention to the conversation.

"Oh." Amy frowned in puzzlement. She'd not had a cat...had she? "Right...Orange, wasn't it?" she asked thinking hard.

_'Grey with black feet' _"Yeah...So, did you like seeing Martha and Mickey again?" Rory asked, trying to change the subject, she had been six when the cat died, maybe she just didn't remember as well as he did?

"Yes, they were funny. They played on the equipment with us, remember?" Amy smiled brightly once again. "They stayed with Tish too so we watched movies at night and Mickey had to drive us around." She said laughing.

"Was it hard, seeing them after so long and remembering?" Rory asked her as she dug into her new art supplies.

"Remembering what?" Amy asked, opening one of her colouring books and the new giant pack of crayons.

"Your...adventure with them." Rory tried to pick around words.

"They saved the world from a Cold star that was really a dream." Amy told him, "Why's that hard to remember?" Amy asked looking at him.

Rory froze, ice creeping into his stomach. "Amy, do you remember what our teacher's name was? The one we had just before break?" he asked hoping the thoughts that had just now found solid form in his head weren't true.

"I don't know." Amy looked a bit uncomfortable and confused but shook her head and smiled again. "Want to colour with me?" she asked pulling out crayons and paper and pushing them towards Rory.

"No..Not right now, I mean." Rory said quickly, "I've got something I want to talk to your dad about." He sid standing up and starting to walk away.

He sidestepped Yumo who was trotting in, bright red bowtie in mouth and shut the door behind himself, just in case.

* * *

><p>She was forgetting things. More likely had forgotten already. Rory had been noticing it for a while now, but was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt that maybe it's because she was only seven when she'd been taken but if anyone should remember things from their childhood it should be Amy, not Rory.<p>

Still, it could be an accident, just a coincidence or something the Doctor didn't know about. It was highly doubtful but Rory was once again going to try and maintain his calm and give the Doctor the benefit of the doubt as well. It was hard but he should at least do that much.

"Williams!" the Doctor called cheerfully as Rory joined them in the library. "You and Amelia all set for Space Florida?" he asked as he bounced around the control room.

"Not yet." Rory said, sitting down hard in an armchair, ignoring the empty seat next to Tish.

"We were just talking about the documentary on Amelia that aired a few days ago." Tish said, testing the waters after she saw the look on his face. "Well, he was. I'm avoiding answering any questions on it." She said with a smirk.

"It's not fair, she won't tell me." the Doctor whined, "How am I supposed to make sure something happened if I don't see it's supposed to be done?" he continued stopping bouncing to look at her and pout.

"The same way you always do: run around pell-mell and bumble into things." Tish replied.

"Doctor, I have a serious question for you. I want a real answer," Rory said firmly, looking up at the Doctor but keeping his fingers laced and hands in his lap just in case. "No double talk or dancing around the subject, no ignoring it all together." He said seriously causing both adults to stare at him.

The Doctor looked surprised but turned slightly on his couch cusion to address Rory. "What's the question?" he asked.

"Are you making Amy forget her life in Leadworth?" Rory stared straight at the doctor as he spoke this question watching the reactions.

Silence reigned in the library as the Doctor looked baffled and Tish looked a bit worried.

"Rory?" Tish questioned him after a few moments when it became clear that neither boy was going to talk first. When Rory's attention was on her, she continued. "What makes you ask that?" she asked quietly.

"She's forgetting things. If he's not behind it then we have a serious problem." Rory said tersely. "She doesn't remember the pet cat she had from the time she was a baby till she was six, either by name or what it looked like. She's forgotten all of her five year un-life with Dr J...Martha and Mickey." He looked sideways at the Doctor. "Yes, I know about that. But the kicker is that she can't recall who our teacher was before break. Just a few days before he took her over Easter." He said his voice growing louder.

"Well, sometimes kids forget things like -" Tish started.

"Your Aunt's fiancé's mother, AKA the woman who's decided you're her grandchild is not forgettable as a teacher." Rory snapped. "Something has made her forget. Either it's him or it's something worse and I want to know which one!" he yelled right into the doctor's face.

The Doctor frowned and looked deep in thought, his hand lightly tracing the swirling patterns on the sofa. _'Is it me or you?'_

Only hundreds of years of dealing with the TARDIS made him able to interprerate the feeling and air he got in return: Guilt.

_'On purpose?'_

Hmm, not guilt really but...oh...

"Not purposefully." the Doctor said finally. "The TARDIS was trying to ease Amelia's homesickness since she couldn't go back and got a little overzealous. For a Type 40 very old TARDIS she did quite well but..." the Doctor shrugged, "She was trying to be helpful. You must admit that losing those five years isn't a bad thing."

Rory looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel, but to his credit he didn't scream or anything at first, just clenched his teeth and hands together.

"I'm sorry, Rory." Rory could feel warm air swirling around him as the Doctor spoke, both Time Lord and TARDIS attempting to apologize. "I'll go fix whatever she's done as soon as we get back from the next party, I promise. No sense in overloading her right before a party. Especially on her birthday." the Doctor tilted his head and smiled hesitantly at Rory. "Sound good, Williams?" he said apologetically.

Rory breathed deep, "I'm not sure why you're asking me as if I can do anything. I'm just a prisoner after all." he wasn't sure where the words had come from but suddenly what all three had been thinking lately was in the air and there was no taking the words back.

The Doctor frowned and popped to his feet. "Well then..." he grabbed Rory by his upper arm and began hauling him out of the room, Tish hurrying behind them.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Tish yelled trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

"Let me go!" Rory protested.

The Doctor responded to neither and held onto Rory even when hitting buttons on the console.

He stormed to the door and looked back at Tish, "Be a dear and wait here? I'll be right back." He said firmly before leaving.

Rory blinked and breathed in fresh air, a bit surprised actually. Fresh air, sunlight, not too familiar but.

"We're in Cardiff. Not exactly out of the ordinary place but we needed a refill anyway." the Doctor replied as he reached into his pockets and pulled out his sonic. A few well pressed buttons and he smiled, "There, see? Now no security cameras but still..." he dragged Rory behind the TARDIS and off into a small alcove where he could clearly see both the TARDIS and the construction that was going on to re-build the tower.

"If you're going to make me forget or give me to some organization just...do it already." Rory said finally as the Doctor let him go. "And please...Don't tell Amy I abandoned her?" he said quietly.

"I'm not doing any of that, Williams." the Doctor scoffed and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"You're not?" Rory looked at him in disbelief as he rubbed his arm.

"Of course not! For one, Amelia would kill me, Tish would bring me back to kill me again and...well, you've sort of grown on me." the Doctor said sounding almost uncomfortable. "Like pears! Used to hate them, they were horrible and nasty and just...blegh." he made a face. "But now? Now I...I like them! They're wonderful and sweet and don't tell anyone!" he babbled.

"So...I'm a pear?" Rory asked confused.

"My pear." the Doctor nodded, happy Rory understood him.

"I...I think it's the same." Rory sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration making it stick up a little too much. "I used to hate it and just sort of put on a front to make Amy happy. Hated you too, for what you'd done – taking her, I mean and kidnapping me. But now? Now I..I find myself looking forward to it! I can't wait to see what's going to be on the other side of that door when we land somewhere. I love watching their faces light up when we see something new and amazing. And for some reason I still don't know I'm beginning to love the running too." Rory shook his head and smiled lightly. "You've corrupted me." He said looking at the doctor once again.

The Doctor grinned, "I tend to do that. So...I'm the Doctor." he offered his hand to Rory.

"Rory Williams." Rory replied, understanding somewhat the Doctor's intent.

"Nice to meet you, Rory Williams. Fancy a ride in my TARDIS?" he cocked his head to where the blue box sat. "It travels time and space." He said invitingly.

"Yeah...If you'll have me I think I'd love a journey." Rory said with a smile, understanding fully now as he shook the Doctor's hand.

"Good! Was hoping you'd say that. Very few say no and those never turn out good." the Doctor tugged Rory's arm, a lot lighter now, and headed back to the TARDIS. "Let me see your phone." He said reaching his hand out.

"My phone?" Rory dug into his pockets and produced the mobile without complaint.

"Mhmm." the Doctor snagged it from Rory and pointed his sonic at it.

"Careful, if you break it I can't afford to get a new one." Rory cautioned.

"I won't bust it. I've done this several times." the Doctor said as the sonic buzzed. After a few seconds he smiled and tossed it back to Rory. "Frequent Fliers privileges. Superphone." he clarified when Rory looked puzzled. "Works anywhere and any time. You can call someone no matter where in time or space they are, no roaming charges. It just locks onto your relative time. Well, except with me, then it just locks on to where I am according to them." He grinned. "It'll work no matter where you are, whether there are towers around or if you're under about two hundred feet of iron." the Doctor shrugged at Rory's gaze. "Any phones can call that number still, and you can call anyone. Even if they don't have service. That was a fun day..." The doctor explained enjoying the look on his new companion's face.

"Thanks." Rory smiled as he tucked the mobile into his pocket. It wasn't the phone itself that made him smile, it was the trust it implied.

"No problem." the Doctor said as if it wasn't a big deal. "I think Luke and Rani are the only ones who haven't got this type of phone lately. Like I said: Frequent Fliers privileges." He said smiling.

"Thanks either way." Rory repeated as the Doctor opened the doors to the inside.

"I've got one too." the Doctor said cheerfully shutting the door behind him. Something felt odd...

"What's up, Doc?" came a voice that startled both of them causing them to look up. One frowning in annoyance the other freezing in fear as the speaker came into view.

Jack was standing, leaning backwards against the console, legs crossed at the ankles, arms crossed across his chest with his coat just about brushing the floor.

"I'm not a rabbit!" he protested.

"Something up with your boy." Jack said, gesturing towards Rory with concern.

True enough Rory was pale, his breathing shallow and he was a starting to sweat.

"Rory, are you okay?" the doctor asked turning his attention to his companion.

Rory shook his head, "It's a dream...has to be. Can't be." He mumbled to himself the rest of the world fading as childhood memories resurfaced.

"Think he might need some medical help." Jack said, taking a few steps forward.

As Jack's foot hit the last step Rory's head hit the ground._  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: AN Take II, apparently net disliked us trying this last time. <em>You probably hit the wrong button trying to regain control of the keyboard. <em>Please, I'm not that clumsy. _You broke your leg standing still. Anyway, YAY! We got this out before midnight my time! _Totally new for us. Like, rare. Neat. _Yup, we're just that good - _when threatened by making you do work - _I_'_m a much better beta. Enjoy!]_**


	75. Leadworth 1996 and TARDIS 2009

_Rinnnnng_

_Rinnnnng_

The phones ring came down the hall almost hidden by the shrieks and laughter of the two children present. Michelle shook her head as she picked up the phone, dodging the two children as they ran around the room. "Pond residence." She started taking a step back as the children nearly ran her over again.

"Rory! Amelia! Slow down you're going to hurt yourselves." She said loudly to them as she covered the mouthpiece, then uncovered it, "Hi Barry, sorry about that, the kids are having a bit too much fun. " smiling she looked over at the duo currently at a stalemate on either side of the couch. "Yeah they're behaving mostly. Oh, Rhys and Colin? Well...to put it nicely Rhys is a grumpy pain in the arse and 'Banana' isn't much better. I can't prove it but I'm relatively certain it's Rhys that broke Rory's bike...I know hun, I'm trying to like him more, I swear! Right-" Rory darted past her again, ducking under the phone line causing her to whirl to face him. "Rory Alwyn Williams, slow down!"

Seconds later Amelia ran past her other side. "Barry, I've got to go. The kids are going a bit wild. I do believe your eldest son gave them some of his coffee...Love you too." she said sighing before she hung up and turned to locate them, finding Amelia hiding under the table and Rory looking far to innocent.

"One of you is going to fall and break your neck and when you do don't come crying to me." Michelle threatened.  
>Rory smiled sweetly then took off running again, Amelia right behind him.<p>

Sleepovers were the best! They got to get all dressed up in their jammies, hang out at the houses watching lots of Telly, movies they usually didn't get to watch often and even got sweets.

Rory's feet didn't get much traction on the floor thanks to his brand new socks his Tada had got them for him for Easter, they were bright blue with little footballs on them.

He felt like he was going faster than usual ever since his brother gave him some of his coffee. Rhys drank it differently than his parents did; Tada drank it really black, mummy drank it with white stuff in it but Rhys had his full of milk and sugar, lots of sugar!

Rhys was the best brother ever, he always gave him chocolates and boiled sweets, let him have a few sips of his fizzy drinks and his coffees. He even took blame if he didn't want Rory in trouble.

Rory, Rhys and Banana had been playing on his bike earlier when the chain got caught up when Rhys was trying to show him a trick.  
>Rory had nearly cried till his brother assured him that if anyone asked he'd say that he'd done it and that their Tada would just buy him a new chain the next day anyway.<p>

"I'll get you!" Amelia taunted as Rory turned the corner. Her turn to be it.

"No you won't!" Rory yelled back.

Rory tried to climb the stairs too quickly and without the banister to aid him and all the sudden the world was slipping out from underneath him.

He felt his stomach drop and heard Amelia yell seconds before an intense pain rocketed through his skull.

"Rory!" he heard her yell.

Rory sat up with a groan, scooting to sit on the edge of the stair, hands clasped over his head, tears and something else pouring down his face.

"Did I break my neck?" Rory whimpered as Amelia looked horrified.

"AUNT MICHELLE!" Amelia screamed

* * *

><p><em><strong>-TARDIS circa 2009-<br>**_

* * *

><p>"What's wrong with him?" Jack asked curiously as the Doctor checked Rory's pulse.<p>

"Intense situational trauma brought on by the brain trying to compensate for something it's been told is no longer there." the Doctor said, scooping Rory up bridal style and setting off for the medbay.

"What's that mean?" Jack followed behind the Doctor.

Kid looked familiar and the Doctor had called him Rory. Must be Rhys' brother that Gwen and Tish had mentioned..._'Nothing like his brother if being a stranger makes him faint.'  
><em>

The Doctor ignored him and pushed open a familiar door with his foot. Once in the medbay the Doctor deposited Rory onto one of the examine tables and smiled before speaking out loud, "Darling, could you send Tish in this direction? Thank you." he said happily.

"I'm 'darling' now, am I?" Jack teased.

"Not in a million years." the Doctor stuck his tongue out at Jack before scanning Rory with his sonic. "Huh, I was right. I mean of course I'm right. I'm always right." he said looking again at his newest companion.

Not long after Tish entered the medbay and looked at them in surprise. "What did you do to him?" Tish demanded, hurrying to Rory's side.

"I didn't do anything." Jack said quickly, hands in the air in front of him. "He fainted when he entered the TARDIS." he yelled in his own defense.

"Actually it is Jack's fault, but not by anything directly done today." the Doctor told him. "He's just suffered a -" the Doctor paused, realizing Tish might glare if he used big words. "His brain tried to find data that it's saying it no longer has and went bluescreen. He's resetting and will be fine." the Doctor explained.

"Wait, how's it my fault?" Jack demanded.

"Jack, what happens if someone's allergic to Retcon?" The Doctor asked.

Jack scoffed, "Doc, that's a one in a million allergy." he said shaking his head.

"Humor me." the Doctor said dryly.

"Well," Jack inclined his head, folding his arms across his chest. "Immediately? Nausea, vomiting, migraine, loss of sensation to most of the body due to the nervous system effect, uh...I think blackouts, but I can't really prove that one." he said thinking.

"Long term?" the Doctor prompted as Tish held Rory's hand.

"Anxiety disorder and panic attacks mostly brought on by 'triggers' surrounding the events that his brain wouldn't accept it was told to forget, sensitivity to certain foods and places, anger when confronted with situations that threaten what they 'know' to be true until eventually when confronted enough it wears off. Bit of nervousness usually remains. Why?" Jack repeated curious as to how this related at all.

"I present to you Mr. One in a million." the Doctor proclaimed, gesturing to Rory like a game show host.

"No way." Jack groaned.

* * *

><p><em><strong>-Leadworth, 1996-<strong>_

* * *

><p>"I've got to take him, I just need you to watch Amelia for a few hours until Sharon gets back!" Michelle said looking at her almost stepson.<p>

"Why've I got to do it? I could take Rory!" Rhys yelled glaring at her.

Rory tried not to listen as he sat in the livingroom sniffling, cold compress wrapped in a flannel held to his head. It hurt really badly, and them yelling wasn't helping anything.

"I'm taking my son! Just go watch Amelia! She's in bed!" Michelle yelled back trying not to glare at the teen.

"Hey, it'll be okay, buddy." Banana promised Rory, crouching down in front of the couch and patting Rory's knee sympathetically. Poor Rory's head looked quite nasty, he had blood clotted in his hair, down his cheek and neck and drips of it on his shirt.

It had to look worse than it really was though. "You'll be fine, Head wounds always bleed a lot." Banana said trying to distract the boy.

"Really?" Rory tried to ignore the arguing in the kitchen.

"Really." Banana said. "See, one year I was at football when both me and a player for the other team dove at the same time. Our heads colided like 'BANG!'," Banana made the gesture with a silly grin, "I got one hell of a cut on the back of my head. I thought I was dying. My jersey turned red and it had been white!" he explained smiling.

"What happened?" Rory whimpered.

"Well, I got to the hospital and they gave me these injections that really hurt," he didn't see the point in lying to Rory, "But after I couldn't feel anything. They stitched up my cut, put a bandage over it and I got a lot of ice cream as a reward for being good." He also didn't see the point in saying this happened only two years ago.

"Okay, Rory, let's go." Michelle called with a forced cheerful tone, keys jingling in her hands.

"Better get a coat, it's cold." Rhys said snidely. His arms were crossed and he looked quite mad.

"Right." Michelle glared back at him before leaving towards Rory's room.

"Rhys?" Rory reached a hand towards his brother. "It hurts." he whimpered.

Rhys' expression softened and he came to sit next to his brother. "I know, Buddy, but it'll get better. I've had stitches before, they aren't so bad. When you get home we can have some ice cream, okay?" he said as calmly as he could as he forced a smile for his brother's benefit.

"We don't have any." Rory sniffled.

Rhys looked at Banana who patted his pocket, making it jangle.

"Don't worry about that. We'll have some when you get back, okay?" Rhys promised.

"Okay." Rory said weakly.

"Let's go!" Michelle called, reappearing with Rory's coat in her hands.

They quickly got Rory into it and shuffled out the door into the car.

Rory looked back in time to see his brother hand something to Banana before heading towards Amelia's home. Banana took off in a jog in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p><em><strong><em><strong>-TARDIS circa 2009-<strong>_  
><strong>_

* * *

><p>"Nah...Can't be." Jack shook his head. He refused to believe he might have psychologically traumatized his second-in-command's brother in law. It just couldn't happen.<p>

Yeah, his records did say he'd retconned him but he couldn't be allergic. "That's just...impossible." Jack stated firmly.

The Doctor scoffed, "You'd think, but remember with any given compound there are those who will be immune to it and those whose bodies would reject it. Rory's one of them." he explained snippily.

"Rhys isn't allergic though." Jack countered.

"Must be through his mum then." Tish piped up glaring at Jack.

Jack went to reply before giving up, shoulders slumped in defeat. "Hell..." he whispered.

"Great, so my sister's boss mentally warped my boyfriend." Tish squeezed Rory's hand lightly then placed it back by his side making sure he was warm. "That's something you don't hear everyday." she said glaring harder.

"I had to!" Jack whined, "I didn't have a choice in the matter. Alex, the Torchwood 3 leader at the time, thought that whatever happened to Amelia Pond was alien, which we now know it was, Thanks Doctor, and sent me to investigate. I talked to him after running a trace on the area and locating a bit of Artron energy. It was low enough they could mistake it for me being there but...He didn't really know anything." Jack brushed it off, "But I couldn't let him remember me otherwise UNIT would have brought him in themselves trying to figure out why he knew Torchwood." he said trying to explain.

"So you retconned him? You'd think a man so desperate to get back two years of memories that he'd hold a world hostage and nearly turn the whole of London into a Zombie plague would be kinder than to erase others' memories." the Doctor said almost coldly.

* * *

><p><strong><em>-Leadworth, 1996-<em>**

* * *

><p>"One last pill!" the nurse said with fake enthusiasm as she handed Rory a tiny plastic cup with a pill and a second one with barely any water in it. They never gave enough water to wash the pills down correctly and he always got left feeling like they were stuck in his throat. He'd had to take six now and had been here for hours!<p>

They'd gave him injections in his forehead that really hurt and made him cry but his mummy had held his hand. Then they'd stitched his skin together with seven whole stitches and covered it in a plain white plaster.

Now he was sitting all alone in a big, white, bright and scary hospital room.

They didn't want him to sleep and something was going on that wasn't right with Amelia. His mummy had been called to go back home but his Tada was on the way, so that was okay. His mummy could go help with Amelia, as long as she was okay.

He really wished Rhys would come and keep him company. Anybody really.

Rory sat, knees close to his chest under the covers in the gown he'd been given and glared at the tiny television going in the corner of the room that was playing some stupid kids show.

There were loud footsteps coming down the hall and he thought maybe it might be his Tada coming cause it sounded like boots but when his door opened it was a stranger.

"You don't look like a Doctor." Rory blurted out before he could stop himself.

The man laughed, shutting the door behind him and putting something small and disk like against the door. It beeped and made a whirling noise but then stopped.

The man was really tall, taller than his Tada, with dark black hair brushed carefully down. He wore big military boots, long pressed trousers, a belt and bright red braces with a light blue dress shirt. What was most impressive however was either the long RAF coat that made him look like a super hero or the gun hooked to his belt. He looked clothing wise, quite frankly, like the photo his Gran had of his Great-Granddad all in uniform from the last War.

"Are you a soldier?" Rory asked in awe.

The man chuckled and moved to stand at the edge of the bed. "I'm a Captain, Rory." he said smiling at the boy.

"How do you know my name?" Rory asked fearfully, holding his legs tighter against his chest.

"I read your chart. I need to ask you a few questions, it'll help your friend." the man said calmly.

Rory nodded eagerly then winced as pain lanced through his head again. "Ow." he whimpered.

"Careful," the Captain warned him, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "Now, I need to know what you saw tonight." he said smiling again at the boy.

"I wasn't there." Rory said, "I hurt my head and came here." he said simply.

The Captain nodded slowly, "Do you know anything about what's gone on with Amelia Pond?" he asked.

"Mummy didn't say much, but the nurses said she was missing." Rory looked guilty, "I wasn't supposed to hear that." he whispered.

The Captain smiled at that, "It's okay. We often hear what we aren't supposed to. Do you know anyone strange that comes around your houses? I understand you live next door." the man continued.

"No one strange." Rory said with a frown, not quite sure what 'strange' meant.

"Have you ever seen a blue police box?" the Captain leaned forward a bit and said it quietly, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"No." Rory shook his head softly this time. "Should I have?" he asked curiously.

He looked disappointed but leaned back again. "No...no one really does." the Captain sighed.

"I'm sorry." Rory said putting his hand on the Captain's arm.

"It's alright. Is anyone coming to get you?" the Captain asked standing up and tucking the little boy into the bed.

"I have to stay the night. My Tada—daddy is coming to stay with me though." Rory said embarrassed.

"Tada?" The Captain smiled, "Why do you look embarrassed?"

"The kids tease me when I say anything Welsh." Rory mumbled.

"Ah, don't listen to them. I happen to love Welsh." the Captain said with a wink. "Now," he dug into his coat and produced a bottle from which he withdrew two small white pills. "I need you to take these guys before I go."

"What are they? I already took some." Rory protested, his throat still feeling tight.

"They're pills to help you forget." the Captain told him, no emotion at all in his voice. "Forget I was here, forget what you know about Amelia Pond."

"I don't want to forget." Rory said fearfully. "She's my best friend!"

"Shhh," the Captain said soothingly. He reached out and brushed Rory's forehead with his fingers then through his hair and Rory felt much calmer. "You need to take them. They'll help you." he whispered.

"Nurses don't give enough water." Rory mumbled, not sure why he felt so...serene now.

"They never do, do they?" the Captain poured a big glass of water from the pitcher on the side table across the room then brought it to Rory. "Here." he said.  
>Rory took the pills placed in his hand and popped them into his mouth, drinking copious amounts of water to wash them all down.<p>

"Goodboy." the Captain praised. He smiled at Rory again before walking to the door and removing the metal thing.

He was out the door, boot steps echoing in the hallway eve as Rory's stomach started to churn.

It wasn't ten minutes later that his Tada arrived.

By then Rory was feeling really hot, he'd even already kicked off the covers, and his tummy felt like it was on fire.

"Hey, cariad." Barry said softly, "How're you feeling?" he asked.

"Not good." Rory cried, his eyes were watery and he felt like he was swimming. His tummy protested and he tilted his head over the side of the bed, emptying out all the junkfood he'd eaten that night very loudly and painfully.

He lay back on the bed gasping for breath as his Tada screamed for a nurse to hurry up, eyes closing as blackness encroached.

* * *

><p><em><strong>-TARDIS circa 2009-<strong>_

* * *

><p>"You're sure he'll be alright?" Tish asked worriedly.<p>

"He'll be fine. Any moment now." the Doctor assured her, "It's happened before."

"What triggered him before?" Jack looked over the man, barely more than a boy actually.

"Amelia. First time he saw her at the hospital where the shades were." the Doctor said frankly. "They laughed at him for fainting but...his brain overloaded." he explained.

"Ah..Speaking of, I was shocked I wasn't greeted by Amelia when I entered." Jack tried to look offended. "I was even looking forward to meeting her again. Where is she?" he asked.

"She's in her room colouring in her new colour books." Tish said. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you too." Tish was apparently still a bit angry at Jack.

"We don't fault her for her taste in men yet." the Doctor quipped.

Jack made a rude gesture at the Doctor and stuck his tongue out.

"Ow..." Rory moaned quietly.

"Rory!" Tish smiled brightly, holding his hand again and pressing her other hand lightly against the right side of his face. "Hey, welcome back." she said gently.

"What hit me?" Rory said slowly, closing his eyes against the bright light.

"The floor. Though technically you hit it with your head." the Doctor said, leaning over Rory's head to look down at him, blocking out the light. "But we're blaming that on Jack." he said happily.

"Jack? Who's Jack-" Rory's eyes trailed over to where the Doctor had looked and he turned pale. His eyes widened, his breath hitched and with a yell he fell ungracefully off the examine table.

* * *

><p><em><strong>-Leadworth, 1996-<br>**_

* * *

><p>Rory woke up slowly, but kept his eyes shut. Every beep of the monitor hurt his ears and his head, lights were bright beyond his closed eyelids. It was quiet, but if he listened he could hear someone else breathing. "Mummy?" The voice came out choked and harsh and it made him cough.<p>

"Shh, hold on a moment buddy." Rhys told him.

He heard his brother moving around then the lights got a lot dimmer.

He risked opening his eyes and blinked repeatedly to clear them.

Rhys hurried to his bedside again with a cup filled with water covered by a lid with a straw. "Drink some, but slowly." his brother said gently.

Rory tried hard not to gulp down the entire cup at once, the cool water felt fantastic on his throat, but he listened to his brother and lay back on the bed again.

"Can I sit up?" he whispered.

"Um...Yeah, hold on." Rhys fiddled with something on the side of the bed and Rory felt himself being raised until instead of laying down he was reclining at a bit of an angle and could now see the whole room.

"Where's Mummy and Tada?" Rory asked his brother. He hadn't meant to fall asleep.

"They're just a little bit outside." Rhys assured him, taking Rory's hand in his own. "They're talking and will be in to see you in just a moment. Rory, I'm sorry bud, but I've got to go back home." he said quietly.

Rory's heart sunk and he swallowed hard. "Do you have to?" he said sadly.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I really am. I wish I could stay the rest of my break." Rhys rubbed the back of Rory's hand with his thumb for reassurance as Rory looked like he might cry.

"Your Mum making you?" Rory asked looking up at his older brother.

Rhys sighed but shook his head. "It's a really long story, Rory, but I have to go home for a while." he said a twinge of guilt in his voice.

"Why?" Rory pressed.

"They think...I mean.." Rhys took a deep breath. "Until they find Amelia I'm just dead weight around here. Banana and I can't search and we were supposed to be watching her. They think it's our fault she's gone." he explained.

"But it's not. Is it?" Rory asked shakily. It couldn't be. His brother was never at fault. "It must have been the Army man!" Rory stated looking around for the Captain.

"Army man?" Rhys looked confused.

"Yeah...The Army man! He looked like a soldier, like the photo of Great-Granddad that my Gran has." Rory said, unsure why his head now hurt.

"When did you see him?" Rhys said with a cautious tone.

"Here. When Mummy left and Tada wasn't here yet. He gave me pills to take and left." Rory told him.

"I...I see." Rhys nodded. "I'll tell them what you said, you can tell your Mum yourself, okay?" he said concerned.

"Okay." Rory said sadly.

Rhys looked like he was fighting some internal battle before he reached forward and tugged Rory into his arms. "I'm gonna miss you." he said hugging his brother gently.

"You could stay and live in my room." Rory bargained as he clung tight to his brother. He'd been trying hard not to cry, but couldn't help it now. Something about this felt...permanent.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Rhys said, holding Rory just as tight. "I've got to go. I'll see you again, I promise." Rhys rubbed Rory's back when the boy cried, hiding his face against Rhys' shoulder. "I love you, buddy. I'll see you again. I swear." he whispered kissing his brother on the forehead.

"I love you too." Rory allowed Rhys to pull away from him finally. "Promise you'll be back?" he said.

Rhys opened his mouth to say something but stopped. He took a breath then spoke, "I promise I'll see you again, okay?" he said looking away from the younger boy.

Rory nodded, knees pulled up to his chest trying hard not to cry as his brother left. It wasn't long after that his parents entered. His Tada looked really sad, but his Mummy looked real mean and angry. Both their faces changed when confronted with Rory, however.

His Tada looked like he was trying to be hopeful and his Mummy looked softer with Rory's favourite smile that only he got.

"Hey, cariad." Barry greeted him, sitting down on the side of the bed Rhys had vacated to hug his youngest son. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better." Rory told him, getting a hug from his Mummy as well. "Rhys said he has to go back home." he said sadly.

Both their faces went back to how they had been for a moment before the smiles returned. "Yeah, yeah he does." Barry agreed. "I'm driving him back tonight, but I'll be back by tomorrow morning, okay?" his father explained.

Rory nodded in what he hoped look like understanding. "Okay. Do you think the Army man will come back? I think he took Amelia." he whispered as he laid back and fell asleep.

"What Army man?" Michelle asked cautiously.

* * *

><p><em><strong>-TARDIS circa 2009-<strong>_

* * *

><p>"He isn't real...He can't be real." Rory looked extremely nervous as he mumbled to himself, pacing back and forth on the far side of the room.<p>

"Side effect." the Doctor reassured Tish when she looked anxious. "Remember it took him a full night before he'd calm down after seen Amelia again." the Doctor explained smiling at Tish.

"Right." Tish nodded but looked worried all the same.

"Normally I trigger hormone attacks, not panic attacks." Jack said from his seat across the room.

They'd chosen the 'living room' after some debate. The kitchen was dubbed to be filled with 'far too many stabby things', the Library 'too full of blunt objects and watery death' and the medbay...well, sharp things once again.

Jack was sitting back, legs crossed with his right ankle resting on his left knee as he flipped through the same magazines he had with him last time he'd been on board.

"Don't mock this." Tish said, taking the magazine from him sharply. Jack hissed and stuck his finger in his mouth when the paper cut it. "This is all your fault." she grumbled.

"I was doing my job." Jack whined.

"You retconned a seven year old boy." Tish whacked him over the head with his magazine. "What would his brother and sister-in-law have to say?" she said angrily.

"Why would Rhys know?" Rory demanded, whirling to face them suddenly. "Or Gwen? They aren't active in my life and they wouldn't know Retcon or whatever the bloody pills are called." he piped up suddenly interested.

Tish bit her lip and looked at the other two. "Actually? Rory...Rhys and Gwen know about aliens." she said sheepishly.

"What?" Rory looked shocked, "How? Why?" he sputtered.

"Gwen works with me." Jack said, well aware Rory was still trying to pretend he didn't exist. "Rhys does too, now. At first he was resistant, but now he's accepted it. Hell, it's a good job when your gonna be a dad." he explained.

"Gwen works with aliens." Rory said dryly, ignoring most of what Jack had said. "Rhys knows about aliens..." he said quietly leaning back overwhelmed.

"My sister too." Tish decided to come clean. "Martha and Mickey both travelled with the Doctor, yeah, but they both also work with Jack." she explained further.  
>Rory sunk down onto the couch, head in his hands. "Everyone knows about this." he asked.<p>

"Not everyone. And no one knows about Amy." Tish told him quickly, she moved and sat on the coffee table in front of him, taking his hands into hers, "I swear." she said hugging him.

"Actually...I was his twenty-first choice for babysitter." Jack said casually, reflecting on that conversation. "And I know two more companions have found out since, along with Sarah Jane and her kiddos. Then there's Francine, of course, and-" he sounded almost like he was talking to himself.

"NOT HELPING." Tish threw a book off the table at him.

"Great. It's an intergalactic coverup." Rory was biting his lip so hard Tish was worried he might break the skin.

"Doctor, you said till tomorrow morning, right?" Tish asked looking at him.

"At the latest." he agreed, sitting down on the arm of the couch next to Rory. He patted the man on his back, "Chin up, Williams. You're one in a million and Amelia chose YOU. I chose the others." he said cheering him up.

"What I meant was, if he takes anything to calm him would it help or deter his brain fixing itself?" she asked reaching into her pocket and feeling her pills.

"Probably help." the Doctor tilted his head in thought. "More than likely help." he said catching on.

Tish smiled and dug into her pocket, producing a very small plastic tube that looked like it was for chaptstic. "Hand out."

Rory understood her intent and held his hand out dutifully. He took the small pill she dumped into his hand without water, use to it by now, and relaxed back against the couch.

After a moment of calm where Tish just held his hands and the Doctor hummed to himself Rory's eyes shot open and he sat up again. He looked straight at Jack, "Did you say Gwen's pregnant?" he asked staring at Jack.

* * *

><p>Rory had calmed down enough not long after Tish dosed him that he was accepting of Jack's presence. Well, accepting might be pushing it. It was more like he was pretending Jack didn't exist while Jack annoyingly acted...well, like himself. Amy had hugged Jack and the two had talked for a long time while they set up everything.<p>

Jack even sat in her room, hands clapped tight over his eyes while she changed clothes just so they could gossip about the Doctor.

Tish smiled at Rory, holding his hand, fingers interlaced. "Feel better?" she asked smiling.

He wasn't blissful and zoned out, but he wasn't on edge so apparently the pill had done it's job. "Much. Tomorrow when my brain resets am I no longer allowed to hit him?" he asked pleadingly.

"One punch, dead centre jaw." Tish let out a sigh but was smiling. "Violent men." she said shaking her head.

"Ready?" the Doctor called excitedly, getting to his position at the console.

"Ready!" Amy and Jack replied with just as much excitement.

"Onwards." Tish waved at him to continue and steadied herself, hands on the railing.

"To Space Florida!" the Doctor yelled. 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Crap, we're really lucky it's still Friday in my timezone. Otherwise we'd be in trouble. <em>Hey, not-well, it's 10 minutes after midnight where I currently am, but still. <em>Hmph. Oh, basic translation for the whole TWO - we're totally cultured - foreign words used. Tada is welsh for 'daddy' and Cariad is welsh basically meaning Sweetheart or dear. _We're cultured? __Didn't your family serve boxed wine in red solo cups off the tailgate of a pickup truck? _Leave me alone, Woman!_ Yes, dear. _Poll will be going up tonight regarding the next chapter on our profile if you'd be so kind as to go and vote. Otherwise it's 'flip a coin time' and frankly I'm broke enough I might have to flip a penny. Don't make me flip a penny; go vote. _Heh, what she said. Enjoy!_]**


	76. Trunks, 'coasters and reveals

River flipped through the few letters she'd received during the week, mostly fan mail, a few letters from people at the university, a very nice letter from her Aunt containing an ultrasound of her soon-to-be cousin. Well, her Aunt said 'one' but River could clearly see two distinct bodies in the image. She filed that away in the discuss later file.

"You'd think a Doctor would note two babies, especially at eight months along." River shook her head and placed the image aside before picking up the last envelope a smile forming on her face.

It was bright red with swirls of neon yellow and TARDIS Blue, addressed to 'River Song' written in hot pink and sealed with a rainbow sticker. The duck stamps didn't help disguise the sender either. He really needed to work on subtlety.

River rolled her eyes and unsealed the envelope carefully.  
>She pulled out a card and stared at it for a moment before she laughed.<p>

The card was shaped like a crown but that's not what she had to laugh at; the card was also bright pink, covered in glitter and said 'Princess' across the front in a slightly darker pink.

"Oh my God..." River flipped it open and nearly winced at the helium infused voice that started singing 'Happy birthday' in an extremely jubilant tone.

_'You're invited! It's Amelia's eight birthday today! Well, it will be soon. Feel special you get to come!' _the Doctor's handwriting scrawled across the page in the same hot pink ink. _'It's at Space Florida and I got to plan it all on my own. There'll be cake! Also rides. Come along, Song. Oh and bring swim things.'  
><em>

This time she did laugh and roll her eyes. "Oh, Doctor..." she whispered smiling wistfully.

Hmm, the guard today wasn't new. In fact he'd been here a little while. A kiss wouldn't work, he'd not get close enough to grab...This time she might have to get creative.

* * *

><p>Anita dashed down the hall from the lift to Dave's flat but collided with the man she was seeking as she rounded the corner to the last few steps.<p>

"We're invited!" Anita laughed as the twirled in place to keep from falling.

"We are!" Dave grinned brightly as well, letting her go now they'd regained their balance. "We picking up River?" he asked with a smirk.

"Breaking her out this time. I've got some explosive power and a borrowed ship." Anita stated holding up a remote and some keys.

"Brilliant!" Dave grinned. "It's a bit disconcerting though. Things are actually starting to feel timey-wimey wibbly-wobly." He said.

"We've gone through time and space to help people out, we've met people who haven't been born yet and it's a birthday that throws you?" Anita giggled.

Dave rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her. "It's an EIGHT year old's birthday that throws me. She shouldn't be eight, I mean she's already t-" Dave cut himself off when one of his neighbours walked by and shook his head. "Right. Breaking River out. Do we have time to stop for gifts?" he asked smiling at what they could get their young protégé…well what they could get for a younger her anyway.

"Given we have to go through time to get there? I'd say so." Anita answered smiling as she pulled him towards the ship.

* * *

><p>Space Florida was more amazing then they could have imagined. The sand nearly looked like glass it was so white and there didn't seem to be anything in it or on it other than pure sand for what looked like miles.<p>

The sun shined down on them, but somehow the heat seemed just perfect, not hot enough to make them need to go inside, but just enough to make them warm. The water was so crystal clear that they could see all the small fish darting around under the waves in such brilliant colours they looked like someone had painted them. Sadly since they planned on going to the amusement park first they'd had to leave Yumo inside the TARDIS. He'd be rescued later though when they went swimming and had tea.

The Doctor had landed them on a pier of some sort that looked like it was part of several interconnecting wooden docks above the water looking out on the ocean. They were covered in multi-coloured booths, some bigger than others. Some of them were decorated with different animals and signs, some were filled with toys and other things to buy, some had arcade games or carnival games set up inside with loud announcers calling people to play and still others were selling so many different foods they weren't sure they could identify them all.

The Doctor told them the 'dress code' as he'd called it, forcing them all into shorts with swimsuits underneath or, in the boys case, swim trunks.

Once they'd found out that Rory and Jack hadn't brought anything like that, the Doctor had reluctantly stopped at a shop to let them grab something.

Tish thought Rory looked particularly adorable and out of place in a pair of baggy knee length red swim trunks with black trim. He'd even put on a red t-shirt and hadn't complained when Tish tossed a pair of strap on sandals at him.

The Doctor had been laughed at by both Jack and Tish when he appeared in the swimming suit he'd worn before and forced to change.

Currently he was spinning in circles as fast as his sandals would let him trying to view the designs all over his trunks. Tish had grabbed an outfit for him and to his credit he hadn't really protested.

The Doctor was now wearing a pair of white and blue Batman swim trunks that stopped just above his knees, a large cartoon version of the character was spread across his right thigh and a giant Bat Signal was plastered across his bum. He was also, to much disbelief, wearing a light blue dress shirt sans the sleeves just so he could wear his red bowtie. The Doctor was quite in love with the strap on sandals that lit up when he walked, however.

Tish stuck to a simple pair of white and blue basketball shorts and a plain pink t-shirt with tan strap sandals; Amy wore a pair of TARDIS blue shorts and a bright orange shirt with pink sandals that , like the Doctor's, lit up when she walked. Both had brought with them bags, Tish her normal one and Amy a small pink plastic looking backpack.

Jack on the other hand...

"Ready, kids?" Jack asked as he strolled out of the TARDIS. It'd taken ten changes of clothing before they'd given up on his outfit.

Jack wore a pair of nearly skin tight white trunks that ended just slightly longer than mid thigh, under which you could see his first choice swimsuit: A bright pink speedo that showed far more than it should at the back. He had on a black sleeveless mesh shirt that hid nothing at all, a pair of bright blue flipflops on his feet and a pair of blue sunglasses with black lenses hiding his eyes.

Rory opened his mouth. Shut it again then shook his head in disbelief at the man who had haunted his nightmares for years. "You look like you belong in a pride parade." He stated, his mental image of the man didn't seem nearly as scary as it had in the past.

Jack gasped and lowered his sunglasses to narrow his eyes at Rory, "You're just jealous I have style." He grumbled. With a huff he pushed his glasses back up where they belonged and smiled, "Where to first?" he continued turning to the Doctor.

They were only halfway down the pier when the Doctor bounced in place and pointed something out to Amy.

"River!" Amy yelled excitedly, nearly tackling the woman into a hug. "Are you out of prison now?" she continued babbling.

River laughed and hugged her back, "No, Birthday Girl, I'm just here for your party. Anita and Dave broke me out." River answered smiling at the girl.

Dave had gone conservative in a pair of dark blue and black striped trunks and a white tank top. Anita followed suit in a pair of red cloth shorts and a grey swim top that looked a lot like a tank top.

River however...

"Happy birthday to me." Jack whistled low, tilting his sunglasses down again.

River was dressed in a pair of khaki short-shorts, a pair of brown gladiator sandals that ended around her ankle and a pink and white bikini top.

"I think you forgot something." the Doctor said with a blush.

River smirked, "You said swim gear. This is swim gear." She said looking at his expression and nearly laughing aloud.

It took some doing but they finally convinced River to put on a shirt, Jack got the feeling she was protesting mostly just for the amusement of it, which meant Rory had to stop back into the TARDIS since it was his shirt River had put on.

One think Jack learned right away was that somehow River and her friends knew him.

"Should have know you'd go with something so...revealing." Dave said, looking over Jack's outfit as they walked towards the amusement park the Doctor had picked out.

"Does my reputation precede me or has the Doctor been telling tall tales again?" Jack smiled his most charming smile.

"Neither, I just know you by now." Dave said shaking his head.

Jack choked and stalled in place for a moment before catching back up with them. "What?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm 'timey-wimey'." Dave bragged with a smile.

"Huh? Doc, how come he knows me?" Jack asked with a bit of a whine.

The Doctor looked back at Jack over his shoulder, still holding Amelia's hand. "They're timey-wimey!" he yelled back before turning to Amelia.

"What does that mean? That's not even a word." Jack complained.

Tish laughed, swinging her hand that was joined with Rory's lightly. "It is if you ask Martha." She said smirking.

"They're going the wrong direction." Amy told Jack.

"Speak for yourself." River scoffed, nudging the girl. "I'm going perfectly normal, it's you lot that's backwards." She said with a smirk.

"Huh?" Jack repeated.

"River's timeline is running opposite mine." the Doctor took pity and explained. "We always get to play catch up to find out where we are relative to each other." He continued smiling at Jack.

Jack made a face, "Sounds interesting." He said shaking his head.

"It is." Anita nodded, "And very mind numbing at times. You, for instance, sometimes you know us, other times you don't. Every time you're lewd though, it's just a countdown." Anita smirked at his expression.

"I'm not lewd." Jack protested. "I'm suave, dashing, devilishly handsome and damn good in - damn it!" Jack rolled his eyes as everyone laughed, an effect that was ruined by his sunglasses.

* * *

><p>Amy looked around in amazement as they walked through the entrance to the amusement park, the entrance was what looked like a giant circular bubble hoop but when you looked through you only saw the spaceships lined up like cars in a car park. She watched and noticed that when the people went through it went a wobbly blue like when the TARDIS was going through the time vortex.<p>

Fear filled her a bit as she entered the hoop but her dad's hand holding hers calmed her down.

Together they stepped through, the blue light tingled a little but nothing else happened and they stood on the other side of the platform.  
>Right away she saw a wide expanse of silver and ice blue buildings looking like they came from all over the galaxy placed neatly all in a row. There was one she recognized from Saurtine, Junbar, and even one that looked like it came from Demanshi if the doors were any indication.<p>

The Doctor pulled her down the small street as she tried to take in everything.

The pavements engraved with large silver stones alternating with blue and bright white stones inset, the silver bins that hovered off the ground while spinning slowly in circles; the clothing that looked so unusual in colours she couldn't even name in so many strange styles and aliens from around the galaxy both humanoid and non.

"I think...Yes, it should be just around here." the Doctor said cheerfully as Jack jogged to catch up with them.

The group walked around the corner and both human companions and Amy gasped in shock at the first of many rides.

High above the park a roller coaster that twisted and turned spinning and flipping, she could even hear screams and laughter from people.

"The Time Vortex." Jack laughed looking as excited as Amy. "That one's got to be a lot more fun than the real thing!" he said staring at the coaster.

Beyond that she could see at least three other rollercoaster sets even if she couldn't see all of them they were far enough away.

Immediately in front of them though were the younger kid rides, or so she assumed. It looked like there were mostly little kids and babies of different species.

Tiny spaceships that spun slowly in circles like they were on a carousel, little swings that flew just about three feet off the ground, a set of what looked like robot helmets spun a little faster, each helmet spinning individually from the track it was on.

There was even a pen filled with some very strange looking creatures.

"Fun park, great choice." Jack said looking sideways at the Doctor, "But did you have to choose one with a weapons scanner?" he grumbled.

Tish looked Jack up and down, "Where were you keeping a weapon? No, wait, don't answer that!" she said just imagining his responses.

"So...Are we doing this the proper way where we wait in lines and get wristbands like normal functioning people?" River asked.

The Doctor scoffed and pulled the Psychic paper out of his shirt pocket.

"Good." River dug into her short pockets and produced what looked like a laminated blank piece of paper. "Mine is water resistant." She bragged.

"Yeah? Well mine is in its own little case." the Doctor sniffed then looked down at Amy with a grin. "Wanna ride the big guys?" he asked her reaching his hand out again.

"Yeah!" Amy yelled.

* * *

><p>The fourth rollercoaster they got on seemed to be the tallest and the one with the most spinning.<p>

The Doctor and Amy sat in the very first seats so they could see everything; River and Jack were right behind them followed by Anita and Dave then Tish and Rory.

They were all surprised Rory was still agreeing to go on any of them after he got sick following the second ride. He'd managed to avoid throwing up till AFTER he got off though much to his pride.

"I've already gotten rid of anything in my stomach. What's the worst that can happen?" He'd scoffed.

The seats were different. They were individual looked like seats taken directly out of race cars only they were made with foam and hard plastic painted bright red. Once they sat down the alien who ran the ride, a tall grey skinned male with wings tucked against his back and clawed hands, checked to make sure everything was in place.

Giant plastic and metal harnesses came over their heads like overinflated lifevests and secured themselves with a click over their thighs while another bar came from between their legs to hook into it leaving their feet free to dangle.

"This one might get a bit scary." the Doctor said, swinging his feet as they waited.

Jack and River bounced in their seats, Jack leaning back and forth to test the restraints and seeing how far he could get it to move by himself.

Anita and Dave sat patiently as they could, both feeling as excited as Amy and the Doctor.

Rory on the other hand...

He stared upwards at the track the seats were hooked into. Well, hooked was the wrong word.

"Tish?" He whispered fearfully, nudging her as best he could.

"Feeling sick already?" She asked sympathetically, reaching over to pat his hand.

"No...Yes...Look." He whimpered pointing up.

"Oh." Tish said once she'd looked up.

There were no wires or steel holding them up. In fact the only thing between the metal of their seats were several rotating metal disks whirling in circles in the opposite direction of metal disks placed a few inches above them. In between the two disks was a humming blue mass of energy twirling in place.

"I think I want off this ride." Rory whimpered.

"The Doctor wouldn't have put us on it if it were unsafe." Tish said, though her voice did shake a bit.

Suddenly the ride jerked into motion, Jack and River yelled happily while Rory's stomach turned to ice.

The Doctor swung his feet back and forth a bit more happily as the ride started slowly making its way up a very steep incline.

Amy took a deep breath to settle nerves, hands tight on the plastic safety harness.

"Afraid?" the Doctor asked.

"No...sorta." Amy admitted.

The Doctor wriggled his hand away from the restraints holding him in and over to Amy's hand as they neared the very top of the first hill.

"Thank you for bringing me here." Amy told him, looking at him with such a bright smile his hearts clenched.

He smiled back, "It's what Dad's do. Spoil their kids rotten, especially on birthdays." He said smiling at her.

"I love you." Amy said then turned slightly red. The ride stalled at the top of the hill and they were stuck looking down it for a few seconds.

The Doctor grinned, hearts beating fast, stomach fluttering. "I love you too!" he said just as the ride lurched forward, sending them over the hill and spiralling downwards, effectively cutting off any conversation that wasn't screams.

* * *

><p>Later that night they sat resting on a small section of beach far enough from the water to keep from getting splashed by waves but close enough they could go in if they wanted.<p>

Somehow River had gotten a bonfire going in about two minutes time and had just smirked when Jack demanded to know how she'd done it.

"What can I say?" River said dusting her nails on her shorts. "I'm just that hot." She smirked at the former time agent.

"FOOD!" the Doctor yelled, staggering out of the TARDIS carrying a giant ice chest trying to avoid Yumo as he darted out after the Doctor clad in a puppy sized neon green lifejacket, yapping as if he'd been tread on.

"Need some help?" Jack offered as Tish followed him, plastic cups stacked in one hand and a blanket in the other.

"I'm good." the Doctor proclaimed, setting the chest easily on the ground near to the fire. "I'm always good." He said looking at the party guests.

"Yes, very good," River teased him as she helped Tish spread out the rather large blanket. "how'd you fit everything into one chest?" she asked him.

"It's bigger on the inside." the Doctor said huffily as he flipped it open. He paused as he opened it, "Er, we have to do real food first, don't we?" he asked pouting.

Tish looked over at him, "Define 'real'?" she said in her nanny tone that made the Doctor shiver.

He sighed, "Something with substance holding everything needing to sustain a growing child." He recited blandly, as if he'd heard this a million times before.

All the adults turned to stare at Rory and Tish.

"What?" Tish asked with a smile.

"You've trained him." Jack accused, pointing his finger at them. "He used to eat chips and call it a meal." He said in amazement.

"He still does if I let him." Tish shrugged. "And no, Doctor, tonight we can do whatever you think is best in whatever order. It's a birthday, that's allowed." She said smiling as a cautious smile appeared on his face.

The Doctor looked over at Rory questioningly.

Rory shrugged and smiled, "What's one night out of hundreds?" he said watching as the Doctor's smile grew and he let out a yell of joy and dug into the ice chest, nearly disappearing into it as he hauled out containers.

They couldn't read most of the containers but once opened the insides were mostly recognizable.

Once everything he wanted was out the Doctor pulled out a set of pink plates that looked nearly like pizza trays and started filling them up and passing them around.

"Here," he handed a large jug to Tish, "Serve. No more than half a cup apiece, though. Don't want any incidents." He said before digging into the chest again.

"What is it?" Amy asked as she looked over everything. Obviously there was ice cream of some sort, though it was an odd turquoise colour with flakes of something orange in it, there were small round cakes about the size of hockey pucks that looked like they might collapse if you touched them, something that looked like an alien attempt at a pizza completely with Jelly babies and a kyreberrie sweet directly in the centre of it and a large chocolate bear that weighed at least half a pound.

"Mutfruit ice cream with Flame fruit flakes, Honey cakes, Nova rounds and chocolate." the Doctor said enthusiastically as he dropped a hunk of ice cream from the spoon directly into his mouth. "'ot 'uff 'rom 'ar'tine 'oo!" he continued as he tried to eat the mouthful of ice cream all at once.

"Joy." Dave said bleakly as he looked at those who'd be consuming all this sugar.

"Mmm." River gained a bit of an evil grin as she picked up her spoon, "Fantastic idea, Doctor." She said in a flirting tone looking straight at the Doctor and Jack.

* * *

><p>After more sugar than anyone should ever consume and 'dessert' birthday cake, a lovely sheet cake painted to look like the TARDIS on top, the Doctor decided it was time for presents.<p>

"It's a phone?" Amy said in amazement, looking at the purple flip mobile Jack had given her. It looked like the Doctor's, only it was royal purple with 'Amy' written across it on the front above the view screen with sparkly stickers.

"Yup." Jack said eagerly. He flipped it open for her and pulled up contacts. "See? It's already got Tish, the Doctor, Sarah Jane, Luke and Me in it. I didn't know anyone else's number you'd need." He looked over at River and then Rory, "They'll know how to program it if you need or want anyone else." He continued to Amy.

Jack blinked and grinned when Amy hugged him tight. "Thank you!" she said excitedly.

"You're welcome, Amy." Jack answered giving her a gentle hug then stepping back to let Amy open more presents from the others and looked at the Doctor smugly. "Best uncle ever?" he suggested, gauging the Doctor's reaction. He still wasn't entirely sure of the Doctor's feelings. Back when he'd been with them in September it'd been strictly a companion like relationship, now he'd heard Amy call him 'dad' a few times through the day.

"Hmph." The Doctor responded nearly sticking out his tongue.

"Does this put me in the running for 'Godfather'?" Jack teased.

The Doctor snorted, "Not even close. That position has already been filled." He said happily.

Jack looked stunned, he actually had been contemplating that? Wait...filled? "Who'd I lose to?" Jack demanded with more outrage than he thought he'd fill.

"Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart." the Doctorsaid the name with pride, enthusiasm and affection.

"Wh-what?" Jack gaped, "I lost to the UNIT Pretty boy? That's not fair! What's he got that I haven't?" he said pouting.

"A stable home life?" he shrugged, "He's never died, fought dozens of alien life forms without resorting to guns, " the Doctor didn't feel the need to mention it was only because guns didn't work against some, "the ability to behave himself, a support system that knows how to raise 'normal kids', knowledge on how to get along on Earth without getting arrested...often. He doesn't work for Torchwood -" the Doctor's speech continued.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Jack muttered looking cross.

"He's my eldest friend, he's met every single version of me and no matter what he's never let me down." the Doctor said softly looking sideways at Jack. "I couldn't ask anyone else." He said honestly.

"I understand." Jack said with an exaggerated sigh. "I want to be Godfather for the next kid though." he insisted.

"Fine." the Doctor nodded, fully aware he had no plans on ever gaining any more children through loom or kidnapping.

"Dad, look!" Amy said, showing him a book she'd just unwrapped.

He came over to look closer at it, crouching down beside her.

It was a large hardback book about twice the size of a normal hardback book, dark blue with words written across the front in a silky crimson red:

"_'Dark Universe'_?" the Doctor red the title then looked up at River curiously.

"It's not dark as in evil." River explained, crouching down next to them and opening it. The front pages were decorated in beautiful almost lifelike paintings and flipped to the first story that adorned the cream coloured paper. "It's dark as in bedtime fairy tales." She said remembering this book from when she was little.

"_'The Littlest Uval'_?" Amy giggled as she read the title.

"Mhmm. Everyone loves fairy tales." River agreed.

"We're all one." Amy whispered, as she closed the book and hugged River tightly.

* * *

><p>"So what do you think of Jack?" Tish asked Rory as he sat, hands over his eyes at the bottom of her bed. Tish had actually finished changing a good two minutes ago, but he was quite cute acting like a toddler.<p>

Even with the hands covering his eyes he was red. "I don't hate him but I don't like him either." He said honestly.

"I understand that." Tish said, tapping his hands. "Give him a chance, please? For me." She asked looking him in the eye.

Rory blinked up at her and nodded slightly, "For you." He said smiling at her.

"Now, let's go say goodnight to Amy, bedtime story should be over by now even with Jack embellishing, and then we can talk to him properly, okay?" Tish said reaching out to pull on his hand tugging him off the bed.

"Fine." Rory let her tug him off the bed and lead him, hand in his, down the hall to Amy's room.

"And then, with a mighty roar," Jack said animatedly, "the Uval leapt forward and tackled the Jorvax to the ground saving his pack and his planet." He read.

Amy petted Yumo's ears sleepily and looked at Jack, "Do you think Yumo misses his pack? Should we go get his siblings for him?" she asked hugging the uval.

Jack looked over at the Doctor frantically waving his hands in a slit-throat motion. "I don't think he misses them, I think he's happy, his siblings are probably happy too." Jack continued smiling at the younger girl.

"Okay. Night, Captain." Amy said snuggling into her blankets.

"Night, Amy." Jack kissed her forehead and moved aside so the Doctor, Rory and Tish could say goodnight as well.

"So, three months." the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together as they sat down in the living room. "Three months to fix the past...How much have you managed?" he asked smiling.

"Gained a new employee, finished digging out the remains of the tower, got plans finalized for the new Torchwood hub, recaptured our pterandon to keep her from terrorizing farmers, got the warehouse fully set up and functional as our temporary base...Got a girlfriend." He said the last sentence a bit quietly with some trepidation.

"What? You settled down?" the Doctor gasped in mock shock, hands over his hearts.

Tish sat behind the Doctor hands over her mouth frantically shaking her head no to keep Jack from finishing that sentence.

Jack ignored her, "Yeah, sort of." He responded to the doctor.

"What woman would date you?" the Doctor laughed.

"The same one that would date you." Jack shot back.

"Huh?" the Doctor teased while laughing.

Tish groaned and covered her face with her hands.

"I'm dating Sarah Jane." Jack stated.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN:<em>This chapter almost didn't happen, I made my partner sick watching rollercoasters. <em>Evil things. They make you dizzy and nauseous, even just videos. _She screamed almost as loud as if she was actually on the ride when the video flipped. _Did not, I squeaked in a ferocious fashion. It was a war cry! _Uh huh...You keep telling yourself that. _Oh, and oops I lied. Miscounted chapters, next week is Jack's updating them. Also, I love the last line this time. _She thinks you're gonna kill us. _They might...]**


	77. Stripping, Stories and Secrets

"You know how much that hurts?" Jack demanded with more than a hint of a whine in his voice as he used a towel to brush frost and frozen blood from his face and hair.

"Just be thankful Tish made us let you back in." the Doctor scowled glaring at his former companion.

For a full minute after Jack's confession they'd sat in silence as Tish mentally counted till 'Jack's doom'.

Once the shock of him saying it passed the emotions had flipped several times and Jack had been hauled through the TARDIS and tossed out the airlock by the Doctor with help from Rory.

"Should have broken it a bit gentler." Tish whispered as Jack scrubbed at a section of his face.

"How could it be gentler?" the Doctor looked like a wounded puppy, "He's dating my wife!" he yelled loudly still glaring.

"Hey, you two are only married on the No-Longer-Lost moon of Poosh." Jack pointed out quickly. "I know that for a fact!" he insisted glaring back as he continued to clean himself off.

"It still counts!" the Doctor said stubbornly, crossing his arms and glaring.

Jack scoffed, wrapping the towel around his neck, flipping his braces down and starting to undo his shirt. "Yeah, on Poosh." He said grumpily frowning at the Doctor.

"Why are you stripping?" Rory questioned with a disturbed look.

"My clothes are frozen and bloody." Jack said dryly, "I'm not staying in them." He whined as he slid the shirt off and dropped it to the console floor followed by his undershirt. "Speaking of, I'm getting a bit cold. Can we finish this conversation up in the shower?" he asked looking around at the assembled crew now turning their backs.

"No!" came the resounding yells.

"Fine... Living room? How about the library? Oh, have you gotten a hot tub yet?" Jack queried as he stripped as his trousers hit the floor.

* * *

><p>Once Jack was settled in one of the big recliners with a giant blanket wrapped around his waist, much to his annoyance they'd forced him to wear it after they'd found out quite blatantly he had no pants on, he smiled at them, "So...Start where?" he asked.<p>

"September." the Doctor told Jack, sitting back on the couch across from Jack, legs folded at the ankle as he vowed to 'behave'. "When I left you, please." The Doctor said sighing.

* * *

><p><strong>-September 12th 2009, 1:15 pm-<strong>

* * *

><p>Jack stumbled backwards as the Doctor shoved him lightly and instead of stumbling and landing on his butt like he'd expected he was now falling backwards quite far.<p>

With a loud crack and a groan Jack landed on the concrete pavement looking up the TARDIS resting ten feet above him in mid-air.

Jack stumbled to his feet quickly but not fast enough to stop the TARDIS from disappearing.

"YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH!" he screamed, glaring into the sky, arms waving in annoyance and anger. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU FUCKING STUPID, MORONINC, BRAIN DAMAGED TIME LORD! COME BACK HERE!" he continued screaming ignoring the people now surrounding him.

Jack threw his arms wide, "COME BACK HERE!" he continued.

Someone nearby cleared their throat and Jack turned, anger written in his face ready to snap at whoever was nearest.

Mickey and Martha stood, Mickey's arm around Martha's shoulders, her arm around his waist, watching him; Gwen stood a few feet away, hand on her stomach as Rhys tucked his hands in his pockets; Sarah Jane was watching him, oddly sympathetic, as K-9 rested at her feet.

They almost didn't recognize Jack; his hair was shaggy and messy - and not his normal 'stylish' messy; his face was covered with stubble that no one knew he could get; he was wearing blue jean trousers and a white t-shirt instead and an old scuffed up pair of boots.

"What are you looking at?" he demanded.

"An insane idiot." Mickey said easily. "You're yelling at the sky." He said slowly.

"No, I'm yelling at the stupid bloody Time Lord who thinks he knows what's best!" Jack turned his head to scream at where he'd been dumped as if the Doctor could hear him.

"You've been gone two days," Gwen told him, "Maybe he's trying to help you?" she said smiling kindly at him.

"I've been gone over three years." Jack replied angrily, "And I was doing JUST FINE -," he glared at the sky again , "drowning my sorrows on some space station." He grumbled.

"Three years? THREE YEARS?" Martha demanded.

Jack scowled, scuffing his boots on the ground and going to put his hands into the coat pockets he didn't have. "Don't you get mad at me too. I just got chucked out a TARDIS with a threat!" he grumbled.

"Let me guess, do as I say or I'll make you do it?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Yeah...More 'run away again and I'll bring you right back' and something about facing my problems." Jack sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair. He didn't want to mention he wasn't just running from the 456, his actions in it or the deaths; he had come back before...and had gone running again...he didn't want to think about that right now.

"While lecturing does sound fun, and I do want to know why three years," Rhys said, "I think we need to get the Captain cleaned up. It doesn't look good to be lecturing that one drunk in the middle of the square." He said looking at the groups of eavesdroppers now forming on the outskirts of the

Jack narrowed his eyes at Rhys then sighed, rolled his eyes and nodded, agreeing that maybe he did look the part of 'town drunk'.

"Our flat's near enough if you don't mind." Mickey offered. "We can talk there." He explained.

* * *

><p>Jack glared at the razor in disgust. A normal everyday hand held razor and he was at a loss.<p>

Normally he didn't have to shave, he died often enough, and when he did live long enough to shave he hated normal razors.

"Jack?" Mickey knocked lightly on the bathroom door and looked in. "Thought you were gonna shave and join us?" he asked.

Jack muttered something, looking at the razor in his hand.

"What was that?" Mickey asked.

"I can't use a razor." Jack grumbled.

Mickey slipped inside the bathroom, shutting it behind him. "What? But I've seen you shaved before." He asked amazed.

"I die or I use a straight razor." Jack grumbled.

"You can't work a normal razor, but you can work a straight razor?" Mickey almost laughed in disbelief.

"No..." Jack brushed the fingers of his free hand across his stubble. "Someone else does." He said quietly.

"Who do you know that can work a straight razor?" Mickey asked staring at Jack.

"Tosh and Ianto." Jack said plainly, trying not to wince. "Wasn't hard to convince one of them to help me out. Tosh found it funny and liked my set. My set's probably burned and twisted beyond recognition now."

Mickey looked at the door then back at Jack and sighed. "Okay, if it'll keep you from killing yourself I'll help you out for now but you've got to learn how to shave." He grumbled taking the razor.

Jack clenched his teeth then nodded. "Least you're less likely to laugh then Rhys." He giggled.

After a few moments of sitting still on the counters edge and letting Mickey work on him Jack opened his eyes slightly. "Who taught you to shave anyway? You were the only boy around." He asked amazed.

"Stop talking or I'll cut you on accident. This is awkward enough already." Mickey scolded him. "If you promise you'll keep it to yourself and not laugh I'll tell you." He chided.

Jack wisely didn't speak but raised his hand in a 'scouts honour' position.

"Jackie did. She was responsible for most everything I knew that was practical. That's why when Rose disappeared and she..." Mickey bit his lip and grabbed a damp towel, wiping Jack's face off of any spare shaving cream. "Anyway, you're done. Need a better shirt? I've got a few dress shirts." He offered.

Jack looked at Mickey, tempted to say something but just smiled, "Got anything manly?" he asked snidely.

Mickey scoffed, "I live and breathe 'manly'." he said smugly.

"The pink Polo you own doesn't think so." Jack sniped wiping the smug look off of mickey's face.

"Oi! That was a gift." Mickey said snidely.

* * *

><p>"So...Three years?" Gwen said once Jack entered the room again, feeling more himself in a pilfered pair of dress trousers and a dress shirt from Mickey. The fact he had to tighten the belt a bit more didn't matter today.<p>

"Three years, one month, thirteen days if you want to be exact." That date's a lie, technically. It's only been one year, one month and four days, but they're asking about the 456, they don't know about...Jack looked around for a seat.

The couch had been taken up by the girls, Rhys had hauled in one of the kitchen chairs from across the room and Mickey was stretched out, back against the couch with Amidala laying with her head on his lap. That left him the coffee table, the floor or K-9. K-9 would probably kill him so... Jack gave in and grabbed one of the large pillows Martha had resting in a stack, tossed it on the ground and sat down on top of it.

"Why so long?" Mickey asked, absently stroking Amidala's ears.

_'Fear.' _"Just...needed time." Jack shrugged as if he didn't know or care.

"The Doctor decided you'd had enough 'time' then?" Martha questioned looking directly into his eyes.

_'Needed a fucking nanny' _"Something like that, yeah." he tapped his fingers against his thigh. "Said I had to fix my mistakes, since he couldn't fix his." He grumbled.

"What does that mean?" Martha asked.

"It means I'm going to get the hub up and running again, of course." Jack shot them a dashing smile. "Start saving the world, stop whining." He continued smirking at them.

"Good. To start with issues about the hub? We're locked out. It's mostly twisted metal," Mickey said when Jack looked startled, "But some of the electronics are still up and going thanks to protocols Tosh put in. Smart woman set backup generators that would withstand just about anything." Jack explained.

"And with electronics still going and metal twisted and melted together we'll get electrocuted and die quite quickly without something to shut it down." Gwen told him.

"Right, I'll figure-" Jack started.

"We've already got a solution." Mickey smiled, reached over and tapped Sarah Jane's boots.

Sarah Jane rolled her eyes, "Yes, when in trouble call on the woman with the metal dog." She smiled.

"More like call the Science Geek." Martha teased.

"I am not a science geek!" Sarah Jane protested. "I'm just enthusiastic about some forms of electronics and machinery." She defended.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"Wait, they used K-9 with Sarah Jane's instructions and Mr. Smith's skills to completely unlock and shut down electronics that were partially melted?" the Doctor grinned, "That's my Sarah!" he proclaimed proudly.<p>

"Yeah, first day or two I was there they didn't really need my help. Gwen had most of it under control and what she didn't Mickey and Martha did." Jack told him.

"But they need you now." the Doctor said staring at him.

"They need a leader and that's what I am." Jack said sighing.

"Don't be modest, you're not good at it." Tish scolded him lightly. "They needed you." She said smiling.

"Yeah...I guess." Jack smiled. "Wasn't easy though. I lived in the hub, most my stuff was destroyed or buried." He continued staring off into space.

* * *

><p><strong>Back<strong>

* * *

><p>"Well, your home exploded, where are you living?" Sarah Jane asked Jack the next day as they walked from the crater that was the hub, currently surrounded by digging equipment and a large seven foot tall metal fence with privacy screen. Mickey and Rhys were directing the lorries that were going to haul away debris; Gwen and Martha had been sent off to gain supplies for the warehouse with Jack's credit card which left Sarah Jane and Jack to go pick up lunch for the group, not that they minded.<p>

"Is that an invitation?" he smiled a bit lecherously and leaned slightly in her direction.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"Ow, Doc, that hurt!" Jack whined, rubbing his arm from where the Doctor had leaned over to punch him.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Back<strong>

* * *

><p>"Not even close, soldier." Sarah Jane poked his chest sending him backwards.<p>

"Ah, my heart is breaking." Jack sighed wistfully and grinned, "Nah, I'm currently being fought over about if I'm staying with Martha and Mickey or if I'm staying with Rhys and Gwen." He said smiling at her.

"Fought over?" She repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah. Lots of 'You take him', 'No you take him!'" Jack sniffed, "I'm so handsome and unbelievably perfect that they all feel unworthy of my presence." He boasted.

Sarah Jane snorted, "Sure, we'll go with that." She smirked at him.

"So...exactly why can't I stay with you?" Jack asked with a sly grin. "It'd be fun." He asked flirtingly.

* * *

><p>-<strong>TARDIS<br>**

* * *

><p>"Damn it, if you two keep hitting me I'm not telling my story!" Jack whined, shuffling away from both males on the TARDIS.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Back<br>**

* * *

><p>Flirting came natural, something that shouldn't surprise him no matter how 'off his game' he'd been lately. It was part of an ongoing game after all. It'd started way back in March, the first time he'd hit on her on the Subwave network and hadn't stopped since.<p>

Mostly a game of one up, who could get the other to back down or blush. So far Jack had won mostly, but that was only because Luke was around most times.

It wasn't serious, Jack had been in a relationship with Ianto of course, but it was fun none the less.

Not that anyone ever believed him when he said Sarah Jane could be as bad as he was.

Sarah Jane rolled her eyes, "My house is a UNIT only zone, sorry. Torchwood need not apply." She said shaking her head.

"Hey, Mickey's Torchwood." Jack sniffed.

"Mickey's an exception." She said stubbornly.

"Why?" Jack said with a pout. He wasn't really upset, but he wasn't backing down either way.

"Mickey's not trying to get into my pants." She stated plainly causing Jack to choke and stumble.

Damn, score 1 Sarah Jane and on the first game back too!

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"She did not say that." Rory said, shaking his head slowly in denial. "She wouldn't. Sarah Jane is nice, normal and above such childish and lewd things." He said defending one of his oldest friends.<p>

Jack raised his eyebrows and grinned, "Well-" he started.

"Finish that and you might die." Tish told him seriously, watching both sulking men.

"Fine, fine. Went out to get lunch, flirted," he said the word with a bit of a chuckle when both other men flinched, "oh and captured a Weevil." he said smiling.

"A what?" the Doctor furrowed his brow in confusion.

* * *

><p><strong>Back<strong>

* * *

><p>Jack froze as he heard a familiar keening growl coming from a nearby alley. "Stay here." He stated.<p>

"Not likely." Sarah Jane replied, following him anyway as he drew his gun.

It wasn't far into the alleyway that they found what was making the noise.

"Janet?" Jack asked, eyes wide in amazement. He hadn't thought she'd survived.

"Jack?" Sarah Jane questioned, watching the alien intently.

Janet was curled up in a ball making the growling noises they heard, arm cradled close. Obviously the explosion had hurt her some and Jack could see burns on her clothing and skin from either the heat of the explosion or the electricity that had just recently been shut down.

"That's Janet." Jack told her, keeping his voice level and calm. "A Weevil, well we call them Weevils. She lived in the hub in one of the cells. Sort of a pet, if you will." He explained.

"Dangerous?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Very. Rip you to shreds and gnaw on your bones type of alien, actually." Jack kept his distance, trying to figure out how to get Janet somewhere safe. "Not sure how to get her back to the warehouse though." Jack said, mostly to himself. "She's too dangerous to lead out, I haven't got any cuffs and I'm not shooting her." he continued mostly to himself.

"You want her unconscious?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Yes. Should have brought tranquillizers but-" Jack started trying to plan how to take care of the pet alien of Torchwood.

Jack was cut off by a high pitched whirling noise that started and stopped just as suddenly. Janet was now completely limp on the ground, only her chest moving signified she was alive.

Jack looked over to see Sarah Jane putting her Sonic lipstick away. "Those still aren't cool." He said a tone of jealousy in his voice.

"Are too." the Doctor said sulkily, fiddling with his own screwdriver.

"Screwdrivers, lipstick, what's next, sonic Mascara?" Jack teased.

"Maybe. Amy's got to have something more stylish someday." Tish agreed with Jack, causing him to make a face at the thought.

* * *

><p>"She'll be fine." Martha said, examining Janet as best she could while the alien was restrained to a folding table, Jack nearby with his gun just in case though<p>

Sarah Jane's sonic seemed to have knocked her out cold. "Few stitches, some burn cream and a cast on that arm...It's a simple break even for a human." Martha assured a worried looking Jack. "She'll be good. Issue is...think a Weevil could handle a cast?" she asked him.

"Probably. I think she's smart enough to know not to mess with it." He answered.

Janet tugged weakly against the restraints holding her down and Jack moved quickly, gun pointed at Janet. She made a low moaning noise and a hiss.

Sarah Jane looked surprised, "You didn't say they spoke-." She stopped and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "They don't speak English, do they?" she asked resigned.

"What?" Jack looked confused as Mickey started to snicker. "Of course not. Why?" he started.

"Sarah Jane speaks everything." Mickey pointed out, trying hard not to dissolve into real laughter.

"Shut up, Mickey." Sarah Jane grumbled.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"You know, I really should fix that one of these days." the Doctor mused.<p>

"Thought the effect wore off when we were away from the TARDIS or you?" Rory questioned.

"It's supposed to." the Doctor admitted. "Sarah Jane's brain has been messed with a few too many times and not always from the enemy." he patted the wall as best he could and got a hum in return. "I think the TARDIS thinks it's a gift. You must admit, to understand any language is a gift." The Doctor insisted.

"Not when you don't realize you're translating a good portion of the time." Jack countered.

* * *

><p><strong>Back<strong>

* * *

><p>"What's she saying?" Gwen asked curiously.<p>

Sarah Jane sighed, "She's complaining. Martha, can you up the pain meds just a bit?" she asked.

"Er, yeah." Martha nodded and dug through her case and the limited supplies to grab the vial and a new syringe. "How much?" she asked.

"Pain's apparently a 'dull roar' but still there." Sarah Jane opened her eyes again, "Jack, she's starving. Can you get something for her?" Sarah Jane translated.

"She's complaining she's hungry?" Rhys asked doubtfully.

"Best translation? 'Those stupid humans left me without even a meal'." Sarah Jane shrugged, "The pain was minimized, so she's focusing on the next great need." Sarah Jane shook her head

"Full sentences?" Jack looked impressed.

"I said best translation," Sarah Jane said, hands up, "I didn't say **exact** translation."

Jack edged closer to the table and was surprised when Janet's eyes opened and looked at him before closing again. Janet made a noise and he looked at Sarah Jane who seemed to be trying not to laugh.

"What'd she say?" Jack asked

"Let's just say she thinks a Weevil with blue eyes would be quite pretty." Sarah Jane said causing almost everyone to laugh.

Once Janet was once again unconscious, this time from a sedative, Jack tried his next move.

"So...Sarah Jane, about that room-" Jack asked.

"Find your own place." she said once again, still smiling.

"Not for me." Jack looked towards the table. Janet was now sporting a very nice white cast that Mickey had been sketching on.

"Oh...No." Sarah Jane shook her head, "Jack, I'm not taking in a Weevil." She insisted.

"Just for a while, three weeks max, while I get a pen put together for her here." Jack pleaded. "Once I get one together here I'll take her back." He insisted.

Either Jack was getting better or Sarah Jane was getting softer because it only took thirty minutes of pleading to get Sarah Jane to agree to host a Weevil in her basement for three weeks.

Of course it does help that Jack's funding the entire thing and outfitting the basement with safety features and chains to keep Janet from going too far, though Sarah Jane didn't ever explain why there was already a steel loop coming out of the cement perfect for running chains through.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"So after endangering my wife and son – " The Doctor started.<p>

"Oh, he's adopted and you know it." Tish told him.

"what was next on your agenda?" the Doctor continued, ignoring Tish.

"Recruitment." Jack ignored the Doctor's 'wife and son' comment, knowing Sarah Jane's take on the matter.

* * *

><p><strong>September 14th, 2009<strong>

* * *

><p>"We're working out of a warehouse for the moment." Gwen told Lois Habiba as they left the area where the cells were, Jack walking just ahead of them to 'clear the way'. "So we're mostly free-lancing sort of. Our resident Alien's foster-cared out to a friend's house and we're setting up computers to last till Mickey, he's our computer and mechanics guy, gets his hands on the new tech when we're outfitting the new hub." He explained smiling at her.<p>

"Alien foster-care?" Lois asked weakly, not sure what to say.

They'd somehow got her out of prison, off of treason charges and were now 'hiring' her for a job she wasn't even sure about yet.

"Sounds better than 'we sent our pet alien to live in our friend's basement for a few weeks while we build a bigger cage'." Jack told Lois, smiling charmingly.

"I'm sure." Lois said weakly.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"Course, then we had to get everyone situated and back as it should be." Jack started again.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>October 1st<strong>

* * *

><p>"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack answered his phone easily. He was still getting use to their warehouse base but apparently building big elaborate underground hideouts, especially ones that had recently blown up and had an entire tower collapse downwards into it.<p>

He sat bolt upright as someone spoke on the other line. "Are you sure? Positive? We'll be right there." He said happily.

"Jack?" Gwen looked over at him from her makeshift desk.

"WOOHOO!" Jack jumped up, punched the air and grabbed his coat. "Fantastic!"

"What's up, Jack?" Martha asked.

"There are reports of a 'giant bloody flying dino' grabbing sheep up north!" Jack declared.

Gwen grinned, "They found her?" she asked bouncing.

"They found her. Rhys!" Jack said spinning around happily.

"What?" Rhys was already locating the keys to his truck, newly bought courtesy of Torchwood.

"Get some chocolate. We're going Pterodactyl hunting." Jack said merrily jumping up and down in excited.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"We also had to get our SUV back, but I'll spare you that very long and disastrous story and just say it ended with blood, tears and new upholstery." Jack said grinning.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>October<strong>

* * *

><p>"What is that?" Mickey asked as Jack wheeled in a square blanket covered thing on a dolly.<p>

"Work tools." He sat it down and took a deep breath as Rhys followed with another also looking aggrieved.

"Work tools?" Gwen repeated.

"Yes!" Jack pulled the blanket off of one to reveal an older looking vending machine.

The second blanket was pulled back to reveal a drink machine.

"We've gone corporate?" Martha laughed even as she questioned Jack's sanity.

"No, trust me, love, corporate would not have made me stop to buy two cases of beer in cans to stock it." Rhys complained. "Nor would corporate think that condoms goes in the other case." He said grinning.

"Torchwood: We do things our way." Jack intoned as he smiled at the machines.

* * *

><p>"No, the air vents are too wide." Martha warned as she looked over the plans for the new hub.<p>

"Too wide?" Gwen questioned.

"People could climb through them." Martha shrugged.

"Okay, half the air vents." Jack said, making a note on the blueprints. "Anything else?" he said taking notes.

"Can we get a gym?" Mickey suggested excitedly. When they all turned to look at him he flushed a bit and shrugged, "Rhys will need hand to hand training if you want him in the field or even working for us and Lois needs trained too." He said trying not to bounce.

"Fine." Jack agreed, making another note. "Anything else?" he asked jotting down more.

"Yeah. I've got an idea," Rhys said.

"What's that then?" Jack asked.

"Why on Earth are you making a secret entrance to the Hub a tourist booth? It screams 'normal people come here to visit!'" Rhys asked.

"What do you suggest then?" Jack asked, genuinely curious.

"I don't know...Comic book store." Rhys suggested. It'd been an idea on his mind lately but it wasn't fully formed still. "Sci-fi shop. Somewhere that if an Alien was hanging around they'd say 'Oh, random geek' not 'Oh my god it's an alien'." He continued smiling.

"Huh." Jack looked impressed. "Smart...Martha?" he asked turning towards her.

Martha nodded, agreeing. "Very smart. Secret entrance through the back...not bad." She said smiling at the idea.

"Great. Rhys, you're now the proud owner of a patch of land that'll soon be a Sci-fi shop. Congratulations." Jack said smirking.

Rhys blinked, "What? Me? But-" it was better than being in the field. "Fine." He grumbled.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"I did think that was a good idea when Martha told me." Tish said. "Though setting up someone who's never run a business before might have been a bad idea." She said honestly.<p>

"Why do you know what Torchwood is doing for a cover?" the Doctor questioned.

"Martha's been trying to get me to go work there instead seeing as I have experience in PR and stuff." Tish shrugged, "It's better than running around the world as a scarlet woman." She said shaking her head.

"She can't steal you away." the Doctor protested.

Rory reached over and held Tish's hand in his, "Yeah, you're with us now." He said smiling.

Tish smiled and Jack made a face.

* * *

><p><strong>October<strong>

* * *

><p>"So, sci-fi shop." Lois said slowly. "You mean comics and action figures or sci-fi books too." She asked timidly.<p>

"A bit of everything, I guess. Specializing in aliens." Rhys replied. "I'm still in a bit over my head." He said looking around.

"Hey, I know where you can get some books and comics pretty cheap if you're willing to grovel." Jack said with a grin.

"Jack, if this is innuendo..." Gwen shot him a look he understood.

"No, I mean from Sarah Jane." Jack said eagerly.

"Huh? Sarah Jane's a reporter, isn't she?" Gwen questioned while Rhys turned pale, Mickey grinned and Martha hid a smile.

"Lois!" Jack turned to their newest hire, "Recognize the name 'S.J. Smith?" he asked smirking.

Lois' eyes brightened. "That's the author of the _'John Smith'_ novels!" she said excitedly.

"And the comics." Mickey agreed. "Though she doesn't do the art." He stated causing Lois to stare.

"She also wrote _'UNIT, fighting for humankind'_." Martha added.

"And _'Where's Amelia: the Girl who disappeared_'." Jack said innocently.

"I don't think I've read any of those." Gwen admitted, noticing how pale her husband had turned.

"_'Where's Amelia'_ focuses on where Amelia Pond's gone." Martha said, finally having read the book after being prodded by Mickey and understanding Jack's intent. "And who they think did it,"

"Oh, right." Gwen nodded.

"Yeah, it mentions aliens but also the humans involved." Lois paused, eyes going wide. "Oh my God. You're that Rhys Williams, aren't you?" she asked backing away a little bit.

Rhys turned bright red and crossed his arms, but didn't answer even as Gwen patted him on the back consolingly.

"You're the one they think kidnapped, murdered or -" she continued babbling staring at the man.

"Ai! We know exactly what they think." Rhys interrupted her, hands waving in protest. "We don't need to hear it again." He insisted.

"Sorry." Lois said sheepishly.

"Don't worry, Rhys didn't do it." Jack felt the need to let Rhys know that he didn't believe the hype.

"You know that?" Rhys looked surprised, "No one ever believes that. How do you know that?" he asked turning to Jack.

"Cause Aliens did it, duh." Jack rolled his eyes and ignored their attempts to get him to explain for the rest of the day.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"What?" Jack dodged a throw pillow. "I said aliens not 'an insane Time Lord'." Jack protested.<p>

"You still said aliens." the Doctor stuck his tongue out at him.

"Yeah, but the took that as a challenge and are currently researching what aliens were recorded as being on or near Earth at that time and ranking them in order of who would want a seven year old girl and why." Jack grinned, "I think the current front runner is the Uvodni_'_cause they were fighting a war and they did spend several years kidnapping Earth children to fight for them." Jack explained.

The Doctor looked at Tish with a pleading look. Tish rolled her eyes and sighed as if it were a hardship, "Yes, we can go play child rescuer." She said with a smile.

The Doctor grinned and then looked back at Jack. "What else?" he asked.

Jack shrugged, "That's pretty much it since you don't want me telling stories –" he started.

"Lies!" the Doctor yelled.

"About my personal life." Jack ignored the Doctor. "Any more questions?" Jack said smirking.

Rory looked at Jack and finally spoke, albeit softly. "Why did you do that to me?" he asked quietly.

Jack looked back at Rory, meeting his eyes. "Because it was necessary. I couldn't have you remember me because if you'd been questioned by UNIT or another agency and had remembered me, you'd have been worse off." Jack paused and turned to the Doctor, "Speaking of did you know there's another non-governmental agency that deals with aliens and the like." He asked curiously.

"Yes. Known about them since they started." the Doctor said smugly.

"How? I didn't until recently and that was only because of Martha and 'special permission'." Jack whined. "How do they stay so secret?" he asked.

"They know the meaning of the word 'incognito' and don't write their name in giant letters on everything they own." He said smugly, as if proud of a child's achievement.

Jack made a face at the Doctor then turned back to Rory. "I didn't know you were allergic." He said worriedly.

"What would the drugs have done if they'd worked as you wanted them to?" Rory asked. His face was mostly impassive and Jack wasn't sure what he was looking for answer wise.

"Well...They'd have erased all memory of me. I measured the dose carefully, your last memory should have been from about the time you hit your head according to the charts." He said apologetically.

"Amelia?" Rory asked almost afraid to ask.

"Huh?" Jack frowned then his eyes lit with understanding. "You'd remember her, of course, just anything past your head injury that was about her would have been gone. You would have forgotten me asking about her." Jack stood up, one hand holding the blanket up. "Look, I'm sorry, Rory, really I am. If I had known you were allergic I'd have waited until UNIT left before questioning you." He said quietly.

"You made everyone think I was insane." Rory said, eyes closed tightly. "You made me think I was insane. I was put on about ten different medications and had to see four psychiatrists!" Rory yelled.

"Four?" the Doctor looked impressed.

"I kept biting them." Rory admitted grudgingly.

"Tell them why." Tish prompted with an eager smile.

Rory sighed and clenched his teeth. "They said the Army man wasn't real."

Jack snorted before he could stop himself, both at Rory's story and the odd look of pride the Doctor had when facing the younger man.

"Okay, fair enough. I'll give you one shot, just one." Jack said, widening his stance a little and waving his free hand to the side in a gesture. "One shot and we'll call it good. If you really think you can-Oomph." Jack's rant was interrupted by a punch by Rory.

Jack was still blinking back stars when the Doctor looked down at him with a smile. "Never tempt the Nurse. He's strong."

Jack wiggled his jaw and had to agree. "Yeah...Nurses are usually strong. They do the grunt work after all." He said nursing his cheek.

Rory looked down at Jack who had pulled himself to a sitting position. "I carry little kids, switch over stretchers, carry supplies and hold hands while blood is drawn. I have to be strong." Rory explained.

"I'll agree to that." Jack was rather impressed actually; the last one to fell him in one punch was Gwen.

He stared in surprise though when Rory leaned down and offered him a hand up. Jack climbed to his feet and tried not to show shock when Rory's hand kept his in place for a moment.

"This doesn't mean we're even." Rory warned him, "It just means for now I'm going to ignore all the psychological trauma." He let go of Jack's hand and turned to the Doctor, "I think I'm going to go to bed. I'll cook tomorrow morning, just wake me up." Rory turned to Tish and hugged her, blushing slightly as he kissed her on the cheek and disappeared off to bed.

"I'm going to turn in as well." Tish smiled at the duo, "Night, boys." She said smiling at them.

Jack rolled his shoulders and yawned widely. "Death's a bitch, I'll have you know. I'm now starving and dead tired." He started.

"Then go raid the kitchen and find your room." the Doctor rolled his eyes, "I've got some work to do." he said shaking his head.

"You mean you're going to go break something so you have something to fix while we all sleep?"

The Doctor didn't respond.

* * *

><p>Jack lay on his old bed. It'd been so very long since he'd actually had to lay there for sleep. Even last time he'd been on board he didn't sleep.<p>

He felt very out of sorts lying in pyjamas he had worn in over one hundred years under blankets that looked like he'd made the bed that morning.

Then again, maybe he was out of sorts from lying, not that that had happened before.

What he'd told of his story wasn't 'it', there was so much more. Some of it started back in March, if he were to be honest, like how he'd gotten close to Sarah Jane. Some of it wouldn't start for nearly two years on Earth. And some of it...some of it he wasn't allowed to share.

* * *

><p><strong>September 27, 2009.<strong>

* * *

><p>"Looks like they might actually all get censured over the 456 incident." Jack said as he skimmed the headlines of the daily paper. Jack had come by to make sure Janet was okay, or at least that was his excuse for driving two hours out of the way and they'd invited him to stay for breakfast. He was intending to stay for a while anyway but it was the thought that counted. "Well, I guess we are blackmailing them with video evidence of all their crimes, but I think their actions speak for themselves, right Luke?"he asked the younger boy.<p>

"Um..dunno." Luke said with a shrug. He looked down at his plate as he said it, either unconcerned or embarrassed, Jack couldn't tell.

"You don't think they deserve to be punished?" Jack questioned, a bit annoyed that he'd think something like that.

"No, I mean I don't know what they did." Luke admitted.

"What? Everyone knows what they did." Jack scoffed.

"Luke, why don't you go see if Rani's awake yet? I know you wanted to go to the cinema today." Sarah Jane suggested, placing her hand lightly on his back.

"Right." Luke smiled at her, appreciating the out. Luke grabbed his jacket and was out the door before Jack could say anything else.

"Sarah Jane, he's got to be messing with me. Everyone on Earth knows what happened with the 456 and the officials." Jack looked between where the boy had gone and where Sarah Jane now sat, having stolen his seat.

"Then it stands to reason that Luke wasn't on Earth." Sarah Jane said softly.

"What?" Jack whispered his question harshly.

"It hasn't happened yet, so we're not supposed to speak of it. Not until we've been told it's happened." Sarah Jane spoke hesitantly, choosing her words carefully. "The 456...they affected children. Luke's only two and his brain is..unique. About three in the morning on September 6th there was a very familiar invasion of my attic. He told me to get Luke, to grab enough gear to last a week and that I couldn't ask why." She explained.

"Sarah Jane?"Jack asked concerned.

Sarah Jane brushed off Jack's concern with a smile. "He said that if I loved my son I couldn't ask why and I had to trust him. He swore he'd 'Have Luke back no later than 11:59pm the 10th of September, 2009 even if I have to blow up a sun to manage it'. I trusted him, let Luke go with him and about five hours later every child in the world stopped..."she continued.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>Jack lay back, fingers laced under his head just staring at the ceiling.<p>

The Doctor, a future version of him, had saved Luke. He'd saved a few dozen children, actually, all relatives of his companions.

Jack had tried to be bitter about that, but it hadn't lasted five minutes. The Doctor who'd done it had future knowledge. He'd know Steven didn't survive and couldn't save him.

Jack sighed and rolled over onto his stomach, willing himself to sleep.

He was on a spaceship with a Time Lord, two dating humans, one small child and a Uval. It sounded like the punch line to a very bad joke.

God only knew what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>We're early. <em>That we are...and over how many words you normally let me write...woo hoo and I'm gambling. This night couldn't get any better. Oh and for those wondering about Jack / Sarah Jane: It won't be a HUGE part of the story, after all the story focuses on Amy and the Doctor, but it will be mentioned on occasion. _It was mentioned as far back as chapter 37 in fact. _Yup. Anyway, since I know some won't want to read their backstory when it's finished I'll post it in 'Expanding the Universe'. _Enjoy!]_  
><strong>


	78. Self defense, Scheduels and Sightings

Tish thought she'd had everything figured out. She'd been Amelia's nanny for close to a year, and had been through so many adventures, she didn't think anything could surprise her. Jack's arrival shook that theory, but only for a little bit. Within weeks of his arrival she'd adjusted her strategy and began making plans for everything to go smoothly in all of their lives.

The Doctor getting them into prison on some alien planet, no problem; she wore bobby pins and carried a handcuff key attached to her key ring.

Jack flirting with Rory or making innuendo about Sarah Jane and getting hurt by an irate husband, easy enough; she just applied ice and gave him an hour long lecture.

Amy getting her feelings hurt by a random alien, simple as pie; take her aside for some drawing, ice cream and play time.

Rory getting annoyed at Jack, ok that one was usually the easiest of all; really just a kiss made that better.

But there were some incidents that even she couldn't plan for or didn't know how to solve. She'd ended up calling her mother quite a few times, most recently the day they made breakfast before she got up.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Two Days Ago TARDIS Kitchen<br>**_

* * *

><p>Tish walked into the kitchen and blinked repeatedly looking around, not quite believing what she saw. The kitchen she had seen just the night before had been tidy, last night; you could see the nice countertops, and flooring and even the walls, now it looked like the room was filled with white soot, or sand.<p>

Everywhere she looked was white, with splashes of colour in whatever the people in the kitchen had been cooking splashed around, blinking repeatedly she exited the room and re-entered hoping for a different view that never appeared. No matter how many times she blinked or left the sight of the kitchen would not go away.

Amy sat on the floor, eyes shut and covered in flour obviously trying not to laugh. The Doctor stood furiously stirring a bowl that held a sickly green substance while wearing everything but his trousers. How he got them off over his boots she had no idea.

Rory was cooking something on the stove top and Tish had to wonder if he knew he was partially covered in something pink, he certainly didn't act like it.

Yumo was hiding under the table out of the 'danger zone'.

Jack sat on the counter eating frosting from a can with a spoon and giving the Doctor tips on his baking skills, covered in the white substance, and looking like a ghost.

"Hi!" He waved a frosting covered spoon at her happily in greeting.

Tish stared at them for a moment. "I'm going back to bed." She said tiredly shaking her head and walking out again going to find her cell phone.

Jack was a big help, most times...when he felt like helping. Other times he liked causing chaos, just like all the others, and given who he was mostly hanging around with, his brand of chaos often went unchecked.

He did seem to like helping out with the school work some days, which really did help as she had little idea of Galactic history, language, and the like, but she'd noticed that he had definitely influenced them his own way. She remembered one particular time she was in the library overhearing one of the lessons.

* * *

><p><em><strong>TARDIS Library<strong>_

* * *

><p>"What are we working on today?" Jack asked Amy. He plopped down cross-legged on the library floor next to Amy's 'school station'.<p>

"The Doctor thinks I should work on 'constructing bigger sentences'." Amy told him, showing him her work book that held larger spaced lines for people learning to write.

"Easy enough" Jack exclaimed as he started to write out the alphabet at the top of her notebook paper then paused and yelled up past the D section of the library where she was reading, "Hey, Doctor!" his voice echoed up into the library.

"What?" the Doctor yelled back, his voice seeming to come from the M section above and everywhere at once at the same time.

"Which language are we teaching her?" Jack had to laugh as Amy giggled.

"21st century English" The Doctor yelled back.

"Right, 21St century English. That's not hard." Jack rubbed his hands together. "Very interesting in fact..." he began a smirk growing on his face.

"Nothing bad!" the Doctor yelled down and Jack could see him leaning over the railing a few stories up looking at him.

"Yeah, yeah...Prissy Time Lords with their excellent hearing" Jack grumbled.

"I heard that!" The Doctor yelled again, having disappeared back into the library.

"I know you did." Jack muttered and winked at Amy.

* * *

><p>A routine was formed after Jack sat down with Tish and the Doctor explaining that he had to go back to Torchwood and would love to travel, and even getting Tish some time to spend with her family. It was a confusing system, but worked once they got into the pattern.<p>

Jack was dropped off at Torchwood on Monday, spent a week at Torchwood, and was picked back up on Friday for him and about an hour after they dropped him off, from the Doctor and Amy's point of view.

Tish was dropped off at her apartment on Friday and picked up Sunday with the exact same time passing for the Doctor and Amy.

Rory got dropped off on Tuesday night and picked up on the following Tuesday, but for the Doctor and Amy only two days had passed. She felt sorry for him, his days off were Monday and Tuesday, but he had classes those mornings so he never really got a break. At least he got to study uninterrupted for hours on the TARDIS when things were calm.

Once they had the pattern set it worked just fine; that is until they got into trouble. It really wasn't Jack's fault they'd gotten arrested and nearly sacrificed on a planet in the Allison Galaxy...Well, it sort of was, he had hit on the Head Priest and he may have touched her inappropriately, but it had been the Doctor hitting Jack hard across the back of his head with their version of a bible that had got them in trouble.

It had something to do with 'sacrilege' and 'profanity' or at least that's what she could pick up from the ranting priest.

It wasn't bad having Jack around though, really. Sure he taught Amy some words they weren't sure she should know, he used her to hit on people – though his heart never seemed fully in it – and thought that getting her wound up with sugar was entertaining, but he also liked helping with school. Even if he'd added his own 'courses' once he realized they didn't do PE.

* * *

><p><em><strong>TARDIS gym<strong>_

* * *

><p>"There's one thing you should always remember about fighting." Jack said calmly, crouching in the centre of the mat to talk with Amy at eye level. Today's PE curriculum was 'self-defence' which seemed to be mostly a bastardized form of karate meet street fighting. The TARDIS had even constructed a room for them with padded floors and walls that were padded up to about 5ft above the ground.<p>

Of course everyone had gone in with the two, just to watch and because they themselves were bored.

"Always fight fairly?" Amy suggested, unsure really on what to say as she knelt on the ground.

"No!" Jack looked horrified and looked to the side of the mat where the Doctor and Tish sat playing cat's cradle while Rory studied for an upcoming test, books all around him. "What the hell have you been teaching her?" he asked frowning.

"Not to fight." Tish replied, moving her fingers to let the Doctor go.

"Fighting isn't fair." the Doctor said, studying the yarn to try and remember his next move.

"Right...Amy, NEVER fight fair. Fighting fair means you have equal opportunity for pain on either side. Don't let that happen! Always go for the sensitive areas. Nurse boy! Here." Jack stood up and indicated Rory come stand by him and act as a dummy.

"Not helping you out by volunteering myself for pain." Rory said, not looking up from his book. He bit his lip and jotted something down on his notebook.

"It's for a good cause." Jack whined.

"Not even," Rory replied, "but if you get hurt I need the practice."

* * *

><p>Tish stretched, hearing giggling and a yelp from somewhere in the TARDIS, that broke her from her thoughts, sitting up she frowned giving up on resting any longer. If there was this much giggling, then chaos was only a few steps away. She really needed to insist on that one minute giggle rule…<p>

* * *

><p>In another part of the TARDIS Jack woke with a snort and looked around, finding himself much higher above the ground then he'd been before. Not just higher up, but under pink sheets and a white comforter with...He looked at the stuffed rabbit he'd been snuggling in confusion.<p>

"Knew you were childish and belonged in a pride parade, but I never expected you to prove it beyond doubt!" Rory laughed, looking up at him.

Oh...Right, Amelia's top bunk. Jack rubbed sleep from his eyes and wiggled out of the covers. "Hey, she told me to sleep here!" he insisted grumbling.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Last Night<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Hey, how come you're awake?" Jack asked with surprise as Amy entered the kitchen. He'd been sitting at the table nursing the strongest drink the TARDIS would let him get – sadly that amounted to tea with the bag still in it. The other 'adults' had all gone off to bed a few minutes ago with the Doctor muttering something about 'robots' and 'horses' that Jack was frankly afraid to ask more details on.<p>

"Bad dream." Amy admitted, arms crossed somewhat against the air that was cooler than it had been under the covers.

"I'm sorry." Jack said, "Do you want some milk or something?" he tried to remember what he'd done for his kids at this age, but by age eight most his kids had been taken by their mothers due to their father being a 'freak'.

"No, that's alright but thank you." Amy smiled lightly, "I'll be okay..." she yawned but looked like something was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked.

Amy looked anxious as if deciding something and shifted her weight on her feet. "I don't blame you." She blurted out after a moment or two and looked a bit afraid.

"Blame me?" Jack asked puzzled. What had he done she'd know about? She'd been in bed when they were talking, hadn't she?

"Uh huh." Amy bit her lip and nodded, obviously throwing caution to the wind to continue. "You had to save people. Just a few children for lots of lives." Amy said, "I heard them. I wasn't supposed to, but I woke up. I don't blame you. No one misses us," she said sadly.

"'Us'?" Jack's voice nearly cracked, his hands clenching around his mug of tea.

"Scottish Orphans. No one misses us." She waved a hand to indicate herself. "You saved lives, that's what matters." She whispered smiling sadly at him.

Jack felt his heart squeeze. Oh God... He scooted his chair back, closed the small distance between them and caught her in a tight hug. "No one's expendable, Amelia Pond. Everyone is missed no matter how small they might seem." Amy hugged him back clearly a bit baffled by his words, she was just telling the truth. Sometimes when Scottish orphans got taken away they got new, better homes. When he pulled away he had tears in his eyes. "Remember that, no one is ever NOT important." he said hugging her tightly again.

"Okay." Amy said hugging him back.

Jack inhaled deeply, "Now, I think we should get you back to bed. It's late...probably." he said hugging the girl.

"What if I have another bad dream?" Amy looked embarrassed after she asked it.

Jack thought it over, Tish was asleep by now, Rory too and the Doctor...well... "I'll make sure there are no monsters for you." Jack said trying to look like his normal roguish self.

"Okay." Amy held his hand and let him walk her back to her room.

One tuck in and a check under the bed later Jack found himself telling her a bedtime story.

"Still to this day I don't know how she managed it," Jack spoke quietly, aware Amy was finally starting to doze off again, but finishing his story. "But somehow Rose managed to stop the attempt to sacrifice me as a 'pagan', put out the fire and calm the angry head alien all in the time it took me to put the flames on my trousers out and the Doctor to get unstuck from the wall." Jack smiled, "That might be why she set my trousers on fire in the first place." He said smirking at the little girl causing Amy to giggle.

"Night, Amy." Jack whispered tucking her in.

"Night, Captain. You can sleep in here if you want. There's another bed." She told him sleepily.

"So I can keep away your monsters?" He teased.

"Dygan does that." Amy showed him the creature smiling and Jack's heart squeezed again.

He contemplated climbing onto the top bunk to humour her and felt warm air swirling and pushing him at the bunks. Approval from the TARDIS? Ah hell, why not? He was tired anyway.

* * *

><p>"That doesn't account for the bunny snuggling." Rory said mockingly, obviously entertained by this.<br>Jack shrugged and wiggled out from under the covers, taking the time to tuck the bunny in as he sat legs propped up over the guard rail. "That one I have no explanation for."

"Don't-" Rory cut off his protest and just shook his head when Jack launched himself over the railing, landing with a solid thump on the floor. "You're a horrible influence."

Jack looked at Amy who was giggling on her bed then at Rory with incredulity. "She lives in a sentient spaceship with an alien who travels in time, who also kidnapped her and you, and **I'm **the bad influence?" Jack asked shaking his head.

"Yes." Rory and Amy echoed each other.

* * *

><p>–<p>

* * *

><p>"Amy, what happened to your face?" the Doctor questioned once she entered the console room. They were getting ready to drop Rory off so he was going to let Amy 'help' fly.<p>

Jack wasn't sure exactly what Amy was dressed for; frankly he thought she looked like she'd dove head first into a boot cupboard. A pair of worn blue jeans were quiet 'nicely' paired with an emerald green knee-high skirt over top, tucked into a pair of bright red wellies; her shirt was bright red Hawaiian print with a yellow shirt underneath; Jack honestly had no idea with the orange braces were for but he had to commend her for matching them nicely with the orange wristwatch and barrettes in her hair.

Amy reached up and brushed her cheek where a faint bruise had formed. "I opened my wardrobe door and forgot it was open when I moved." She said frowning.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "You humans are too clumsy." He teased.

Amy stuck her tongue out at him, "First time I've done this!" she insisted staring at him.

"First time for you." the Doctor agreed, "Not the first time overall, right Jack?" he said smirking.

Jack crossed his arms and scuffed his boot on the glass floor. "I hit the top of my head, thanks." Jack sniped back.

"Still clumsy," The Doctor said firmly.

Tish and Rory came in holding hands while the Doctor was still laughing. Rory looked between them all, bag slung over his shoulder. "Should I ask?" Tish asked.

"No." Jack replied.

Tish's eyes widened when she saw Amy's face but she didn't question it right away.

Once Rory was dropped off, with minimal complications, the Doctor clapped his hands. "Next up, Jack!" he said happily.

"No!" Tish said quickly. "You can't go yet." She said firmly.

"Why?" Jack looked confused. "You falling for me now?" he asked ignoring the glare from the Doctor.

"Not even. Just, wait here!" Tish told them, disappearing back into the TARDIS corridors.

"Did we finally drive her round the bend?" Jack questioned the Doctor.

"Maybe." the Doctor watched the direction Tish had gone in.

She returned a minute later, a bit out of breath and a book clutched in her arms. "Anyone up for some fun?" she asked turning the book so the Doctor could see the title.

"Huh?" the Doctor looked confused. His eyes lit up as he recognized the book. "Thought I wasn't allowed to see that?" he asked her nearly drooling at the thought.

"We're making an exception today." Tish told him as she flipped it open to a particular page she'd gone searching for.

The Doctor looked at it in awe then back up at Amy. The photo was blurry and a bit dark but there was no doubt it was his Amelia. "Tish...?" he asked looking between her and the book.

"It gets better." Tish told him, flipping the page. There were several photos on the page and in each one she had the same mark on her face, but that wasn't all that was in them.

"What's up?" Jack asked, standing on tiptoes looking over to try and see.

"Jack, we're going to cut and dye your hair." the Doctor said slowly, eyes glinting with mischief.

Jack rubbed a hand through his hair with a perplexed look, "Why?" he asked confused.

"Today we make history!" The Doctor said laughing.

"We're gonna prank England." Tish said with a smile towards Amy. "Well, prank the reporters at least. Amy, how would you like to spend a few hours messing with people's heads by getting your photo taken and playing dress up?" she asked smiling at the little girl.

It was a question she never really had to ask.

* * *

><p><em>In the years since Amelia disappeared there have been dozens of supposed sightings. While all were followed up on, very few were proved to be anything other than a hoax or mistaken identity. But hidden inside those accounts are a few that cannot be disproved completely. Often referred to as 'true sightings', the ones that have photographic evidence that cannot be shown to be false aren't entirely believed. The photos are often blurry, dark or concealed in some way, as if the subjects are trying to hide from the cameras.<em>

_Almost a year to the day after Amelia's disappearance an American teenager, visiting London on a school field trip, snuck away with a classmate on their own to 'explore'. They were away for most of the day before realizing they were lost and it was getting dark. While wandering trying to find a way back to their group the two ran into a little girl._

excerpt from: "_Where's Amelia: The Girl__ Who Disappeared"__. __Chapter 6: Sightings_

-  
>"Face it, Dyrek, we're lost." Tom complained, spinning slightly in a circle on yet another corner. Every street looked the same to him and he couldn't remember what street they were supposed to be on.<p>

"We're not lost." Dyrek replied stubbornly. "We're strategically placing ourselves in such a way that we can heroically charge in to our rooms and not be seen because it's dark." He said calmly.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Tom nearly shouted.

"Yeah? Well...your face doesn't make sense!" Dyrek snapped back.

"Excuse me?" a voice said from the shadows startling the two.

Both turned to see a little girl watching them. They both boggled at her clothing, it distracting them from her face temporarily. She honestly looked like an 80's music video reject.

"Yeah?" Dyrek asked.

"Are you two lost?" she asked them sympathetically.

"No-" Dyrek said.

"Yes." Tom interrupted his friend. "Very. We're trying to find our way back to the hotel we're staying at but we're all turned around." Something about her was familiar, but he couldn't place it.

She listened, nodding now and then, as they described where they were staying apparently recognizing it. "You can get there on the Underground." she told them easily. "Round the corner, you've just got to wait for a bit probably. There'll be maps you can look at." She said helpfully smiling innocently at them.

"Did she look familiar to you?" Tom asked Dyrek quietly as they walked away after thanking her.

"A bit." Dyrek frowned, not sure why. "Weird..." he said thoughtfully.

Three more steps and they found exactly where she was from. On the ground was a newspaper, her face directly on the front of it.

"No fucking way." Dyrek blurted out upon seeing it.

"No..." Tom turned around, running back the way he had come. "Hey, you!" he yelled seeing the little girl, still there but now with someone else standing by her. A tall, muscular man with short messy brown hair clad in ripped jeans, tennies and a red football jersey with white on it.

The girl turned towards them only to have the man grab her hand and lifted her up into his before starting to walk away.

"Do something!" Tom hissed.

Dyrek fumbled in his pockets before producing a disposable camera with only two photos left on it. He quickly snapped both as the two disappeared.

"What do we do?" Tom asked.

"Find some cops?" Dyrek offered, unsure himself.

* * *

><p>Jack laughed, running his hands over his shorn hair. "Best day in months." He said still laughing.<p>

They'd changed clothes eight times each, he'd gotten five haircuts, dyed his hair twice and added a few 'nicks' from razor cuts on his face, gave him a fake tan and overall screwed with his appearance. A small perception filter kept their faces from being completely clear in all the photographs even.

"That was fun." Amy giggled, brushing strands of tinsel out of her hair. They weren't all photos from one day, though they were, they went through and did several months' worth of sightings at once.

"I guarantee next week's gonna be more fun though." Jack said happily.

"Why?" the Doctor asked.

"You don't know?" Jack blinked in surprise.

"No...What's next week?" The Doctor asked genuinely confused.

"You honestly don't...really?" Jack asked nearly bouncing.

"What's next week?" Tish repeated the Doctor's question.

"It's Christmas!" Jack declared.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Nearly didn't get a chapter this week. <em>Yeah, but since you got a long chapter last week we figured a short chapter this week would be okay. Blame her this time. <em>I didn't feel like writing, too many bad things going on! (We'll be good though) _And next week is Christmas! Yay, I love Christmas. I wish it really was - _Oh, crap. She just took 'Jinglebells' off her phone as her ringtone...Damn it.]**


	79. Sweets, Churches and Flirting

Christmas could be a very scary time of year around the Doctor, Amy had decided after the fifth hour of Jack singing carols and the fourth batch of burned beyond belief biscuits. Tish and Rory were out 'Christmas Shopping'. Jack and the Doctor were decorating the library and sitting room unsupervised. She was old enough now to know this was a bad idea on a normal day, but it was Christmas!

So far they hadn't done anything to outlandish but the sitting room was covered in lights with a giant tree in the corner.

"Amant krisla, rayjah Noél, virgo en nadó dormir sisse hemels heiwa." Jack sang loudly as he put up yet more lights. Every once in a while the Doctor would throw something at Jack and tell him to behave, to which Jack would yell back that the Doctor was stifling his creativity and being rude to his culture.

They'd go quiet then it'd repeat again. Amy wasn't sure she wanted to know what Jack was singing if the TARDIS wasn't translating it fully, not that it was anyway, it seemed to be translating less for her in an attempt to get her to learn the languages herself. Probably cause Tish asked it too as part of her lessons.  
>Her thoughts were interrupted as a loud voice echoed in the room. "Ha! I did it!" the Doctor proclaimed happily, dashing into the room with a tray.<p>

"Did what?" Jack asked, looking back down off his stepladder.

"Didn't burn them!" the Doctor's face shown with pride as he offered them both lumpy misshapen white biscuit. Jack took one, took a large bite and immediately made a face. Amy took a bite and nearly gagged. Too salty, too much of something moist and the texture was like breadcrumbs.

"What kind are they?" she asked, trying hard to swallow it.

"Fish Custard!" he nearly bounced with happiness. "I puréed them both into the dough to make the perfect biscuit. What do you think?" He picked one off the tray himself and took a large bite, "I love 'em!" he said popping the rest into his mouth.

Amy swallowed, wished desperately for a glass of milk and smiled, "Fantastic, dad." She choked out.

"Super." Jack agreed, still chewing and trying to find a way to discreetly spit it out. The moment the Doctor's back was turned he leaned over and spat the whole mess into the fire where it sizzled and popped. He looked down at what was left of his biscuit and chucked it in as well.

Amy looked with horror at her own biscuit then back up at her dad who'd now placed the tray on the table and sat down on the couch. She couldn't chuck it away, it'd hurt his feelings, so instead she took another bite and forced herself to chew and swallow it without making any faces. It was a herculean task but she managed it.

"Want another?" he offered with a giant grin as she finished her biscuit finally.

"No!" she barely managed to keep from yelling it as Jack snorted. "I mean, you eat them. I wanna try and make some myself!" she said quickly as she headed towards the door.

The Doctor nodded in understanding. "Everything's within reach, cereal's in the cupboard and the custard's in the fridge. Careful with the stove." He said cheerily popping another biscuit into his mouth.

Amy nearly gagged again as she practically fled the room desperately in need of some milk or a toothbrush.

* * *

><p>-Rory and Tish-<p>

* * *

><p>"Any ideas on what you're getting for your sisters?" Tish asked as they browsed the aisles of the toy store, cart already filled to burst with toys and art supplies.<p>

"Nothing too expensive, Er, not that I don't want to spoil them with some big toy." He said quickly. "It's just...I'm supposed to be living on a tight income at best and couldn't explain away any extra cash I had." Rory said sheepishly.

"I understand." Tish nodded. She'd have offered Rory some of her own cash, it wasn't like she was exactly hurting for money after her own salary she'd gathered for years and 'compensation' from the Government – in actuality it was hush money to keep what really went down with Saxon and the president a secret – but she knew he'd turn it down. "Something inexpensive, but nice, something girls would like." she mused. "What's their take on dolls?" she asked her boyfriend.

Rory paused to think about it. His sisters were a bit younger than him, making him realize exactly how hard Rhys had worked to make sure they had fun games when he was little, the first being born when he was thirteen and the second born when he was fifteen. Plus they were girls that meant he didn't know exactly what they liked. Really, he'd never done girl things; Amelia had liked playing adventure, tag and 'camp outs' and Mels was as big a tomboy as it was possible to be, preferring football, action films, bike riding and tag over anything even remotely related to 'girl'.

"Um, Charlie isn't a fan any more I don't think." He said thinking back to the girls last birthday where a distant aunt had gotten the girl a baby doll, which within an hour had been abandoned outside during a rainstorm not to be noticed until the next day.

"She's the elder one, right?" Tish confirmed.

"Yeah." Rory nodded. "I think she's moved onto 'big girl' things like bikes and barbies over real dolls. Hannah..." He smiled knowing his mother would chastise him for using their nicknames and not 'Charlotte' and 'Hannalore'., "Yeah, she might still like them. She's little enough I think teddy bears and baby dolls are still 'in'." he said again thinking how Hannah had been so upset about the dolly left in the rain her mom had to take emergency measures to fix it.

Tish smiled, Rory always got this goofy proud look the few times she'd seen him talk about his sisters. "Good." Tish said, "we can pick up just about everything here then. Want them to gift wrap it or are you going to do it yourself?" Tish asked him smiling.

"Do it myself!" Rory exclaimed, insulted by the idea someone else would wrap his gifts for his family. He stopped halfway up the next isle, evil look on his face even as he grinned.

"What?" Tish followed his gaze and landed on the wall full of nerf guns and Super soakers. "Oh no...Rory." As he rubbed his hands together, with a look that frankly scared her a bit, her mobile went off, making itself known.

_'Trust me, Trust me, I'm a Doctor!' _it sang cheerfully and she nearly groaned, that only went off with text messages. Normal phone calls had a standard ring thanks to her trying to be discrete around her family so when she flipped it open she found a text message waiting for her.

Once again she groaned both at Rory who'd disappeared back down the aisles for another cart and at the message.

_'Gone running errands. Jack stops: 2012 'The Burning Jugular' for coat, Scotland 1520 for Claymores and Kilts, 2100 for martial arts things and 5145 for 'Christmas goodies'. Be back by dinner. Will bring!'_

* * *

><p><strong>-2012: The Burning Jugular-<strong>

* * *

><p>Jack jogged through the dirty hallways in search of the right door. According to the bartender he'd been sleeping in room 13.<p>

He didn't have a key, but that wasn't a big deal with a flimsy door. With a grin he brought his foot up and into the door just underneath the handle to send it flying open with a thud. His grin faded and he wrinkled his nose at the stench of the room. When he was drunk out of his mind the smell of sick, sweat and stale booze didn't bug him now however...

Jack lifted his arm to shield his face, covering it with part of his new coat, a lovely replacement from Gwen. Mostly empty room, he hadn't had much but there resting against part of what looked to have been a chair at one point in time was his coat.

He tugged it into his arms and nearly hugged it.

"Please, please, please." he whispered as he dug into the pockets, searching desperately. "YES!" he shouted with joy as his fingers found the semi laminated card he'd searched for.

It was white and pink and about the size of a normal postcard with one photo on top and one on bottom.

_"It's a girl!" _The card exclaimed in fancy pale pink and white lettering._  
><em>

The top photo showed a very tiny baby with dark curls in a white dress, snoozing peacefully on her stomach, facing the camera. The bottom photo showed her cuddled in Gwen's arms, Rhys sitting next to them with one arm around Gwen's back and one hand resting over her hand on the baby's stomach.

He flipped it over and let his fingers trace the tiny pink footprint that had been inked on next to Gwen's handwriting. _"Please come home soon, Jack, she wants to meet her Godfather."  
><em>

With a smile he flipped it back over. "Soon." he promised himself, speaking to the photo as if it could hear him. Jack tucked it into the inside breast pocket of his new coat and tossed his old coat over his shoulder, mentally noting it needed washed...bad!

* * *

><p><strong>-<em>Scotland 1520-<em>**

* * *

><p>"Are they going to kill him?" Amy asked the Doctor quietly as Jack and another man yelled angrily back and forth, gesturing wildly.<p>

"Huh?" the Doctor looked confused. "Why?" he asked looking down at her.

"They're being loud and look mean." She said quietly looking at them.

"They're Scottish." the Doctor said simply.

"What's that mean?" Amy asked, unsure if she should feel insulted or not.

"That they're Scottish." he repeated.

Jack jogged up a few minutes later, something long wrapped in cloth held over his shoulder and a bag tucked under his arm. "So, what's up?" he said smiling at them.

"Why were you fighting?" Amy asked worriedly.

"We weren't fighting." Jack told her.

"I told her that." the Doctor said.

"You were being loud and mean! So was he, so you had to be angry and fighting." Amy said looking confused.

Jack looked at the Doctor seriously, "You've been neglecting her Scottish heritage you damn pacifist!" he grumbled angrily, causing Amy to look at him curiously and a bit worriedly.

"What's that mean?" she asked looking between the two of them

"It means we're going to add a new class to your curriculum; Scotland 101 with Professor Harkness. First lesson: yelling angrily for no reason." Jack said smiling at her.

* * *

><p><strong>-2100 for martial arts things-<strong>

* * *

><p>"Come on," Jack wheedled, "Head gear can't be that expensive." He continued staring at the clerk.<p>

Martial arts might have been a bit too 'structured' when it came to Jack's plans and this shop might not have been the best place to go to.

Sure it was filled with the best equipment and with experts to sell but it was also filled with ALL the equipment you might need.

The Doctor got kicked out and had to go stand outside with Amy after he nearly knocked himself out with a pair of numchucks two minutes into the visit.

"It is if you want the best." the sales woman, a cheerful looking woman in her early thirties, replied with a flip of her blue hair. "And we only carry the best." She said smugly.

"Even for someone as handsome as me?" Jack gave her a dashing smile.

She rolled her eyes, "Sorry, pretty boy, I'm taken." She said shaking her head, "Are you going to purchase something or not?" She asked.

Jack sighed, "It was worth a try. Okay, I need a full set of pads, age 8-10 for a girl. One set size..." Jack thought it over for a moment trying to figure it out, "Er, adult female. Two sets for a young adult male and then one set for a strapping man like me." He said smiling, flirting with her once again.

"Keep it up," the woman said, still cheerful as she typed into her palm computer to bring it up on inventory, "and I'll make sure the one for you is pink."

"Hey-" Jack complained.

"With flowers." She said evilly.

Jack sulked slightly but went silent. Who knew having a girlfriend could dull your flirting for savings tactics? "Oh, hey!" he brightened up, "I also need a couple of practice swords and...Ooh, have you got any of those ninja throwing stars still? I'm generally not allowed to play with them after a small incident but..." he cleared his throat as the saleswoman raised an eyebrow, just watching him talk. "Yeah. Just those things." He sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>-5145 for 'Christmas goodies'-<strong>

* * *

><p>Jack lit up with glee as he looked around the shop. Amy and the Doctor's eyes were wide as well. It was a small shop, by local standards, and a bit old as well but it was the same as Jack remembered it.<p>

Large shelves carved from peach coloured stone lined the walls and stood apart in the aisle. Each one was covered with different jars filled with dozens of assorted bright coloured sweets, large display boxes full of at least twenty varieties of chocolate bars, shiny wrapped orbs that looked like crystal balls that he knew from personal experience to be hard cookie coating a soft fruit cream centre, hard candy sculptures of nut crackers, Christmas trees and teddy bears and Taffy so sticky he'd nearly lost a tooth one year.

"Wow." Amy and the Doctor both breathed out in awe, looking around.

"Yeah." Jack agreed with a grin. "Come on though, this way. Leave that stuff for last, you'll want to see this." He said excitedly.

He wound his way through the shelves to the back of the store where they gave way to a more open space. Jack crossed the hardwood floors and gestured the other two closer to look inside the glass display cases that walled off a section of the store about twenty feet by ten feet as the person on the other side watched them with a bright smile.

If the front of the shop looked amazing then this was overwhelming. Amy couldn't even count all the different types of cakes, biscuits and other treats that lined the inside of the cases in two rows.

"We may be doing Christmas your way this year." the Doctor told Jack, his face pressed next to the glass as he tried not to drool over the idea of orange fudge.

Jack finally managed to haul them out of the store once they'd bought a dozen of almost every sweet and more than their share of the items in the glass cases.

The exchange rate was a bit off, but Jack was certain he'd spent at least £800 on everything all together. It was worth it though as for the first time in nearly two hundred years he got the Christmas treats he'd had as a child.

* * *

><p><em><strong>-Later-<strong>_

* * *

><p>"What about religion?" Jack questioned as the group discussed Christmas that night, surrounded by hundreds of presents they were wrapping for various people.<p>

"What about it?" the Doctor asked, clearly not interested as he slapped a bow on top of Rory's head.

"Well, humans tend to believe that Christmas is a time to 'celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our saviour'." Jack elaborated.

The Doctor went quiet, concentrating on getting tape off his fingers.

"You're not going to contradict him?" Tish said, amused.

"There is a rule that was drummed into me – or maybe pounded – that states I am not allowed to prove or disprove any religions." the Doctor said seriously. Then he shrugged and smiled again. "Anyway I didn't know you were religious." He said looking at her.

Tish shrugged, "I went to church when I could. We always went to church on Easter and Christmas." She said smiling.

"I'm a Lapsed Catholic." Jack said with a voice that was way too serious.

Tish sent him an incredulous look.

"Hey, I said Lapsed." Jack stuck his tongue out at her. "How about you, Rory?" he asked looking over at the younger man.

"Hmm." Rory looked over at Jack, bow swinging slightly as he did. "I'm not religious in the least. Don't really believe in anything. Step-dad's not religious really, Grandparents and dad are though. Had bible verses quoted at me quite often when I was younger." He said smiling at the memory.

"Aww, c'mon say it right!" Jack nearly whined at Rory.

"Huh?" Rory looked confused. He looked over at Tish for a 'translation' but she shrugged.

"It's not Dad, Welsh-boy." Jack corrected him with a grin, "Say it right." Jack continued poking him.

Rory flushed crimson, "I'm not Welsh!" he grumbled.

"Are too. You're Rhys' baby brother and that makes you part Welsh. I did some digging last time and I know for a fact you said 'Tada' when you were little." Jack goaded him. "So say it right." He teased.

"It's 'Dad'." Rory said tersely.

* * *

><p>"I come bearing a peace offering!" Jack said, hands held up in front of him as he entered Rory's room.<p>

Cosy was the only word that really came to Jack's mind when he saw it. Dark blue bead spread, perfectly made with no wrinkles, tucked over a queen sized bed; dresser with a few items on top but mostly clear with the drawers tucked in; slippers sitting just under the edge of the bed, bathrobe hung up on a hook. Jack would be that his bathroom was just as neat and tidy.

"Go away." Rory muttered, clearly still annoyed.

"Okay, so I crossed a line." Jack admitted, "My bad. But in my defense you are technically—ah..." he cleared his throat at Rory's glare. "What I mean to say is...if I show you something you shouldn't see will you forgive me?" he asked as Rory winced. "Not like that!" Jack said quickly, "Besides I'm not allowed to flirt with you. Sarah Jane'd kill me." He said honestly.

"For flirting?" Rory asked thinking about his time with Jack and not connecting that with any sort of order to **not** flirt.

"Eh," Jack waved his hand, "Flirting is fine with no intent, it's the flirting with **you** bit that would get me in hot water." He said looking at Rory pointedly.

"What do you want to show me?" Rory asked, zipping up his bag. The Doctor was going to drop him off at his flat, like always, but from there he was going with Mels to Leadworth for Christmas.

Jack dug into his pocket and pulled out the birth announcement he held so dear. He'd wrapped paper around the part of it that held writing and taped it down gently, both front and back, but left the photos and footprint unobstructed. "No reading and no moving the paper but look." He said quietly.

Rory moved to see what Jack was holding and stopped breathing for a moment. "That's...?" Rory asked not believing what he was seeing.

"Your baby niece that's currently in her fourth month of gestation up in Cardiff." Jack said with a proud smile.

"You really did come from a bit into the future, didn't you?" Rory asked, tracing the baby's face lightly with his finger, feeling his heart clench as he looked at his brother's smiling face. He hadn't talked to Rhys since before he got married. Any knowledge passed along either way came through their dad.

"This is nothing." Jack scoffed even as he slid it back into his pocket. "Last time I saw her she was just over a year old, yelling, flinging pureed banana and calling me ' 'ap 'ack'." Jack said smiling fondly.

"What's her name?" Rory asked curiously.

"Spoilers." Jack borrowed River's phrase for a moment but he said it nicely with a smile.

"If you were on Earth and you met her, why did you go running again?" Rory asked curiously.

Jack's face flickered with emotion and he lost his smile. "Some very bad things happened and I...I took the cowards way out. Don't worry, Gwen, Rhys and their baby were fine." he hurriedly assured Rory, "But there were others...Spoilers." Jack said again, shaking his head. "Anyway, next stop Church!"

"Oh joy." Rory groaned.

* * *

><p><strong>-Church-<strong>

* * *

><p>"You know, most people's Christmas clothing is fancy like dresses, suits and the like." Tish said, overlooking the group sat in the pew together.<p>

Jack shrugged, looking much like normal other than he'd switched his RAF coat out for a black sport coat covering a white dress shirt and a red tie.

Rory looked distinctly uncomfortable in dress trousers, shiny borrowed shoes and a light blue dress shirt.

The Doctor hadn't dressed any differently than normal but he did switch his bowtie to a festive red with green trees patterned on it.

Amy wore a long green skirt, a bright red dress shirt and her white dress shoes, but what got Tish was the brown and blue swirled tie that the Doctor had been wearing when he'd first found her.

Tish had once again gone conservative with a simple white dress.

"I'm surprised you agreed to come, Mr 'Anti-Religion'." Tish whispered quietly to Rory as the other church goers sang hymns.

"I'm not...I..." Rory nodded, reluctantly agreeing then smiled slyly. "I wanna see it when Jack bursts into flames." He said smirking.

Tish stifled a laugh as Jack shot them a look.

* * *

><p>"Stop watching me like that." Jack hissed at Rory as they walked from the pew towards the exit, "I'm not going to burst into flames." He insisted.<p>

"I'm still waiting on that." Rory replied, watching Jack with interest, well aware of how twitchy it was making Jack. In his experience the longer you watched someone the more weird they acted.

Jack shifted in place, arms crossed as he tried to ignore Rory.

The Doctor had started watching him too by now, clearly just as curious.

"I'm not!" Jack whined, throwing his arms wide in protestation.

"Oh my God, Jack!" Tish yelled as smoke started filling the air and flames leapt up over his shoulder.

With a yelp Jack surged forwards, away from the candles he hadn't noticed before and desperately tore off his coat, slapping at the flames that had made it to his shirt underneath.

"No one says anything." Jack said seriously as he stared at the burn marks on his shirt. "Not one word." He grumbled glaring at Rory.

* * *

><p><strong>-TARDIS-<strong>

* * *

><p>"It's Christmas." Tish said to the Doctor quietly as they waited for everyone to join them in the console room.<p>

"Christmas Eve. Morning at that." the Doctor corrected her, trying to avoid where she was going.

"Bad things happen in London on Christmas." Tish said, "You've already done 2009 once. What do I need to know?" she asked him seriously.

The Doctor thought it over, lying was a bad idea but telling the truth could be worse. "No one dies, well no one human dies." He said quietly.

"That's reassuring but what happens?" Tish asked hoping it was something she could keep her family away from.

"Bad things that no one bar one human will remember." he told her. "Speaking of, you might be getting some phone calls about me from your sister but don't panic because it's not this me that regenerated but the last me that became this me." He said babbling.

"Any tips?" Tish asked pressing for any little detail.

The Doctor nodded, "Do whatever you can to make your family sleep or at least very drowsy for most of Christmas day." He said staring into her eyes seriously, telling her what he could.

"Okay." Tish nodded, trusting him.

The Doctor felt horrible for not telling her everything, but if he did she'd probably have a very hard go of it. Somehow saying _'Yeah, the Master's going to come back to life, turn everyone on Earth into him and try to take over the galaxy' _to a survivor of the Year That Never Was, especially Tish, seemed a bit mean.

It wasn't seconds afterwards that everyone started pouring into the room, Rory's bags joining hers on the floor near the stairs.

"Hey," Tish said quickly, catching everyone's attention. "Drop Rory off at my place too, I have an idea." She said smiling.

The Doctor groaned, Jack whistled and Amy looked confused as Rory blushed.

"Not that you twits." Tish chided them. "I mean I'm going to be at my mum's for Christmas Eve and Christmas day." She said, "And I can always get a ride back to my flat." She said smiling.

"And?" The Doctor asked.

"And that means I'm going to let Rory take my car instead of a bus to Leadworth under the provision that Mels can't drive it. I've heard horror stories about her driving skills." Tish said dangling her keys in front of Rory who grabbed them sheepishly blushing.

* * *

><p><strong>-Christmas Eve; TARDIS-<strong>

* * *

><p>Amy sat quietly in the TARDIS curled up in a chair, quite pensively, in the library as the Doctor gleefully popped bubble wrap on the floor trying to make her smile as Yumo chewed on a bone as large as he was- a gift from Tish. She wanted to, she really did, but she'd gotten used to lots of people and now they were gone. Tish and Rory were on Earth for Christmas with their families; Jack was at his work and with his Girlfriend; the Doctor had told her they COULDN'T go to Earth for Christmas and had babbled on about "Timey Wimey" and "Ball of stuff". Maybe when she was older she'd understand those phrases.<p>

She'd been excited when she first heard about Christmas, she loved Christmas, then everyone had gone away and they were alone on the TARDIS. It didn't even feel like Christmas without her whole family.

Sure they had a tree set up and there were presents underneath it. They'd even spent the last day with Tish on board baking lots of cookies for Father Christmas, but it was still not feeling like Christmas. There didn't seem to be any excitement since the rest of her new family had left, and, they were alone.

It was her first Christmas without Aunt Shannon...there were no smells of things cooking, bar the smoky char from the Doctor's failed noodles, no Christmas carols playing in the background, no random laughter and chatter. They were alone...But they weren't the only ones alone.

"I know that look." the Doctor said abandoning his bubble wrap. "What's wrong?" he said giving up trying to make her smile with his antics.

"It's Christmas and we're alone." Amy said calmly, and in a monotone voice.

"Yes." the Doctor nodded.

"We're not cooking. Aunt Shannon always cooked." Amy said wistfully thinking back on the time before the Doctor.

He frowned, "I made ham sandwiches!" he said trying to distract her.

"Not my point." She frowned as well, "We're alone."

"We've got each other!" the Doctor said sitting beside her.

"Yeah...I know...But we're not the only alone ones." Amy said sadly.

"What's that mean?" He picked her up out of her chair, sat down and pulled her onto his lap again.

"Well, I've got you. Tish and Rory have their families. Jack has his friends, Sarah Jane and Luke..." Amy said starting to babble.

"Yes and...?" the Doctor started.

"River's all alone in prison." Amy had tears shining in her eyes as she looked at the Doctor.

He winced inwardly, he should have known. Amy and River were thick as thieves whenever they got together. Amy idolized the older woman nearly as much as she did Tish.

"Yeah, I know." the Doctor said both wanting and not wanting to know where this was going.

"Well if we go see her we'll be alone together." Amy told him seriously. "And then Father Christmas can come there and we'll share cookies and bring her good food that isn't your cooking or Prison food – Jack said prison food is worse than School food!" Amy nearly pleaded.

The Doctor grumbled, "As long as she doesn't hurt my hat." he placed a hand protectively over the bright green elf hat with little cloth pointed ears on the side.

Amy squeezed him tight in a hug. "Thank you!"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Christmas! Christmas! I like Christmas! <em>God, now she's off. Love Christmas too but I'm the 'give gifts and bake' type. She's the 'oooh shiny, let's blast carols!' type. _The bad part is that you're getting me into the Spirit of Christmas before Halloween! This could be a dangerous thing. _I'm frankly a bit terrified. Anyway, chapter... Jack's carol singing isn't any particular language, it's 'Galactic standard' - _Aka, ten different languages lobbed together under the pretense it sounded neat and alien's wouldn't all know English :P _- I was getting to that. Ahem...Oh, and Church...We couldn't resist, honestly. _Jack set himself on fire, Jack set himself on fire._ Just for that, BONUS! _Wait, thought of something! Before you do the bonus THE PONDS ARE LEAVING! TOMORROW! _Great, now she's crying again...I might have to post something in 'Expanding the Universe' to cheer her up. Note to self: Write something for 'Expanding the Universe' soon.]**

**"What the hell happened to you?" Martha questioned Jack, looking away from her reports as he stalked through their makeshift Warehouse office towards his slightly enclosed space in obviously charred clothing.  
>"I went to church." Jack said tersely, stripping off the shirt and grabbing a new one.<br>Mickey snorted, "****Wait, you went to church and you burst into -"  
>"Don't even say it!" Jack yelled as they laughed loudly.<strong>


	80. Christmas Part One

"Are you sure?" Rory asked for what felt like the hundredth time as they waited outside Tish's flat, her bags near their feet, he'd already put his in the boot of the car.

"Yes!" Tish laughed, "So long as Mels doesn't drive I'm sure." She leaned her head against his shoulder, smiling at the warmth of his arm around her shoulders.

They were waiting outside for Tish's mum to arrive to get her and for Mels to come so Rory could leave as well which meant they were exposed to the cold winter air. Even with coats and beanies they were feeling it.

Rory smiled embarrassedly, "Sorry, just..." he said blushing and avoiding Tish's eyes.

"I know," Tish smiled at him, leaning up to kiss him just to make him smile as well. So awkward when it came to borrowing items or money. Speaking of... "I had an idea earlier, when I was thinking about the car." She said smiling at him softly.

"Oh?" he asked, absently straightening her beanie where it had been moved.

"Mhmm. I'm not here during the week, just on the weekends." She continued a blush forming on her face.

"I know." Rory said confused at her words.

"You're here week round, bar a few hours." Tish added with a bit of a frown.

Rory shook his head, "Yeah. If this is about me being lonely -" he started prepared to say the same things he said to his mom, dad or grandfather when they started on him.

"I want you to move in with me." Tish stated, her words coming out quickly.

"What?" Rory pulled away slightly, looking down at her, his face turning bright red even with the cold. "Tish -" he continued a blush forming on his face as he tried not to avoid her gaze.

"Not like that," she said quickly, blushing a bit herself. "I mean, not yet but...I just...I hate you living where you do. It's not safe by any sense of the word." She said quickly her embarrassment growing.

"I make do." Rory said, secretly a bit relieved. They hadn't been dating more than two months, three at best with time spent in the vortex.

"Yes, but I don't like you staying there. Look, my flat is free during the week. I'm here Friday night through Sunday night and that's it. You have to spend a week on Earth. You'd be doing me a favour anyway." Tish changed tactics, "Who's going to make sure no one breaks in while I'm gone? Who's going to water my plants?" she said growing more confident in the decision as she spoke.

"You don't have plants." Rory laughed.

"I'll get some." Tish brushed it off, laughing as well. "Please, Rory?" she begged.

Rory looked worried, like he was thinking it over. "People would talk." He said looking at her and hoping she wouldn't give in. He hated to receive charity, but the promise of a nice place, and well to be honest occasional great company was almost too good to pass up.

"Who's going to know?" Tish said.

"Your sister would murder me." Rory was rapidly running out of arguments.

"I'll handle her." Tish scoffed.

"I...Only if I sleep on the couch and pay my own shopping." he finally said having run out of ideas completely.

Tish smiled brightly and using the collar of his coat pulled him down into a kiss.

Several minutes later they were interrupted by a very amused female voice.

"God you're gross. Some people have no public decency." The woman said snarkily.

Rory blushed and pulled away from Tish, but kept his right arm around her as he turned to address the new woman. "Didn't I once catch you in a closet at school with your boyfriend?" he said simply turning to her.

The new woman, girl more like, was the same height as Tish with black curls that hung loose around her face and brushed her shoulders. Dark brown eyes gazed curiously at Tish as she absently brushed away a curl that'd fallen across her eyes. Her skin was barely a shade darker than Tish's, something she could only tell because despite the cold weather the girl was lacking gloves, a scarf and any head covering at all in fact the only warm thing she had on was a leather jacket that seemed to be a size or two too big.

"That was inside a closet, not in the open and he was **not** my boyfriend." she scoffed. "Anyway, it's about time!" the girl said leaning on the wall examining them, "Gonna introduce me, lover boy." She continued smirking at Rory's blush.

Rory sighed and shook his head, "Tish meet Melody James, Melody James meet Letitia Jones." He said blushing.

"Call me 'Tish'," Tish said, offering her hand.

"It's 'Mels'," Mels said, shooting an evil look at Rory though she shook Tish's hand.

"It's cold out, how come you're not wearing a coat?" Rory demanded, his embarrassment fading as he talked to her. "And where is your cap? I know full well my Gran made you a knit cap as well last year." He continued as he examined her.

Mels rolled her eyes, "I wasn't exactly planning ahead, you know." She gestured to her backpack, worn and stuffed full of something. "Be happy I remembered to pack essentials. I've been busy." She said simply.

"Busy doing what?" Rory asked suspiciously.

"Working." Mels said with a sneaky smile, avoiding his eyes.

"What's your job?" Tish asked.

"I'm a liberator of shiny objects." Mels smiled brighter this time.

"What?" Tish asked confused.

"She steals and pawns things." Rory elaborated but groaned all the same. "Mels, you're going to end up in prison at this rate!" he berated exasperatedly.

"Doubt it. I'm too smart to be locked up." Mels said petulantly.

"Says the girl on probation." Rory said sighing.

Mels eyes narrowed at Rory, "You know full well that was for auto theft and not 'shiny' thefts. And I'll have you know I haven't pawned anything in over a week!" she complained to him, sounding more and more like the teenager she was.

"How'd you get here?" Tish asked, hoping for a less 'combative' subject even as she tried not to laugh. "Walk?" she continued questioning

"Hell no, it's cold!" Mels protested. "I drove." She inclined her head towards a rundown looking motorbike parked pathetically on the curb.

"Mels..." Rory closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I said no pawning for a week, didn't say I didn't take anything...On that note, can we go before anyone comes looking for me, please?" she begged looking at the two of them.

"Go on." Tish laughed, lightly shoving Rory towards Mels and her car. "Have fun." She said shaking her head.

Rory unlocked it with the button on the keys and looked at Mels, "You're in the passenger seat." He insisted. Mels gave a mock salute and walked over, tossing her bag in the back seat. "And keep your feet off the upholstery, don't mess with anything!" he continued

"Yes, dad!" Mels called back sarcastically.

"Were you that bad at eighteen," Rory asked Tish morosely, "Or am I just a bad influence?"

"I was a holy terror." Tish consoled him. "Braided hair, dark make up, skirts that only came mid thigh...I was horrible. Now, go have fun with your family." she leaned up on tiptoe to kiss him again and once again they were interrupted, this time by a car horn.

"That one would be my ride," Tish said, seeing her mum waving at her. "We've faced down Shades, Energy Entities, Jack Harkness and Amy on sugar. We can do Christmas with relatives, right?" she asked him.

Rory made a noise that clearly questioned their ability to get through while sane. "My mum makes fruitcake." He said in a whisper.

"So?" she questioned.

"I hate fruitcake." Rory shot her a look as she squeezed his hand lovingly. "I have to eat fruitcake." He whined.

"Be brave!" Tish teased him, "I'll be waiting with Tums when you return."

"Hmm." Rory looked near pouting.

"Kisses as well." She said pleadingly.

He perked up at that and smiled, "You're good at bribery, aren't you?" he said pulling her to him.

"Oh, honey, I'm top of the class." She agreed, stealing one more kiss before grabbing her bags and taking off towards her mother's car, well aware of the interrogation that awaited her.

Rory waved meekly at Francine then climbed into the driver's seat of Tish's car.

"Nice job, lover boy." Mels teased him. "You go from prude to Mr. PDA overnight." She said smirking.

"Ah, stuff it." Rory muttered, turning on the heat and the radio to some mindless Christmas music.

"Rory's got a girlfriend, Rory's got a girlfriend." Mels sang as they drove off.

Only Two hours and fifty-eight more minutes of this. Maybe Tish was having more fun?

* * *

><p>–<p>

* * *

><p>"What's new?" Shonara asked as Tish entered the kitchen, red faced and Francine followed with a smile. She'd been working on wrapping candy gift bags for family and friends.<p>

"Tish has a boyfriend." Francine told her with a grin.

"Oh, really?" Shonara perked up, "Here I thought you were 'too busy for that stuff'. Please tell me it's not your boss." She teased.

"Why does everyone think I'm going to fall for my boss?" Tish demanded, "And I swear if you even think the word 'track record' I'm going to hurt you!" she said grumbling.

Shonara laughed and set aside the bag she'd been working on. "Okay, I won't say it. Who is it though?" she questioned.

"You haven't met him."

"So? I'm interested in my pseudo-sister-in-law's love life." Shonara said needling for information.

"Hey, why don't you two get married for Christmas?" Tish said in a desperate throw to get her mother onto another topic.

"Don't try and make me forget my original thoughts." Francine scolded her daughter as she fixed them tea. "It won't work." She said looking at her daughter.

"Was worth a try." Tish said, sinking into one of the kitchen chairs. "His name's Rory Williams. He's a nurse at Royal Hope part time and a second year med student." Tish started, a smile forming on her face.

"Second year? How old is he?" Shonara asked. Tish groaned and Francine smiled in a smug yet evil way from the stove.

"Old enough." Tish said, hand over her eyes.

"He's a baby!" Francine pretended to be appalled. "Can he even shave yet?" she questioned.

"Yes! He's not that young!" Tish defended herself glaring at her mother.

"Younger than your brother." Francine said enjoying her daughter's embarrassment a bit.

Shonara looked at Tish in shock, "How old is he?" Leo was only twenty-two so...

"He'll be twenty-one in June." Tish admitted. If she went with the rules of time travel he'd be closer to twenty-one than that, maybe be twenty-one overall but time in the vortex didn't count and she couldn't out that particular secret yet.

"Oh my God." Shonara exclaimed, hand clapped over her mouth as she laughed.

"It's not that bad." Tish protested again.

"You've got a toyboy!" Shonara squeaked. Even Francine snorted, trying not to laugh at that one.

"Hey, double standard!" Tish complained, "Mickey's almost **thirteen **years older than Martha!" she said pouting.

"That involved time travel." Francine stated, looking over her shoulder at Tish, "You have no excuse." She said mock angrily.

Tish groaned, letting her head drop onto her arms on the table.

"Oh, just wait till Leo finds out!" Shonara said excitedly.

"Where are the boys anyway?" Tish asked, trying to stall that conversation.

"They've taken Keisha to pick a tree up." Francine explained.

"So I've got about an hour till they find out and Leo calls Martha like the treasonous blighter he is?" Tish said sighing.

"Yup!" Francine said smiling.

"Brilliant." Tish said shaking her head.

* * *

><p>Rory<p>

* * *

><p>"How long have you two been going out?" Mels questioned Rory, scooting in her seat to sit almost sideways as much as she could without taking her seatbelt off.<p>

Rory groaned, he thought this conversation was over. Tough question to answer. At least two months, not counting vortex time which never moves but they were there together. That wasn't even getting into the weeks of travelling they'd done before dating. Even with a week on Earth 'every week' he couldn't account for the fact he'd sometimes spend two or three weeks on the TARDIS in-between.

"Our first date was on Halloween." he said truthfully.

"Oh really?" Mels lit up, "Did you dress like a Roman again? I went as a fire fighter, but then there was a bit of running and PC's so I had to change into my angel costume." Mels said smiling fondly at the memory.

Rory glanced at her and shook his head, trying not to take his eyes off the road for long. "I've already lectured you on that." He said shaking his head again.

"I know." Mels nodded, "What'd Tish go as?" she continued trying desperately to change the subject.

"Lara Croft." Rory muttered.

"Wow." Mels mouth dropped in shock, eyes widening. "Seriously? She went as Lara Croft?" she asked amazed.

"What's so weird about that?" Rory asked glancing over at her

Mels looked like she wanted to say something but bit it back last moment. "It's your girlfriend. I was expecting a nun or something." She said simply.

"Shut up." Rory reached over and smacked her lightly on the thigh where he could reach her. "I'm not that bad." He grumbled.

"You really are."

Rory shut the car door with a solid thump and locked it carefully, shifting his bags over his shoulders as Mels slipped her own bag over her arm.

Their feet crunched the snow beneath their feet and their breath hung in the air. It was already seven at night, leaving them in darkness beyond the half-moon that shown and the porch light that was on waiting for them.

"You're gonna be tackled," Mels teased him.

"Yeah? Well that's Granddad's car." Rory said, nodding towards the driveway. "You're getting it just as bad." He said smiling at her.

Mels made a face of protest. "Save me?"

"Nope." Rory smirked.

He didn't get to open the door himself as it was thrown open from inside by an excited child.

"RORY!" he heard before staggering backwards briefly because of the snow as a small yellow and brown blur impacted midsection.

"Hey, Hannah." Rory said once he'd regained his breath. He lifted the five year old clad only in a yellow nightgown with brown hair flowing wildly around her shoulders into his arms. "Don't open the door like that, you know better." He chastised the little girl.

"It was you." Hannah said, light green eyes that matched his own staring back at him in confusion.

"Barefooted too!" Rory exclaimed, reaching down with his freehand to tickle her foot. "Whatever will I do with you?" he said continuing to tickle the little girl.

"Can we throw her in the duck pond again?" another voice asked.

Rory finally entered, Mels behind him and stomped the snow off his shoes making Hannah giggle again. "Nah. Not till it's warmer and she can swim." He said swinging the girl onto his back as she wrapped her arms around his neck, He shifted to drop his bags and squatted down to grab the other girl into a hug. "Otherwise we might be in trouble." He said laughter in his voice.

Charlie was shorter than Amy still, he noted, despite being close in age. Her long black hair had been pulled back into a braid that reached mid back and tied with a blue ribbon. She pulled away from the hug and brown eyes stared at him accusingly. "We missed you!" she said childish anger in her voice.

"I missed you guys too." Rory hugged both tight again.

"What am I, the neighbour?" Mels broke the touching moment with mock annoyance.

"No, Mels sleeps in the spare room." Hannah giggled, climbing out of Rory's arms to get a hug from her brother's best friend.

"Dam—Dang right I do." Mels agreed and gave her a loud overly enthusiastic kiss on the cheek. "Did you write your Christmas list?" she asked knowing the answer.

"Uh huh!" the two said in unison.

"Did you mail it?" she asked seriously as if they were prone to forgetting.

"We both did." Charlie told her as she got a hug.

"Good then!" Mels nodded, "I made Rory send one too." She said enjoying the dual grins on the girls' faces.

"What's all the – Rory!" came a voice before another round of hugs and kisses and 'I missed you's' started as Rory's mum discovered them.

Anyone who saw the two together would never doubt his parentage. Michelle shared quite a few distinguishing characteristics with her son.

Both of them, along with Hannah, shared the same soft brown hair and light green eyes that shown with love and happiness at the moment. They were both the same height now, or close too it, with long legs and the same bright smile. Only difference was that while his height made Rory awkward and almost gangly on occasion, Michelle was never anything less than graceful. Rory had decided years ago that it was the curves. If he could put on a little weight he'd be more balanced as well, but then again curves like his mother had might look extremely out of place on him.

"Mels! How are you doing in London? Started any courses at uni yet?" Michelle questioned as she hugged the young woman who'd practically grown up in her house.

"Not yet." Mels said, hugging her back. "I'm still deciding on my path. Don't want to pick something I'd later hate, right?" she asked seriously.

"Too right!" Brian declared from the door as he came in with Rory's step-dad.

Short, round and jovial, Brian was always at his best during the Christmas season.

"Shit." Rory heard Mels whimper quietly and had to smile. His Granddad wasn't that bad, not really, it was just Mels had always had issues showing too much emotion in front of people, only ever really letting her guard down around him. It might also have to do with the fact Brian had declared Mels his 'granddaughter' after the fifth family get together Rory had dragged her on, sometime around age eight.

Then there was his step-dad. Tall, formidable and serious, he and Rory still didn't get along too well, but they were nice to each other at least. His hair was short and grey, black in his youth, and he had brown eyes like Charlie. He was taller than Rory by about an inch and while note an athlete was not in the worst shape by any means. Rory tried hard not to laugh at his Christmas sweater.

"How are my other grandbabies?" Brian demanded as he hugged Rory tightly. "I haven't seen you two in ages." He said hugging them both tight.

"Doing great, Granddad." Rory hugged him back. "School's fine, think I might have found a Doctor to shadow and everything." He announced.

"Brilliant!" Brian declared, moving and hauling Mels into a bear hug as well. "And my girl?" he asked watching her.

"Fine." Mels squeaked, though Rory could see she had hugged him back. "Still picking my course, but I'm on my own and I'm making money." She said hoping she sounded like an upstanding citizen to the older man.

"Legally?" He questioned teasingly and quietly.

Mels actually blushed slightly. "Working on that." She said quietly.

"Where did you get that coat?" George questioned his stepson curiously. "That's not the one we sent you last year." He said a warning tone in his voice.

Rory looked down at his new coat. It was thick and black with white trim and large pockets and a hood he currently left down in favour of his grey knit hat. Tish had bought it for him while he was distracted when she noticed his coat was looking a little worse for wear.

"Er.." Rory blushed a bit trying to think of an answer.

"His Girlfriend bought it for him." Mels piped up, eager to embarrass her best friend.

"His WHAT?" Michelle demanded, eyes wide as she looked at her son.

Oh God, this was going to be a long vacation.

* * *

><p>- Christmas Eve Tish-<p>

* * *

><p>Tish hadn't really had any nightmares lately, but within a day of being on Earth they were back. A very familiar laughing face. The Doctor's advice was starting to sound very, very good.<p>

It wasn't hard to gather supplies, after all she was a PA and for a while the head of Public Relations for a large company, you had to know where to get anything from flowers to ball gowns so fireworks and liquor wasn't exactly hard.

Enough of both and she could keep her family up till late and with her three year old Niece's help she could make sure they were all up early to see what presents had been left for them making certain they'd all be fast asleep again by around noon.

"What've you got?" Leo asked as Tish entered the house, two large boxes in arms so that she could barely peer over the top.

"Provisions." Tish said, setting them both on the table in the kitchen.

"For what?" He peeked over the closed boxes.

"Fun." Tish opened one box and pulled out a rather large plastic bottle of vodka, setting it on the table with a sold thunk. Leo's eyes were still wide when she opened the other box and pulled out a hand full of Roman candles. "Don't you think?"

"I wanna light some." Leo said quickly, taking one from her.

"Done." Tish said smiling in relief.

* * *

><p>"Is there a reason you're keeping us all up late and trying desperately to get us all drunk?" Francine asked. They were all sitting in the backyard now that it was dark and watching as Leo tried to light a fountain firework without spilling his drink.<p>

"Yup." Tish said succinctly, taking a drink of her wine. Just because she had to use harder stuff to get the boys pushed over the edge of 'tipsy' to 'drunk' didn't mean she had to drink it.

"Do I want to know it?" Francine asked.

Tish handed Francine a plastic cup printed with Christmas themes full of wine. "Doctors orders." She said with a grin.

Francine sighed and rolled her eyes. "Idiocy or reasoning?" she questioned looking at the cup.

"He's got reasons." Tish said taking a drink of her own.

She sighed again but took a drink anyway. "You could have at least gotten some good wine and not the kind in a box." Francine grumbled.

Tish snorted, "I'm not shelling out double digits for wine that has no purpose other than to get me drunk off my ass." The wine was starting to take affect, fun!

Francine shook her head. "I'm not taking anyone to the A&E tonight." She said simply.

"We'll be fine." Tish brushed her off as the night sky was filled with bright red lights again.

* * *

><p>Stormcage<p>

* * *

><p>River sat quietly on her bed, knees drawn up to her chest. She wasn't pouting or sulking really, just...sad. It was really beginning to scare the guards all of whom were now armed and on alert.<p>

It was Christmas and she was alone. Normally she wouldn't be. Any other year she'd be home, happy and warm – metaphorically, Stormcage did have central heating – sitting with her family. This year especially she wanted to be there with new cousins to meet and corrupt but she'd been sent a message telling her to stay put. She wasn't allowed to leave for home or anywhere else.

It was in her third hour of being upset and scaring the guards that a very familiar noise filled her ears. The books and papers in her cell started to whirl around thanks to the wind generated at the TARDIS landed in the corner of her cell.

The door was thrown open and the Doctor stuck his head out to look around. She had to laugh when she saw his hat. It was bright green and pointed with a bell on the end and tiny pointed ears on the side that covered the tops of his own.

"Hello, sweetie." the Doctor said brightly, climbing out and smiling.

"What's this?" River asked, moving to sit on the edge of her bed.

"Christmas!" Amy moved out past the Doctor and smiled at her as well. "We were alone and knew you'd be alone so we thought we'd be alone together!" she said bouncing into the cell from the TARDIS.

Amy was dressed in a way that both made River laugh and nearly demand a recreation in her size. She was wearing a dress that's skirt was made up of a few hundred light weight semi-transparent scarves in every shade of blue and green one would see on a peacock with a teal top.

So that's why she'd been told to stay put. "That's a brilliant idea." She said smiling.

"We even brought a tree." the Doctor told her. He stepped back into the TARDIS.

"We brought decorations and food." Amy said, hugging River. "Merry Christmas, River."

"Merry Christmas, Amy." River said as she hugged the girl back.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN:<em>Hey, look at that early release tonight! <em>Yeah...I'm cold now though. Must be from writing about snow. _Did__n't you say you were going to write a oneshot surprise for me and them? _Crap, I did, didn't I? Oh well, I'll just have to post a second chapter this week then, won't I? _I still want my oneshot. _Yes, Dear.]**


	81. Christmas Part Two and New Years

**December 27th: Martha and Mickey**

* * *

><p>"What is it?" Martha asked as Mickey's computer went off, beeping to alert them to alien activity.<p>

"Craft downtown." Mickey said, fingers tapping on the keys. "Oh...Not good." he said staring at the screen.

"What is it?" Martha moved from her desk to look at what Mickey saw. "Oh God...Sontarans." she groaned.

"Just the one it looks like." Mickey told her, tapping new keys to bring up a map to the location.  
>"We should call in help." Martha bit her lip worriedly even as she moved quickly to change into her gear. Jack'd declared if they had time they had to put on some sort of armour now, just in case; he didn't want to lose anyone else.<p>

"Nah, Jack's in Ealing, Lois isn't prepared for Sontarans and Gwen and Rhys deserve a Christmas off." Mickey said, grabbing his 'kit' from under his desk and swapping trousers and boots out. "We can go freelance on this one. It'll be fun." he said smiling at her.

"Are you sure?" Martha asked, shrugging on her leather jacket and zipping it up all the way.

"One Sontaran? Hah. We'll be fine. Sarah Jane and her kids handled one Sontaran." Mickey pointed out. He shrugged on the light weight under-armour Jack had procured for them.

It was only about as thick as an average shirt and just as flexible but somehow it worked to stop impacts. Jack said it was 'future tech' and wouldn't say how he'd come to get it but he'd proved how well it worked when he voluntarily took a bullet wearing it and instead of dying barely got a puncture wound.

He pulled on his shirt then his jacket, zipping it up as well. "Get Amidala ready, I'll get the guns." he stated simply as he pulled out a large key ring.

"Stun only!" Martha yelled to him.

"For you." Mickey replied.

She shook her head but whistled for Amidala to come from her bed.

"Good girl." Martha praised her as she got the half grown puppy into a vest much like what they had put on. "Very good girl." she cooed as she pat the dog on the head.

Amidala basked in the praise as Martha strapped the carry pack to her. It was black like their outfits with two pockets on each side and a cloth handle on top in case they needed to hold onto her. The pockets held emergency medical supplies, spare bullets, a knife in a sheath and a flare and lighter, just in case. It was light enough weight for now and when she got bigger and stronger they might add more to it, if needed.

"Ready?" Mickey asked as he returned, handing her one of the dangerous looking guns.

"Always." Martha replied.

Mickey grinned, lifted his 'war pack' as he called it and let out a low whistle. "Amidala, car." he called, watching as the puppy bounded towards them.

* * *

><p>"Amidala, stay. Guard." Martha ordered the dog as she crouched, shielded behind a wall.<p>

The dog sat down but looked around, following the command.

Mickey was pinned down and needed help. She'd been told to stay behind but her husband was in danger.

She tried hard to keep breathing properly as she ran, feet hitting the pavement with a wet smack as she tried to dodge both puddles and gunfire. It wouldn't be good if she started running out of air because she wasn't concentrating. Torchwood and the Doctor meant you trained by accident to keep cool while running.

'Go freelance', Mickey says, 'It'll be fun'. Oh, she was going to kill him once they got out of here.

One shot got particularly close to her feet and she gasped in shock.

She passed the wet pavement, ducking through two slabs of concrete and hit dirt. Just a few more feet till she was there, she thought as she clutched her gun.

She slid slightly as she rounded the corner, ducking behind a partial concrete wall across from Mickey.

"I told you to stay behind." Mickey said, both annoyed and relieved.

"You looked like you needed help." Martha offered with more amusement than she felt making Mickey smile briefly as well. "Besides, you're the one who persuaded me to go freelance." she scolded.

Mickey mentally gave one point to Martha but schooled his face as he looked around. The gunfire had stopped which was never a good sign with a Sontaran.

"Yeah, but we're being fired at by a Sontaran. A dumpling with a gun." He complained, "And this is no place for a married woman." he glanced at her as he said this, trying to hide his smile.

"Well, then. You shouldn't have married me." Martha shot back like she had many times before. That was always their excuse and the same conversation was exchanged every time they disagreed when the other was doing what was 'right'.

Mickey really did smile that time. "All right, come on." He gestured to her, reaching out to grab her hand and pull him close to her.

He kept a lookout as he dug into his pocket and produced the printed out map he'd got while in the car.

"If we go in here and down to the factory floor and down past that corridor, then he won't know that we're here." he whispered quietly.

Martha's breath caught in her throat as her eyes swept the area. Standing on the one of the warehouse walkways was the Doctor. But it wasn't just the Doctor, it was the Doctor as he'd been when she first met him. His tenth regeneration, she remembered from Sarah Jane and Jack's comments. This had to be from before...Was this when...?

"Mickey..." she said breathlessly. When he didn't look up she said it again more urgently. "Mickey!" she yelled causing Mickey's head to snap up and his eyes to seek out what Martha was seeing.

His heart seized as he saw the Doctor. He took a few steps forward, seeing both the mallet in the Doctor's hand and the unconscious Sontaran on the ground. "Hey!" he yelled.

The Doctor didn't move, his face didn't flicker as he stared down at them. He looked so...desperately sad and lonely.

He maintained eye contact until finally the Doctor turned and walked away.

Mickey looked up, swallowing hard before reaching towards Martha and pulling her into a hug.

The Doctor was going to die. That was the only reason he'd appear like that and just...leave. They knew he'd die though, they'd seen him when he'd regenerated.

They stood just holding one another for a few moments till a barking noise and the sound of claws on dirt caught their attention.

Amidala, fed up with the 'stay' command had come to locate her owners.

"Neither women in my life listen to me." Mickey tried to laugh as the puppy sat on their feet, rubbing her face on his trouser leg.

* * *

><p><strong>December 27th: Luke and Sarah Jane<strong>

* * *

><p>Luke walked quickly down the street on his way back from the shops. He'd been told to 'get out from underfoot' by Jack who was trying to cook dinner.<p>

Christmas day had been...well, he wasn't sure what it'd been but they'd blinked and suddenly it was the 26th and both he and his mum had blinding headaches. Jack had tried to explain it to him but it was just..scary.

So he'd 'gotten out from underfoot' by going and spending a few minutes just walking around and consuming sugary drinks with money Jack gave him.

He'd normally go bug Rani but she was visiting her grandmother with her parents or Clyde but he was with his mum and holidays were 'for family' which meant he stuck only talking to Clyde on the phone as both boys concentrated on staying 'out from underfoot'.

"That was the maddest Christmas ever, Clyde. Mum doesn't know what happened." Luke said over his mobile as he walked the last bit towards his house.

"She got Mr Smith to put out a story saying wi-fi went mad, all over the world, giving everyone hallucinations. How else do you explain it?" He stepped down from the pavement to the road and started across like always, not even bothering to look both ways."Everyone with a different face..." he trailed off as suddenly something hit him around his chest, hauling him backwards as a car horn honked loudly.

Luke stumbled on the pavement to regain his footing and looked up. He came face to face with his rescuer, the Doctor.

A different Doctor. Not the Doctor that took him to see the stars with Amy but the Doctor who'd saved them at his mum's wedding.

"But it's you! You're..." Luke stuttered out as the Doctor gave him a very reproachful look, clearly doubting his intelligence for nearly being run over.

Without a word the Doctor turned and started walking away to the TARDIS that stood on the street corner.

Luke regained the ability to speak and move finally and yelled. "Mum!" He jogged out, looked to make sure the road was clear and broke into a run to cross it. "Mum!" he yelled.

"What?" Sarah Jane came out to meet him near the driveway. "What is it?" She asked smiling at his enthusiasm.

"It's him!" Luke said urgently, gesturing to where he'd been. "It's the Doctor!" he said pointing.

Sarah Jane turned and caught the Doctor's eyes as he unlocked the TARDIS.

He was going to regenerate, Sarah Jane knew. The new him had told her it was on Christmas and that he'd said goodbye but she hadn't expected it, she'd forgotten in fact until now.

Even if she hadn't been told that she'd know he was going to regenerate though, just by his expressions and actions.

He raised his hand in a little half wave and stepped inside the TARDIS.

She smiled sadly as it disappeared from view. She always worried about him, especially near regenerations and wished she could help him but it was impossible. He had to change and he had to do it alone, otherwise he'd never do any of the things she knew he would.

"Hey!" Jack jogged down the drive, ignoring how silly he looked in his fluffy pink apron, and looked at the two hugging. "What's up? My key just started..." Jack stopped and smiled a bit sadly, "He said goodbye, didn't he?" Jack said softly pulling her into a hug.

"He didn't say a word, but the intent was there." Sarah Jane said. She wouldn't cry but she could still mourn his pain.

Jack nodded. "He's saying goodbye to everyone, you know, not just the ones he knew this time." he said looking wistfully at the where the Doctor was.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"I mean he might have said goodbye to you two now, but it's a toss up if next he's going to visit Martha or if he'll go see the UNIT boys." Jack told them, wrapping an arm around both their shoulders to lead them inside. "We've talked about it before when we were not particularly sober. He said goodbye and saved as many lives as he could. Mostly he said goodbye at points he could save a life." Jack added. "So, which one of you was in trouble?" Jack asked looking between the two of them.

Luke blushed now, "I didn't look before crossing the street and didn't see the car." he said sheepishly.

"Luke!" Sarah Jane chided looking over her son.

* * *

><p><strong>December 27th Tish<strong>

* * *

><p>Tish lay on her couch, eyes closed with a damp cloth over them. She wasn't hungover any more, nor did she have a migraine from whatever it was that had happened to them on the 25th and the 26th though frankly she'd have preferred either over the overwhelming grief and memories.<p>

Christmas eve the Broadfell prison had burned down. She'd barely caught the newscast and had only partially absorbed it with her highly hungover mind when they'd been taken over so the implications hadn't sunk in.

Broadfell prison burned down, there were no known survivors.

Lucy Saxon was dead.

The Master had been in their nightmares the same night that his wife had died. There was a connection there but more than likely it was one she didn't want to think about.

Even thinking about Lucy a few more tears threatened to spill.

Her dad had looked like he'd gotten another present when he heard the news, her mum just smiled slightly. Leo hadn't understood but Martha had called to make sure they'd heard.

Tish couldn't stay with them at her Mum's after that. They didn't understand her and she didn't understand them, at least not when it came to something like this.

They hadn't seen who Lucy really was, they'd just seen what they wanted to. They didn't see her everyday, they didn't hear her crying over what had been done and they didn't see the influence that the Master held over her.

She was just a woman who got in too deep and by time she'd realized she was in over her head it was too late to run.

"_Dying. Everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart and I thought there's no point. No point to anything. Not ever," _The words echoed through her head until a loud knocking interrupted her thoughts.

Twenty-seventh...probably Rory...Might not be, she thought to herself "I'll risk it." she mumbled to herself before yelling. "Come in!" she yelled.

"No key!" she heard Rory yell back.

Tish groaned but climbed off the couch to go let Rory in.

"Hey! How was-" Rory stopped and frowned, "You okay?" he asked looking at her.

"Peachy." Tish replied with a faked smile. "How was your holiday?" she asked cheerily.

"Fine. Ate too much fruit cake, got to make biscuits for Father Christmas. Opened more presents then I should have gotten." Rory shrugged off his coat and hung it up, taking his bag with him into the livingroom where Tish had gone to lay back down on the sofa.

"You're not 'peachy'." Rory observed. "Getting sick?" he asked concerned.

"I'll be fine." Tish assured him even as he came to rest his hand on her forehead and check. "Just got some bad news, that's all."she said quietly.

"What bad news?" Rory frowned in concern.

She gestured to the paper. "Friend of mine died on Christmas Eve...Well, close to friend as it was possible to be with all..." Tish said closing her eyes, her voice trailing off as she spoke.

Rory picked up the paper and sat on the coffee table reading it silently. "I hadn't heard. We didn't watch the news. I'm sorry." He reached out and grasped her hand looking so sincere she had to smile.

"You didn't know her. I don't think anyone truly did." Tish said. He never asked why Lucy was in prison.

"That doesn't mean I won't be sorry for your loss." Rory smiled at her. He tilted his head, considering something. "How long until the Doctor arrives?" he asked looking at her.

"He said he'd show up in time for Tea," Tish looked at the clock, it was only two in the afternoon now. "So around three hours. Why?" she asked opening her eyes and looking at him.

Rory unlaced his new shoes, a gift from Tish and placed them aside under the table. He motioned at her and smiled again, "Scoot." he said gently causing her to smile a little as well as she began to understand his intent and moved to make room on her sofa for him to lay next to her.

It took a moment of moving and wiggling to adjust but soon Rory was stretched out with Tish laying curled up with her head on his chest, his arms around her.

"You're a great boyfriend, Rory Williams," Tish said as he rubbed her back with his hand. "Do you always know what to do with upset people?" she asked him snuggling into his arms.

"It's a gift." Rory said. "I may not be clever, but I have a good heart. Or at least that's what my step-dad used to say." Rory mumbled embarrassedly.

"You are very clever." Tish hugged him as best she could, "You got into Med school." she said smiling at him

"Yeah well..." Rory cleared his throat and tried not to blush.

Eventually they turned on the TV and contented themselves with watching old children's TV specials while curled up. The most peaceful aspect of their Holidays to date.

* * *

><p><strong>Stormcage<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Amy shifted on her feet and found herself standing in the middle of Rivers cell. She was still there and it was still decorated with tinsel, garland, lights and a Christmas tree – the tree even had presents under it! - but everything seemed just a shade off of how it was.<em>

"_Like Australia."Amy said aloud looking around._

"_What's Australia?"a woman's voice said causing Amy to turn around and find a young woman standing looking just as confused as Amy normally felt in her dreams. _

_The young woman was blond with deep eyes that watched Amy with curiosity and a small tinge of fear._

"_It's a country on Earth." Amy paused, not entirely surprised. "Why is everyone always Blonde?" she asked, vexed by the thought._

"_What?" the woman reached out to toy with the gold garland they'd strung through the bars of the cell._

"_Last three people in my dreams, including you, were blonde." Amy informed her, crossing her arms over her chest._

"_They're not blonde." The woman said gesturing to a spot behind Amy._

_Amy looked to where the woman gestured and smiled. They were all on the bed curled up asleep. The Doctor was sprawled in the centre of the small bed snoring, she was snuggled against his left side, head on his chest; River was curled up on his right side almost identically, arm across his to rest on Amy's shoulder as her head rested on the Doctor's shoulder; Yumo lay snoring on River's feet. The Doctor still had on his Christmas hat._

_"My family." Amy explained, trying not to be disturbed by the fact she was seeing her own body._

_The woman smiled, "I had a family."she said wistfully._

"_'Had'?"Amelia asked, looking at the woman sadly._

_Her smile faltered, "They got lost to me. I'm still looking, but I haven't found them yet."she said looking down at the little girl._

"_How did they get lost?" Amy asked sympathetically. She crossed the few feet and tried something she never really had before, she reached out and touched the woman, just resting her hand on the woman's arm._

"_I got shot. I woke up and they were gone. I'm sure they think I'm dead." the woman said looking sadly at the family as she spoke. _

_Amy made a face. "Do you know where to look?" she asked concerned._

"_I'm not sure. Everywhere there's running to be done, I suppose."the woman said thinking of all the places she could._

"_Wait, are you always the same or are you all different."Amy asked her, thinking of her own family._

"_What?"The woman asked focusing on Amy again._

"_In my dreams." Amy clarified. "Are you all one person? One really weird nightmare or...?"Amy trailed off as the woman laughed,_

"_I'm still certain this is just a very odd dream I'm having brought on by trying Altrine gumbo."the woman said smiling at her as the world started to fade away and Amy sighed in annoyance. _

_She'd forgotten to ask the woman's name, not that it mattered; the moment she woke up it all went away._

* * *

><p><strong>Christmas morning<strong>

* * *

><p>"Hey, wakey, wakey, Pond." Amy let out a whine of protest and covered her face with her hands.<p>

"C'mon, Pond!" the Doctor whined. "If you don't wake up then I can't open my presents. I want to know if Father Christmas listened to my Christmas list." He said shaking her.

The words 'Presents' and 'Christmas' shot through Amy's sleepy brain and alarm bells went off.

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up on the bed. It wasn't her bed though...Right, they were in prison!

"Happy Christmas, Amy." River said cheerfully from her seat on the floor. She was sitting cross legged on a large fluffy pillow, Yumo on her lap.

There wasn't much room in the cell any more. The tree was taking up a good portion next to the TARDIS but there were dozens if not hundreds of gifts under it.

"Happy Christmas, River." Amy said distractedly, eyes wide. "Dad?" she asked starting to bounce as she saw the mounds of gifts.

"I think Father Christmas can indeed get inside a prison." the Doctor told her confidently.

* * *

><p>"Ah, c'mere you." the Doctor wiggled his fingers at Yumo to get the Uval's attention.<p>

Yumo yawned wide showing off tiny fangs and eyed the Doctor.

"Good reason, I promise." the Doctor made a 'cross my hearts' motion, something that was made funnier by the fact he was wearing a Christmas sweater with blinking lights. He'd found a new hat, one with reindeer antlers, and was bouncing.

Amy was still in her pyjamas but now had on a pair of duck shaped slippers on that made noises when she walked. All of them were surrounded by wrapping paper torn – from the Doctor and Amy – and some neatly folded piles that had been painstakingly opened – River.

Yumo climbed off of Rivers lap and delicately picked his way through wrapping paper to climb onto the Doctor's lap.

The Doctor lifted him up slightly to rearrange him and produced a small box around the size of a rubix cube wrapped in gold paper. "Yours." He stated shoving the package towards the Uval.

Yumo actually had quite a few presents under the tree from Amy, Tish and surprisingly the Doctor and Rory. So far he'd amassed several 'outfits' and costumes, a few new harnesses, a couple of leashes, plenty of toys and dog biscuits.

Yumo sniffed at the box and looked back up at the Doctor.

"It's Christmas." the Doctor insisted.

Yumo nudged the box then as delicately as he could, almost as if he expected an explosion or some sort, he used his teeth to pull back the paper.

River laughed quietly along with Amy as they watched.

Once the box was uncovered Yumo nudged the lid to make it fall and moved back. After a moment he cautiously leaned forward and sniffed, coming back with paper stuck to his nose.

The Doctor laughed and gave up, "Here." he pulled the paper off of Yumo's nose and pulled something out of the box before tossing the box aside. He unfolded his palm to show Yumo, letting both girls get a look as he did so.

Spread across his palm was a tiny silver bracelet with shining blue beads like Amy's, but where Amy's was made of tiny silver chains this one was solid and had a clasp and a tiny hinge to close it with the blue beads inlaid.

"Paw." the Doctor commanded and Yumo lifted his right front paw.

The Doctor clasped the braclet around the Uval's ankle and nodded with approval. It was tight enough to stay on and not fall off, but not so tight as to restrict any movement or blood flow. Yumo moved his paw and watched it slide slightly on his leg with an intensely studious look. "Now you have the shiny too – agh!" the Doctor's words were interrupted as Yumo leapt up and knocked the Doctor over, holding him down as he licked the Doctor's face and yipped in gratitude.

River giggled, "Finally they're starting to play nice." She said smiling, truly happy for the first time in awhile.

"They like each other," Amy told River as she toyed with one of the bows that had come off one of her gifts. "They just don't like to admit it." She said smiling at her father and her Uval.

"Know that feeling well, love." River rolled her eyes and listened as she heard boot steps echo. "Oh, fun time." She said an evil grin appearing on her face.

Amy turned and smiled happily at the stunned looking guard that stood on the other side of the cell just out of reach. "Happy Christmas!" she yelled a bow from the presents falling from where it had been perched on her head.

The guard froze and backed up at River's smile. "I – I...CAPTAIN!" he screamed running away down the hallway as fast he could.

"What was that about?" the Doctor asked breathlessly as he sat up, Yumo in arms.

River was laughing too hard to answer.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS<strong>

* * *

><p>"What now?" Amy questioned the Doctor.<p>

"Hmm." the Doctor paused in thought, tapping his hands against the console and tilted his head from side to side. "I'm thinking we go visiting. Everyone else is after all. Plus we've got to give Luke and Sarah their gifts! Oh, and you've got a Godfather to meet!" he said grinning.

"Godfather?" Amy questioned, the title seemed very familiar somehow and something tickled in the back of her head that she couldn't quite reach. It went away after a moment.

"A man who is responsible for your good moral upbringing...someone has to and apparently it's not me." the Doctor smiled at her. "Also he's the one who takes care of you if anything happens to your parents." He stated simply, fiddling with the TARDIS controls.

"Nothing's going to happen to you, right?" Amy asked worriedly.

The Doctor turned, realizing he'd upset her. "No, of course not!" He swore, pulling her into a hug. "Even if something does there's still two more of me if I need!" He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Then there's always Tish, but the Brig's backup. Well, the Brig and Sarah but overall...Yeah. It's also an honour thing, you know. Like being knighted. Especially to be your Godfather. Can't deny him that, can we?" the Doctor asked cheerily.

Amy smiled and pulled away, "Guess not. Really an honour?" she asked him sceptically.

"Yup." the Doctor nodded. "So why don't we go get changed and then we can crash the Brig's post Christmas 'we survived, let's drink' family party." The doctor grinned as he pushed a lever and the Tardis started moving.

"What's the dress code?" Amy inquired. Tish said if you were going to a party you had to dress right.

"He'd say 'classy' but I've seen this party after a few glasses of wine." the Doctor muttered. He smiled at Amy, "Go put on something pretty, something you like and something you can dance in, okay?" he said smiling at the thought of what his daughter could come up with.

"Okay!" Amy said happily running towards the dressing room.

"Meet me back here." the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together, "You can help drive." He said hoping that would make her dress faster.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Normally we'd stop here but - <em>I made her promise to post two chapters! <em>Yeah, so let's keep going!]**

* * *

><p><strong>The Brigadiers, December 26th 2009<strong>

* * *

><p>"Now, Jo, how many more times are you going to do something insane like cuff yourself to a building?" Liz tried to sound exasperated but mostly just sounded entertained.<p>

The Brigadier and Liz's home was quite large, it'd had to be with their five kids living there and his older daughter visiting as often as possible, and over the years it'd grown to add on many rooms. When they truly felt like clearing away furniture they could turn the living room into a mock ballroom with hardwood floors, high ceilings and more decorations and room than they needed.

Currently it was completely decorated, as was the rest of the house, with everything 'Christmas'.

"You should talk Ms 'Let's build a laser to blow up Torchwood'." Jo scoffed but smiled. "Actually I'm thinking of trying an actual person next time. Much more fun if I recall correctly." She grinned at the memory.

"There are some things that men weren't meant to hear." the Brigadier said stoically as he finished what was in his cup.

"I believe that's one of them." Harry agreed firmly with his friend. There were some things a man really didn't want to hear from friends, no matter how many times they'd forced you to hear it over the years.

"Has anyone heard from Sarah yet?" Jean Sullivan asked curiously, nudging her husband to make him stop with the faces.

"She's got plans that don't involve us." Liz sniffed as if offended. "Namely a Christmas at home with her son and boyfriend."

"I thought they were married?" Jo questioned.

"Only on Poosh." Harry said automatically then shook his head. "You're out of touch, dear, she's got a new boyfriend now." He said grinning.

"Oh? Who is it then?" Jo asked.

"The Torchwood pretty boy." the Brigadier said with a sigh.

Jo nearly choked on her wine. "Really?" she gagged, "Seriously?" she looked around hoping someone was joking.

"So it seems. Apparently he used to be a companion of the Doctor as well." Harry told her. "That thought scares me more than anything to be honest." He said shaking his head.

"Speaking of," Jean interrupted their gossip, "Do anyone know if the Doctor plans on showing up?" she asked curiously.

"I'm not sure." the Brigadier offered, "We've always stuck any invitations for him in with the biscuits knowing as often as he comes by to steal them he'll get it. So far it's always disappeared, but I haven't seen him since at one of our parties since...oh, I believe it'd be since he was short, Scottish and wore question marks." He said thinking then nodding to himself.

"The one we put out this year didn't disappear though, so -" Liz's words were cut off by the sound of the TARDIS engines.

It slowly faded into existence in the middle of the room. People scattered awaiting it to arrive like normal but no one was prepared for it to show up on its side.  
>After a few moments the doors on top were thrown open and two hands clutched the side as a male pulled himself up to look out.<p>

Hanging onto the side, his chin against the wood he looked around, "No...We're here alright. Just a bit off on the park job. Close though, I've done worse." His gaze found the Brigadier's and he wiggled the fingers of his right hand in a little wave, "Two tics, we'll be right back!"

He dropped back into the TARDIS, doors closing behind him and it slowly disappeared.

As it disappeared almost everyone in the crowd burst into laughter.

"Well he certainly knows how to make an entrance." Someone said as the group waited patiently.

"Oh, but that can't be him!" Jo protested, "I know he can regenerate but into that baby face?" she said nearly collapsing into laughter.

"It's him." they confirmed for her.

It took two more tries and left all of them laughing but eventually the TARDIS landed neatly in the corner.

A few moments later the Doctor. from earlier strolled on wearing a suit right out of the 30's, minus the jacket and a hat. "Hello, everybody! Sorry about that. I'm sure Roswell will forgive us though and I'm mostly certain they have no evidence." He smiled at them, looking at his former companions.

"Doctor." the Brigadier greeted him with a wave and a smile. "I didn't expect you to show up, you didn't grab your invitation." He said in mock disappointment.

"Was busy, sorry." the Doctor waved it off, "Thought we'd crash the party anyway. Course I let her drive so it took longer than usual." He said simply looking towards the TARDIS.

"We?" Liz queried. "Her?" she questioned staring at the Doctor.

The door opened again and something small and blue shuffled out and sat down on his feet. Well, mostly blue. It looked like someone had dyed a corgi and shoved it into a Santa outfit. A small girl followed it out and shut the TARDIS behind her. She had long red hair pulled back in a braid. She wore a long white dress that twirled around her ankles trimmed with red complete with a red sash around her waist.

"Brigadier, meet your Goddaughter." he gestured with a giant smile from the Brig to Amy. "Amy, meet the weirdest bunch of friends and family you could ever have bar Torchwood." He said grinning down at the little girl.

"Goddaughter?" Liz looked surprised.

"Communication blackout." the Brig said with a slight wince. "SFA. Sorry." He said sheepishly begging her forgiveness.

"My fault." the Doctor said, "Had to be cautious. One never can be too careful with their child's safety." He said honestly smiling at them again as Amy began to explore.

"Child?!" the Doctor counted it as a good thing that several people in the room started choking or turning colours. Obviously they were happy for him and didn't know how to show it.

* * *

><p>"I think he was more graceful the week he blinded himself in the lab." the Brigadier observed as the Doctor danced with Jo. Both seemed to be having a great time but everyone was giggling or avoiding their general area.<p>

"He likes dancing." Amy told them with a smile. She'd been taken one by one and introduced to everyone in the room which had taken a little while but it had been fun. The Doctor had paused in front of a tall man with dark brown hair and a moustache – her new cousin Al – and turned to demand of her new Aunt Liz if he was 'still not allowed to touch the 'tinys' which made everyone laugh. "Sometimes he tries to do the waltz but he always trips." She said innocently as she ate a biscuit the size of her hand shaped like a tree.

"So, Amy," 'Uncle Harry' said, observing her curiously. "Who's your mum?" he asked, everyone nearby leaning closer to hear, each having their own suspicions.

Before they'd come to the party the Doctor had warned her that only the Brigadier knew her real history and who she really was and that she wasn't to tell anyone else. The perception filter would work mostly on everyone else because they didn't know to look for something that wasn't there but to keep it quiet anyway.

"Dad says that's 'need to know information'." She said simply.

"Need to know as in 'we don't need to'?" Jean nearly laughed.

"I don't know." Amy said smiling at them and taking another bite.

"You don't know who doesn't need to know or you don't know her?" Jean asked curiously.

Amy shrugged again and smiled apologetically, "I don't know." She repeated.

"Amy!" her cousin William Sullivan, whom the Doctor said was only a year older than she should be, came over and offered her his hand. "Wanna show your dad and Aunt Jo how you should really dance?" he asked her smiling.

Amy giggled but grabbed his hand, "Sure!" she said jumping up and taking his hand.

"Oh Lord." Liz groaned as the music switched to something fast. "I need another drink if I'm going to make it through this night." She said shaking her head at the sight of the Doctor's daughter dancing with her nephew.

* * *

><p>Liz waited quietly until the TARDIS faded from sight, leaving only herself, her husband, her step-daughter and Harry behind. "She looked better than last time." She said quietly to her husband.<p>

"Younger too." the Brigadier agreed, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulders.

"Definitely healthier." Harry said, mind swirling a bit from the alcohol he'd consumed. "Is this what he'd call 'timey wimey'?" he asked thinking of the last time they'd seen Amy.

"Probably." the Brigadier said. He smiled, "I'm a Godfather again. Take that, Sullivan." He boasted smiling.

Harry scoffed and crossed his arms, "I'm Luke's Godfather." He said pouting.

"Back up Godfather." the Brigadier countered, "I'm Primary." He stated smugly.

Kate rolled her eyes and sat on the arm of one of the chairs. "So they're heading towards something we've come from?" she asked looking at her stepmother and father.

"Essentially, yes." Liz nodded, "Time travel is fun, isn't it?" she sighed.

"A barrel of laughs." Kate said dryly. "Couldn't we just warn them?" She asked quietly.

"And poke a hole in the universe?" the Brigadier demanded.

"They will be okay though, we've seen it." Liz assured her.

* * *

><p><strong>Tish's home<strong>

* * *

><p>"Will you get your hands out of my shirt!" Rory complained straightening his shirt again and forcing the Doctor to remove his hands from his stomach and shoving him backwards lightly.<p>

He'd been up to this every few seconds for the last five minutes they'd been here. Apparently they'd been playing out in the snow on some strange planet after crashing a friend's party.

"But I'm colder than usual and you're like a giant heater!" the Doctor whined.

Rory glared at him, "Go bug Tish." He grumbled.

"Oooh, idea!" he grinned and dashed off. The shriek a few minutes later proved he had indeed followed Rory's suggestion which wasn't exactly a good thing.

Tish had been quiet all day since he'd got there but he hadn't pressed for any details she wasn't willing to give. At the moment she was attempting to figure out what to make the for tea as Amy coloured at the table.

A few minutes later another yell came along with a yelp and a thump and Rory decided to investigate.

The Doctor was leaning against the counter, holding his foot and glaring at Tish who was glowering right back at him.

Amy looked worried, "Dad? Tish?" she asked quietly.

Tish didn't look at Amy and kept the glower. "Er, Tish?" Rory said calmly, "Doctor?" he called.

"I warned you to stop bugging me. I'm not happy with you." Tish nearly growled.

"Not my fault." the Doctor countered, arms crossed. "She did it herself and I found out after the fact. If anything I should be mad because she did kill-" He yelped again as Tish swung her foot forward and into his shin.

She stormed off into the living room where they heard keys jingle and a door slam.

"What'd you do?" Rory asked the Doctor.

"Nothing." the Doctor snapped and stormed off in the opposite direction. They heard the TARDIS door slam moments later but the sound of the TARDIS leaving never came.

"What's wrong with them?" Amy asked Rory.

"I'm not sure, but they'll settle it." Rory assured her.

* * *

><p><strong>TARDIS Library<strong>

* * *

><p>"Okay, Doctor, we're going to engage in an age old deeply respected Human mourning ritual." Tish declared as she found him glaring at the pool in the library.<p>

"And stop acting like sullen teenagers." "What's that?" he asked sulkily. Tish sat a large jug of wine onto the table couch next to him along with a bag full of bottles of ginger beer "We're going to drink, tell embarrassing stories about the dead, laugh, talk about their lives and cry or pass out at the end." She said shoving a bottle into his hand.

"You hated the Master." the Doctor said dismissing it.

"Yes, and you hated Lucy." Tish sat down next to him on the couch. "This might get interesting." She said as she opened the jug and poured some into a plastic cup.

He looked at the jug and then at the bottles, "I think we might need more for that." He said shaking his head and took a drink.

"We've got reserves." Tish told him, drinking deeply from the cup.

* * *

><p><strong>The next morning<br>**

* * *

><p>"I woke up with no pants, someone else's shirt, but my New Years crown still on. That is dedication." The voice said causing Tish to groan, head throbbing as she stumbled into her kitchen. Her last memory was of the Doctor falling sideways into the pool because he was laughing so hard so she wasn't sure how she'd ended up in her pyjamas in bed.<p>

Jack lit up as he saw her enter the kitchen and winked at Amy. "SO TISH. HOW DID YOU SLEEP!" he said loudly.

Tish winced and glared at Jack. "You're an ass." She grumbled.

"You're a lush." Jack countered as he chewed as loudly as possible on crispy bacon. "You deal with the two of your little mourning hissy fit?" he asked her cheerily.

Tish glared at him and sat down at the table, resting her head in her arms. "Yes." She mumbled.

"Going to kick him again?" Jack asked grinning.

"Maybe." Tish continued to mumble into her arms as she spoke.

There was a slight click as something warm was put next to her hand. Fingers brushed the hair back from her face and she found herself looking up at Rory.

"How you feeling?" Rory asked her with concern.

"Like I got kicked in the head and my liver is plotting to kill me." Tish admitted.

"I think it's more likely you tried to kill it." Rory joked. "Here," he motioned for her to sit up and handed her two advil and gestured to the cup of coffee. "Take these and you'll feel better." He said hugging her gently. "Thanks." Tish said gratefully as she took them. He'd even made her coffee perfectly.

"Give me just a moment and I'll get you some hangover food." He said kissing her gently on the top of the head.

"I love you." Tish said, laying her head back down on her arms.

"Love you too." Rory said, leaning over and pressing a kiss against her temple.

"Morning!" the Doctor exclaimed happily as he strolled into Tish's kitchen.

Tish groaned and covered her ears.

"Be nice, She's hungover." Rory teased both people.

Doctor sat down at the table. "Yes, I'm being nice. Mostly because she now knows more embarrassing stories than anyone here." He said grinning at them.

"Is that a challenge?" Jack questioned.

"No!" Both proclaimed followed by Tish wincing.

"So I was thinking." Jack said eagerly rubbing his hands together. "Mostly about what to do for New Years." he continued smiling despite the groans from Tish.

"What were you thinking about it?" Amy asked. "Isn't it just for fireworks?" she asked confused.

"Oh, it's so much more." Jack told her, "I mean we could go to New New York, visit the Crystal Star shower?" Jack suggested looking at the Doctor.

"No, cat nuns, tenth me, would be a bad place to be for Amelia." the Doctor said

Amy watched as the two fought good naturedly until Rory sat down a bacon sandwich in front of Tish."I still say the show from America is better." Jack proclaimed.

The Doctor shook his head, "The one in Paris is great." He said bouncing.

"How about the one in Scotland?" Rory suggested gaining several looks. "Mum and Aunt Sharon were going to take me and Amelia there, but…" Rory trailed off and looked uncomfortable for a moment. He sat down. "It wasn't a good idea I guess." He continued thinking about that aborted time.

The Doctor and Jack shared a look and both grinned. "Scotland and New York it is!" he said bouncing.

* * *

><p><strong>New Years<strong>

* * *

><p>Three sword fights, several drinks and two minor firework explosions later they all stood in the middle of a crowd cheering as the time counted backwards.<p>

The Doctor watched curiously, ignoring the fireworks, when as people yelled 'Happy New Year!' Rory and Tish kissed, wrapping their arms around each other.

"Why do you do that?" the Doctor asked them.

"Do what?" Rory asked dreamily.

"Kiss when the time hits midnight." The doctor asked curiously.

"It's tradition, for good luck." Tish told him with a laugh.

"Exactly!" Jack said enthusiastically, "C'mere and I'll show you." He said kissing the Doctor quickly and chastely.

One more sword fight later and they were heading to New York.

* * *

><p><strong>Torchwood Warehouse<br>**

* * *

><p>Mickey and Martha had promised to cover Christmas and New Years for Gwen and Rhys if they would in turn take over Valentine's day and St. Patrick's day.<p>

After all the 'un-knocked-up ones deserved fun on those days' as Mickey put it.

The alarm hadn't gone off all night, Jack was still 'visiting' and they were bored. It was nearly five in the morning but they were trying to stay up the entire shift and just go home to crash when they were relieved at eight.

Mickey looked up at the TV, barely awake and noticed the celebration in New York was about to reach Midnight. He yawned and nudged his wife. "Hey." He whispered gently waking her.

"Hmm?" She asked, snuggling against his chest on the sofa.

"Ball's about to drop in New York." He said softly smiling.

"Bit behind, aren't they?" Martha said but she woke up enough to at least listen.

Mickey smiled and rubbed her back lightly as he watched. After a few seconds of quiet but the low noise from the screen he nearly choked as he felt his stomach clench. "Martha, where did Tish say she'd be on New Years?" he asked staring at the screen.

"She wasn't sure, but she said if he figured out where he'd needed to be she'd try and stop by." Martha rubbed the side of her face, trying to wake up some.

"Why?" she said looking at him concerned.

"Cause she's on the screen in New York, and I'm pretty sure that's the Doctor." Mickey said.

Martha sat upright with a jolt and looked at the screen in shock, "No..." she said quietly staring at the scene in front of him.

Sure enough, there on the screen Tish and the Doctor stood with the shock of people all around them as the countdown to New Year's lowered.

They were dressed warmly, both wearing goofy hats for New Years and laughing.

"No..." Martha repeated her eyes never leaving the screen.

As everyone on the screen shouted 'Happy New Year!' the Doctor and Tish kissed.

Martha snagged her phone off the table and dialled Tish's number.

She watched as on screen the pair broke apart both laughing, Tish pulled out her phone, said something and stuck it back in her pocket.

"Oh! That...Grr." Martha growled.

On the third phone call Tish answered finally, sounding put out. _"Martha, What do you need? It's midnight."_ She answered exasperated.

"Turn to your left and smile." Martha said flatly, "You're on camera." She growled watching her sister on the television as Tish turned to the left and her face paled, and smile faltered. The Doctor looked at her curiously and said something to which Tish replied. He paled and gave a small wave and a sheepish smile that looked afraid.

"Any explanation?" Martha asked.

_"None you'd like."_ Tish replied honestly.

Martha watched as on screen a small child came up to them, dropping the hand of whoever she'd been with - whoever it was stayed out of camera range. The gender would be undetermined if it weren't for colour; she was bundled up in a thick coat that was pink with a bright purple cap on that covered her ears. She wore one of those '2010' mask like others and even had a party hat one. She said something to the Doctor quietly enough that Martha couldn't hear it.

The Doctor smiled, leaned down and lifted her up into his arms, talking to her. He leaned over to Tish and said so Martha barely heard it, "We're going to go get something warm. Coming?" he questioned.

_"Yeah, let's go."_ Tish agreed._ "Martha, can I talk to you at a more reasonable hour?"_ she said blowing a kiss at the camera.

"You've got a time machine now," Martha said irritably, "Come to the warehouse; I'm sure Jack would be pleased to see the Doctor." She growled.

Martha watched Tish wince on screen and nod, _"Okay. See you in a bit."_ She hung up the phone, stuck it in her pocket and absently reached up to rearrange the hat the girl wore with a smile. She grabbed the hand of whoever it was off screen and the four disappeared into the crowd.

"Well then." Mickey said aptly.

* * *

><p>"We don't have to get there right now do we?" Jack asked wincing at the thought of his medic learning about him travelling with the Doctor and Tish.<p>

"You know, I don't think she said we had to be there now, and as she pointed out we do have a time machine" Tish said looking towards the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded, smile slowly spreading. "We could be there now for her but later for us." He said smiling innocently.

"How long do you think we have until we have to show up?" Rory questioned.

"Hmm, till I run out of meds, till we get hurt or until we run out of milk." Tish said.

"So, where do you want to go?" the Doctor asked eagerly, standing at the controls with Amy.

"How about somewhere warm?" Jack asked.

"Somewhere not wintery." Rory agreed.

"Oh, how about Rio?" Tish suggested.

"Rio it is! Go get dressed appropriately and let's go!" the Doctor said grinning.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Holy crap, nearly 10,000 words for this story this week alone! Never...again...or at least not till I have more caffeine. <em>Well you're the one who said you were going to give us another chapter! <em>Yeah, I know...I know...But I've got TWO 'Expanding the Universe' to do as well. Speaking of, if you want to know what they got up to while drunk er...it'll eventually be post in that. _AKA she's got it..mostly but is busy doing other things. Sacreligious NON Raising Amelia things. _Yeah, I'm a Doctor Who heathen. Enjoy!]**


	82. Hungry Earth Part One

**Cwmtaff, South Wales, 2020**

* * *

><p>"But who is this creature with terrible claws," Mo read aloud to his son as they sat on a wooden bench outside their house near the road. It was starting to head towards night and he had to go to work soon, but he had to take the time to read with his son., "terrible teeth in his terrible jaws? Go on, your bit..." Mo nudged his son and indicated the book. If he didn't work with Elliot daily then his son wouldn't get better and reading would just become more of a struggle over time.<p>

As it stood it was hard to get him to read. Not that he wasn't bright, far from it, it was just that it was hard when the letters seemed to rearrange themselves before his eyes and it was easier to try and ignore the problem in his sons eyes. "He...He has...Go on!" Mo said, leading his son.

"I can't do it, Dad." Elliot complained. "I can listen to books anyway." He nudged the headphones around his neck and looked away, clearly embarrassed.

"I know it doesn't come easy, son, but you've got to keep at it, all right?" Mo patted his son's shoulder. "You're not on your own with this." He said softly.

"Mo!" he turned to look and smile as his wife came up beside them. She handed him his boxed dinner and scolded him without any heat. "You'll be late for your shift." She chided smiling at them both.

"Oh, you're right!" He placed the meal inside his pack. "Sorry, El, got to go. Now," Mo grinned at his son, "who loves you more than me?" he said teasingly.

Elliot smiled back at his dad's teasing, "No-one." He stated firmly.

"Stop saying that!" Ambrose complained but smiled as well.

Mo laughed and kissed Elliot on top of the head before standing up and slinging his pack on. With another kiss for his wife he hopped on his bike and took off for his shift.

Working at a drilling centre wasn't the most exciting job in the world, but it'd do.

* * *

><p><strong>Drilling Station<strong>

* * *

><p>The drilling station was large and mostly made of concrete and steel, making for a drafty work environment meaning most of those standing around were in coats under their safety vests.<p>

All around were large computers, some inside steel consoles, others sitting up on desks.

_"Approaching stage four, target drilling depth." _A voice read out as Nasreen and Tony stared at one of the computer monitors eagerly. On screen a perfect replica of the drill moved complete with a count down next to it of both time and depth.

_"Stage four target drill depth scheduled in five, four, three, two, one. Stage four target drill depth achieved. Drill depth now 21 kilometres." _came the mechanized voice of the computer as the drillers ran the simulations._  
><em>

As the voice read it out the duo hugged in celebration, both cheering at the accomplishment.

Nasreen smiled at him and broke away, picking up one of the phones to call it in. "Hi, Nasreen here, just wanted to let you know we've just hit our new target."

She reported proudly, waving slightly to the men who were quite happy looking.

Tony smiled to himself as he picked up the intercom and cleared his throat. "Twenty-One kilometres, folks! Further than anyone's **ever** drilled into the Earth."

He looked out the window at the workers in their uniforms and safety jackets. "Thanks for your amazing work. Have a great weekend! Onwards and downwards." he added with a chuckle. Though the window he noticed his son-in-law arriving for work and hung up the intercom.

"How much further do you think we can go, Mack?" Nasreen asked Tony as he held her in a partial hug.

"Into the unknown! Exciting, isn't it?" He grinned and pulled her into a full hug.

"Yeah." Nasreen nodded.

"Aye, aye! Stop that!" Mo scolded his father-in-law and boss playfully. "The real worker's here now." He yelled jovially.

"Evening, Mo." The other two said shaking their heads at their co-workers antics.

"21K?" Mo repeated what he'd heard with excitement as he hugged Tony. "You just wanted to grab all the glory before I come on shift." He pulled away from Tony and greeted Nasreen with a hug. "Right, off you go. Get out, it's my gaff for the night." He didn't need to tell them twice. As he settled down they were out the door. Mo shook his head and laughed, 21K, new record, not just for them but for the entire world.

* * *

><p>The night shift was terribly boring. Night shifts always were, but especially at the Drilling centre. It was colder, quiet bar the low hum of the drill and just...dull.<p>

He sat back in his chair, watching the monitors that showed no movement at all. They never did.

Few hours left to go he finally decided to open his bag and find his meal. When he opened it however he found the book he'd been reading with Elliot earlier perched on top. Sneaky boy, that was one way to get out of reading.

"Brilliant." Mo chuckled.

He opened the book to find the spot they'd left off, a little entertainment to brighten the evening, and was not even a paragraph in when the entire room began to shake.

Mo sat up straight, frightened and looked at the monitor where the drill seemed to be stuttering.

No, it couldn't break down. Not now, not after all of this!

The room was shaking so violently even his coffee cup was vibrating.

Just as he went to stand up it all stopped again. This time it was dead quiet, not even the drill was humming.

Mo looked around, catching his breath and debating if he needed to call his father-in-law or Nasreen down. He glanced at the monitors out of habit and stared in shock as the camera's started turning off.

"No...Please, no." he mumbled to himself as he tapped the screen to try and bring them back online but it was to no avail, within moments they were all gone.

He got up from his chair and left to go check around just to make sure. He'd start with the room the first camera had been in.

As Mo walked down the hallways the lights started flickering and going out till he had to find his torch. The walls were cement and close in on him, the lights flickering and all he could think about were those horror movies he'd seen where the idiots died and the last one standing was usually no one you'd suspect.

He reached the store room and looked around, his light shining over the equipment before landing on a hole in the ground that had definitely not been there earlier.

He slowly approached it and crouched down next to it, torch light providing just enough to see it was dirt, the concrete had disappeared and there was steam coming from it.

"That is...mad." he breathed out.

He set the torch down on the edge of the dirt to light it and reached out slowly with his hands to feel the dirt. Before he could actually touch it however his torch fell forward and just vanished into the earth. That wasn't possible. No way that was possible.

He touched the earth now, finding it warm but not as hot as the steam would imply. Mo dug to reach the torch and with a gasp of shock found absolutely nothing beneath the loose dirt. It felt like he was grasping at air for a moment then something tightened around his arm.

With a scream he tried to jerk his arm back but it was held tight. "No, please, no!" He used his left arm as leverage on the concrete floor to haul himself out, throwing his weight backwards and absently kicking out with his legs to get away once his arm was free, realizing a few seconds too late it was a bad idea as instead now his foot was caught in the dirt.

He still tried desperately to move away, to get some sort of leverage, but none was to be found.

Mo screamed, hoping someone would hear, someone would help, as he was pulled backwards.

Within thirty seconds of entering the store room Mo was gone. Nothing left behind to even signify he'd been there at all, just a small steaming patch of earth.

* * *

><p><strong>-TARDIS-<strong>

* * *

><p>"Are you sure it's Rio this time?" Jack questioned the Doctor once they'd landed.<p>

"Yes." he replied, crossing his arms.

"Are you really sure?" Tish teased, "Last time it was France." She said smiling innocently at him.

"Before that Arcateen V," Rory said.

"Don't forget Rigel Beta 5." Jack counted.

"Or Japan!" Amy giggled.

The Doctor stuck his tongue out at them but couldn't deny that in two months and six trips they'd yet to hit Rio. He was beginning to doubt they would, honestly.

"I'm right this time!" he shot back at them and dashed to the door. "Behold," he flung open the door. "RIO!" he shouted not looking around at the wet, dreary landscape around him.

"Nuh-uh." Amy shook her head and bit back a laugh. Not Rio, far from Rio. They were in a cold Cemetery somewhere that was definitely not Rio. There was a tall stone church a few feet away from the TARDIS that over looked everything.

"Not really getting a sunshine carnival vibe." Rory agreed with Amy.

"Definitely no girls in bikini's or hunks in spandex here," Jack added a token protest that barely gained a glare from Rory.

"No..." the Doctor frowned, ignoring Jack as he walked across the ground. "Feel that, though? What is that?" he questioned, bouncing as if the ground were a trampoline. "Ground feels...strange..." he looked around at the humans, and humanoid, who just stared back at him acting weird. Yumo made a whimpering noise at Amy's feet and shifted. "Not just me...Wait...that's weird." He continued trailing off.

Yumo tugged on his leash, whining and heading back towards the TARDIS.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked, kneeling down to scratch Yumo's ears.

"He doesn't like it." the Doctor told her as he tried to figure out the ground. "There's something loud that's hurting his ears, the ground's funny and he's cold." the Doctor paused and looked at the Uval. "Wimp." He said condescendingly looking to where the dog had disappeared.

Amy sighed but opened the TARDIS door again to let Yumo in. He sat in the doorway and watched her as she undid his leash. "You want to stay here?" she asked patting him on the head.

Yumo rubbed at his face with his paws and watched the dirt with distrust.

"Okay. We'll be back later." Amy promised, laying the leash inside and kissing the Uval on top of his head before shutting the door again.

"What's weird about the ground?" Rory questioned, watching the Doctor's antics.

"I think maybe he's trying to distract us because once again we're in the wrong place." Jack said with a grin even as the Doctor dashed past him and around the side of the church to examine the other side of the graveyard.

"Doctor, it's freezing here and once again I stupidly dressed for Rio." Tish complained without much malice, "Are we honestly stopping here?" Even given his track record she'd done as told and dressed for warm weather, choosing black cotton shorts that came down to mid-thigh, a red short sleeved shirt that buttoned up the front and showed off the necklace Rory had given her for Christmas but had at least thankfully worn a pair of tennies.

Upon hearing her complaint Rory slipped out of his jacket and held it out for her. Once Jack had discovered the coat Tish had bought Rory he'd declared the 'boy' obviously needed more help with style and had gone digging till he found his old leather jacket worn back when he was mortal for Rory to wear when it wasn't cold enough for the big coat. Jack's first attempt had been the Doctor's old jacket which had swamped Rory.

Tish smiled gratefully and Rory and slipped on the jacket that was still warm from his body.

"You promised us a beach." Amy said, "but we've got a graveyard." She pouted at him.

"Blue grass." the Doctor said, plucking some from the ground and then gesturing to the graveyard. "Patches of it all round the graveyard." he said a bit louder once they'd joined him, tucking the grass into his pocket.

Jack looked curiously around the graveyard, there were large patches of blue grass that looked extremely out of place amongst the normal grass. It almost made it look like a patchwork quilt.

He plucked some of the grass from the ground like the Doctor had and used his wrist strap to scan it.

"So...Earth...2020ish, ten years into your future, admittedly the wrong continent but not a horribly massive overshoot." the Doctor shrugged. Maybe the TARDIS was starting to come around to visiting Rio.

"Dad, those people are waving at us." Amy said, tugging on his jacket and pointing to the other side of the valley where indeed several people stood waving at them.

"Can't be." the Doctor muttered, digging into his pockets and pulling out a pair of binoculars. Amy gave a small wave but Tish stopped her, unsure of who they were.

Two people stood on the horizon together, a light skinned male in a dark blue jumper and a darker skinned female in an oversized light yellow jumper. His arm was wrapped around her and he used his other hand to wave enthusiastically, the woman doing the same and laughing.

Next to them a younger woman stood, bouncing up and down as she waved eagerly with both hands. Her pink shirt was noticeable under a very familiar brown trench coat that was flowing slightly in the breeze. He had to grin at the brown and blue tie around her neck.

Standing beside her was a tall man with dark hair and an unmistakeable coat.

"It is...Is you lot!" The Doctor said incredulously.

"Huh?" Jack looked up from his scan and eyed the others. "Can't be." He said shaking his head.

"How can we be up there?" Rory questioned.

"Ten years in your future." the Doctor continued, "Come to relive past glories, I'd imagine. Or to say 'hi'." he waved at the girl he knew had to be an older Amy and laughed as she blew a kiss at them and the other Jack saluted him.

"We're still together in ten years." Rory said in awe, looking at their future selves.

"Oh don't you sound surprised." Tish smacked him lightly.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Rory said quickly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her close.

She laughed and wrapped her arm around his waist, "I know. You're cute when you're flustered." She said laying her head on his shoulder.

"If either set of you starts making out I might lose my breakfast." Jack threatened.

"Hey, we could say 'hi' to our future selves!" Amy said cheerfully then frowned. "Dad, why aren't you there? If it's us over there, shouldn't you be there too?" she asked concerned.

The Doctor shook his head and smiled at how worried she sounded, "I'm probably just out of sight because at least I know better than to be seen by myself when in the past...or future. That or I'm not there because I didn't see myself there and am waiting just out of sight to guilt you lot into getting me jammie dodgers." He said smiling at Amy.

Amy giggled, "Must be!" Her older self seemed to be doing some kind of dance now as the other versions of them laughed as well till the older Jack hauled her over his shoulder, saluted again and started to walk off.

"Look!" the Doctor said, mind already off of the others. "A big mining thing." he pointed rather unnecessarily at a large drilling structure that stood tall over everything surrounding it. "Way better than Rio." He insisted.

"Rio doesn't have been mining things, does it?" Amy asked.

"Nope!" the Doctor grinned.

"We're going to go have a look, aren't we?" Jack said, "I scanned the grass, but it didn't say much beyond lots of minerals in it." He sighed as he looked in the direction of the mines.

"Let's go and have a look." the Doctor agreed, reaching for Amy's hand. She took it and followed his steps through the graveyard carefully.

"And you were worried he'd not be able to get us home." Tish told Rory, head resting against his shoulder. "But see over there? It all works out just fine." She continued snuggling against him.

"Yeah...I shouldn't doubt him by now...don't tell him I said that." Rory said quickly.

Tish just laughed. She'd made it a few steps away when she stopped and frowned, "Oh." She said looking down.

"Oh?" Rory repeated.

She reached a hand up to her neck and touched the locket Rory had given her. It was a simple heart made of white gold with a tiny diamond inlaid in the centre of a small engraved star, inside on one side was a photo of the two of them smiling together and on the other a photo of the Doctor and Amy.

She'd already almost lost it once on Arcateen V and she really didn't want to lose it. God knew how much it'd cost Rory.

Tish reached around the back to unclasp it and pulled it off, reattaching the clasp once it was in her hands. "Could you keep this in your pocket? I really don't want to lose it." Tish told Rory, holding it out to him.

Rory took it but frowned, "It might fall out of my pocket...I'll go stick it in the TARDIS, okay?" he said walking over to the console.

"Hey, you two!" Jack stopped in his spot halfway across the graveyard and waved at them, "Get a move on!" he grumbled.

"Go on, I'll be a minute." Rory kissed Tish and walked back to the TARDIS.

"Where's he going?" Jack asked Tish.

"Gone to put my necklace back up so we don't lose it. He said he'll catch up." She explained.

"Ah...You go on." Jack nodded in the direction the Doctor and Amy had gone in, "I'll wait for Nurseboy. No knowing what trouble he'd get himself into without someone around." As Tish walked off Jack followed Rory, entering the TARDIS a few steps behind him.

"You're so whipped." Jack laughed from the TARDIS doorway as Rory tried to locate a clear spot on the console to lay the locket.

"I am not." Rory gave up finding a clear spot and hung it off the monitor.

"You really are. But that's not always a bad thing." Jack shrugged. "Being whipped has perks." He said grinning lecherously.

"I'm not listening." Rory said as he opened the door and stepped out only to stop suddenly. There was someone there!

"Well, that was quick!" a woman with dark brown almost red hair proclaimed, seemingly waiting for them.

"Was it?" Rory asked, stepping aside to let Jack shut the door.

"It's great that you came." she added.

"Bit retro," the boy that was with her said, eyeing the TARDIS. He tapped the side and looked at it inquiringly. "What is it, portable crime lab?" he asked turning to them.

"Exactly." Jack nodded. He smiled brightly and held his hand out, "I'm Captain Jack Harkness, and you are?" he flirted.

"Ambrose Northover." Ambrose shook his offered hand and smiled. "I was the one who called. I run the meals on wheels for the whole valley." She gestured to her son, "This is my son, Elliot." She explained.

"How come only the Captain's in uniform?" Elliot questioned. Rory looked down at his brown vest and grey plaid shirt and felt vaguely insulted though he wasn't sure why.

"Ah, he's just an aide." Jack said cheerfully, grinning at Rory's discomfort. "Hasn't got a uniform yet. Maybe once he passes some tests. Anyway, where's the problem?" he said going into police mode.

"Oh, it's just over here." Ambrose said, walking away to lead them.

"I'm your AIDE?" Rory hissed at Jack as they followed her.

"Only if you're useful. I could find a prettier boy to follow me and do my bidding in an instant." Jack teased.

* * *

><p><strong>-Drilling Centre-<strong>

* * *

><p>Nasreen frowned as she knelt on the concrete floor. There was dirt, not just dirt but a hole in the ground that hadn't been there before<em>. <em>It wasn't logical at all, how could a hole just appear out of no where? There wasn't even any broken concrete left behind anywhere it was like someone had just come in and cut a hole in the ground. She'd just finished hooking up a machine to measure the ground activity when Tony walked in.

"The drill's shut down!" Tony proclaimed with outrage. "There's no sign of Mo." His voice sounded level but she knew he was concerned for his son-in-law.

"Nobody's been in or out pf the perimeter between last night and...now," he finished slowly as he noticed both what she was doing and the hole. "What's that? That wasn't here last night." He said, "how the hell did that get here?" he grumbled, worry for his friend and upset over the extra work getting to him.

"I don't know." Nasreen said honestly, feeling at a loss. Something very wrong was going on and she didn't have the slightly clue as to what it was.

* * *

><p><strong>The Doctor<strong>

* * *

><p>"Hmm." the Doctor examined the sign on the gates that barred them from access to the 'shiny big drilling thing'. "Restricted access. No unauthorized personnel." he grinned down at Amy who looked eager and motions to the lock.<p>

Amy dug into her pocket with her left hand and produced her sonic. She pointed it at the gate and with a buzz, a click and a spark of light the lock was opened.

"I'm pretty sure that's called 'breaking and entering'." Tish told them.

"What did we break?" Amy questioned.

"We soniced, it's totally different." the Doctor agreed.

"I guess if it's open anyway..." Tish laughed and walked through with Amy.

The Doctor looked back down the road towards where Rory and Jack had stayed behind. If Jack weren't in a – loath as he was to say it – committed relationship and if he weren't certain Rory was completely in love with Tish he might worry what they were up to, as it were...

"Are you sure they said they'd catch up?" the Doctor asked with a tinge of worry. He didn't really want to admit to worrying about Rory.

"Pretty sure this town is mostly deserted, I don't think Jack'll get hurt flirting and Rory knows where we were going." Tish said. "I'm sure they'll get to us." She said firmly believing her words.

* * *

><p><strong>Jack and Rory<strong>

* * *

><p>Rory looked down into the open grave that was little ways away from the TARDIS and the church. It looked like a typical open grave to him, not that he'd seen many, and he really wasn't sure what he was supposed to be seeing.<p>

Jack stood on one of the boards looking curious as Elliot played around on them trying to keep his balance.

"It's a family plot, see. My aunt Gladys died six years ago." Ambrose explained, "Her husband, Alun, died a few weeks back. He lived in the house two doors down from us...there's not many of us left up here now." She explained sadly.

"Mum, he doesn't care about that!" Elliot told her. "They want to know about the dead bodies." He said excitedly.

"Dead bodies?" Jack repeated.

"Yes. Sorry. Well, they always had wanted to be burried in the same plot. Together forever, you know? But when we went to bury my uncle Alun, Gladys wasn't there." Ambrose gestured to the grave. "No coffin, no body; everything was gone." She said worriedly.

"What?" Rory asked, stunned. Whole coffins didn't just disappear. It was impossible.

"Was there any disturbance to the grave on the surface?" Jack questioned.

"No. That's the mad thing, it was untouched." Ambrose told him.

"No signs at all of it being messed with?" Jack looked intrigued now.

"None. Nobody has touched the grave since my aunt was buried." Ambrose said. "But then when they dug it up the whole body was gone. How is that possible?" she asked looking at them.

Jack just looked at the grave wondering exactly what they'd gotten themselves into now.

* * *

><p><strong>The Doctor<strong>

* * *

><p>"How about now, can you feel it now?" the Doctor nearly whined as they walked down the concrete halls. They hadn't found anything worthwhile outside, so he'd decided the next step was to find an unlocked door to let them inside to wander around.<p>

"I don't feel anything different, honestly." Tish added when the Doctor looked sulky.

"Me either. Sorry." Amy said.

"I don't know how you can't feel it. You should. It doesn't feel right. It feels...not like it should." He frowned looking at them.

"Well, it is ten years in the future." Tish considered, "Maybe this is how it always feels now." She asked cautiously.

"Good thought! But no, it doesn't. Sorry, you don't get points for that deduction." An alarm blared several times in warning before stopping. The halls were then filled with a low humming noise. "Hear that? Somebody's put the drill into start-up mode." He said bouncing up, as he listened to the sounds.

"Maybe the ground feels weird because of the drill?" Amy suggested.

"No...Can't be the drill. So, we've got ground that feels weird, after waves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass." he counted off the oddities. Digging into his pocket he produced the blue grass he'd plucked earlier. Without a thought he put it in his mouth and briefly tried to analyze what was in it by taste. That thought quickly disappeared as a horrible taste overwhelmed him and he spat it out, making faces and wiping at his tongue.

"Ew." Amy made a face.

"Ugh, don't worry, Amy, he's always been this disgusting." Tish told her.

"Have not!" the Doctor complained.

"You stuck your entire hand into a brand new jar of marmalade." Tish said, recalling that particular incident from when he'd spent a week at the Jones' house with Jack and Martha while they fixed the TARDIS after the Master had ruined it.

"I wanted it!" he sulked.

"There was a spoon right next to the jar." Tish complained.

"Spoons taste like metal." he replied. "Oh...what's in..." he ducked through a side door making the girls follow him, "here...Hello!" He waved in greeting to the woman standing at the counter. It was a large room filled with equipment, computers and not much else.

"Who are you?" the woman asked, taking off her glasses and setting them next to her computer. "What are you doing here?" she paused and looked over them, "And what are you wearing?" she asked staring at the duo.

Amy shrugged, not sure what was wrong. She'd dressed for both warm and cold weather 'just in case' and worn light pink cargo trousers, her black and blue tennies and a light weight white cotton tank-top and a faded gold and blue flannel over shirt.

"We dressed for Rio." Tish complained, eyeing the Doctor who looked less than ashamed.

"We're with the Ministry of Drills, Earth and Science! New Ministry, quite big, just merged, lot of responsibility on our shoulders, don't like to talk about it." he followed her gaze to Amy and smiled, "Intern. Now, what are you doing?" The Doctor questioned.

"None of your burntness." she replied candidly.

He ignored her and walked over to the monitors as Tish made sure Amy didn't get into anything while exploring. "Where are you getting these readings from?" he demanded, a bit in awe at what was shown on the screen.

"Under the soil." She told him as she picked up a heavy piece of metal machinery from inside the hole she'd found earlier.

"Nasreen, I've got the drill up and running again—Who're you?" the Doctor looked over and saw an older man who looked confused. "What's going on? Who are these people?" the old man asked roughly.

"I'm Tish, that's Amy, he's the Doctor." Tish gestured to each of them, "Sorry for invading but...well, he's got the excuse." She gestured again to the Doctor.

"Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?" the Doctor asked, not bothering to even give an excuse. He lifted the dirt and toyed with it before letting it fall through his fingers with a worried expression.

"We don't know." Nasreen told him, "It just appeared overnight." She told them honestly, looking a bit worried.

Amy peered into the hole but all she saw was dirt. What was so interesting?

"Good, right." the Doctor quickly stood, "You all need to get out of here very fast." He said worriedly.

"Why?" Nasreen demanded.

"What's your name?" the Doctor asked, noting with approval that Tish had started to gather Amy close.

"Nasreen Chaudhry." She stated simply.

"Look at the screens, Nasreen. Look at the readings." he indicated the monitor. "It's moving." he said ominously.

"Hey, that's specialised equipment!" Tony walked over to the monitor as well. "Get away from it." He threatened.

"What is?" Nasreen asked the Doctor, ignoring Tony.

"Doctor." Tish called out to catch his attention. The hole had shifted it seemed and steam was now pouring out of it and hovering like fog. "The hole is putting out steam and I'm doubting that's a good thing." She said concern in her voice.

The Doctor looked over his shoulder at it. "Shouldn't think so." He moved to check it out again. "It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting." He said mostly to himself as he looked.

"What shouldn't?" Nasreen asked again. She nearly fell as the ground started shaking out of nowhere.

"The ground, the soil, the earth itself is moving, but how?" he demanded, running back to the monitor. "Why?" he asked staring at the readings.

"Earthquake?" Amy asked worriedly.

"Doubt it." the Doctor replied, "It's only happening under this room." He explained to her.

'Ground shifting that shouldn't be, earth that doesn't feel right and localized movement, Oh my God!' "Doctor!" Tish nearly yelled, "The ground's attacking because it knows we're here!" she yelled turning to him.

"What?" He asked, turning pale.

"Like Australia." she added nervously. With a yell she was forced to jump backwards, dragging Amy with her as suddenly more holes apeared in the ground with crashing noises.

"The ground's attacking." he repeated Tish's statement.

"That's impossible." Nasreen said, moving as far back from the newly exposed earth as possible.

"Under the circumstances, I'd suggest...Run!" He reached back to grab Nasreen's hand, realizing her hesitance, and pulled her to run with him. Tish had grabbed Amy's and was navigating the holes that kept popping up as best she could.

Tony yelled as he stumbled his foot getting caught in one of the newly opened holes.

Tish paused in her run and looked back at the fearful man. She couldn't leave him behind. She knew what it was like to be pulled down. She tugged Amy's hand to pull her ahead and then shove her forwards towards the door.

"Tony!" Nasreen yelled from the safety of the doorway.

The Doctor grabbed Amy's hand and hauled her to safety as well, "Tish, stay back! Stay away from the Earth!" he yelled to his companion worry in his voice.

Tish ignored him and jumped across one of the smaller holes to help Tony. "It'll be okay." she told him as she tried to help him gain purchase on the concrete. It was only seconds before the ground beneath her feet opened up and she felt her shoes sinking in.

Tish yelled instinctively and tried to jerk her legs free. "Oh fuck!" Tish exclaimed in frustration, "Not again!" she grumbled.

"Tish!" the Doctor yelled and ignoring his own instructions dashed across the concrete and spread out on his stomach to reach her. He grabbed onto her as she sunk in further, all the way up to her thighs in the dirt now.

"Not again." She repeated, looking into the Doctors eyes and seeing the fear she felt reflected back.

"I've got you." he tried to sound assuring as he held onto her hands, but she still slipped in up to her waist.

Nasreen had followed the Doctor and grasped Tony's arms, helping to pull him out.

"Doctor, this isn't the Targan's, is it?" Tish asked, holding onto him.

"Too far north." he agreed. "Stay calm, keep hold of me and don't let go." he turned to look at Nasreen and Tony, "Go shut your drill down NOW. Amy, don't move!" he yelled to the girl who was standing a few feet behind him.

The terrified eight year old nodded and both adults took off running.

"I know you can activate the dirt to make us get sucked in, can you work it in reverse to get me out?" Tish questioned.

The Doctor bit his lip. "I'm not sure. Worst comes worst we'll find a spade, eh? Just stay calm, remember what struggling does and don't let go of my hand!" he said trying to stay calm.

"It's different." Tish yelped as she sunk lower. "I'm not just sinking, something's pulling me." She said terror in her voice.

"Very different." the Doctor agreed and shifted his grip to hold her better. "Just hold on. Once they shut down the drill we can get you out." He said calmly as he waited for Nasreen to turn the drill off.

"What—What's pulling me?" Tish asked him as she found herself sunk in till only her head and arms were above the dirt. "What do you know that could be under the earth here?" she asked staring at the doctor.

"I...I don't know." he replied, "There's lots of things but..." he started only to be interrupted by Tish her voice wavering and quiet.

"I don't want to suffocate under there." Tish whimpered, finally outing her fear. "Not again. Not like last time." She said trying not to cry.

"You won't! Concentrate, Letitia, Don't give up!" The Doctor demanded.

"Don't tell Martha," Tish said, "She'll just say 'I told you so'." she sunk in a little lower as the Doctor tried not to smile, "You better come save me soon or I'm going to be very cross." She explained as the ground reached her chin.

"No...Tish!" he yelled as she took a deep breath and was pulled under completely. "NO!" he screamed , digging at the dirt as if he could unearth her just below the surface. "No! No! No! No! No!" He screamed repeatedly as he dug before finally hitting the ground and digging into his trouser pocket for his sonic. He tried to do in reverse what he'd done in Australia, but it didn't work. Obviously it was different but similar programming.

"Where is she?" Nasreen asked as she and Tony rushed back in, clearly out of breath. She noticed the mad looking Doctor and the crying child and knew the answer.

"She's gone." the Doctor said quietly.

"The ground took her." Amy said, rushing to her dad's side.

* * *

><p><strong>Jack and Rory<strong>

* * *

><p>"I don't see why I have to be down here." Rory complained from inside the muddy grave. He was definitely going to have to burn these clothes later. There was no way he was getting the mud out and there was just something creepy about being in a grave overall.<p>

"Because I'm not ruining my coat down there." Jack replied. "Ground feel weird or anything?" he asked.

Rory jumped up and down like the Doctor had and shook his head. "Feels like mud." he replied.

"Walls?" Jack questioned.

Rory pressed his hand against the wall of the grave but didn't feel anything but solid dirt and moisture.

"Do you want sugar?" Elliot asked them, walking up to look into the grave.

"Sorry?" Rory looked up at him.

"In your tea. Mum's asking." He said staring in awe at the two men.

"I'll take mine strong and sweet." Jack told him with a smile, "Rory like's his white." He answered smiling at the boy.

Rory ignored Jack, trying not to think about why Jack remembered how he liked his tea.

"There's only one explanation, as far as I can see." Elliot offered.

"Oh? What's that, then?" Jack asked interestedly. Children always had the best explanations for things.

"The graves eat people." Elliot said seriously. "They devour them whole, leaving no trace." He said simply and honestly.

"Not sure about that one." Rory replied, looking around for any clues. Jack stayed silent, internally pondering the plausibilities of Elliot's theory.

"They didn't steal the body from above. They couldn't have got in from the sides." Elliot motioned to the sides and bottom where Rory stood to back up his words. "Only other thing is, they get in from underneath."

Rory nodded, "I don't know, doesn't sound very likely." he said, trying not to crush the boy's theory entirely, he looked about Amy's age and that was when creativity should be fostered, not squashed.

"'When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'" Elliot quoted.

"What's that?" Rory questioned.

"Sherlock Holmes." Jack told him, breaking from his thoughts.

"Got the audiobook." Elliot said proudly.

Jack laughed, "Sherlock and John were alright, but I always preferred Vastra and Jenny. Learned quite quickly not to ask the girls to dance, Jenny had a mean right hook! The boys on the other hand..." he said trailing off even as Rory interrupted him.

"Jack!" Rory cautioned, knowing exactly what he meant by dance but not knowing who he was talking about.

Elliot shook his head and chalked it up to adults being weird. "The graves around here eat people." he repeated firmly.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Yay, early chapter tonight! <em>Sadly it doesn't cover as much as I wanted. _If you had kept writing we probably wouldn't have it tonight, as it is you went 2000 over! _Yes, and I realized if I keep a 'normal' chapter count/word count with this we'll be doing it for about six weeks! That can't stand so...watch for random week updates because I want to get past this to more original stuff! _This is our normal 'we're trying to stick to canon' arc. Enjoy!_]****  
><strong>


	83. Hungry Earth Part Two

"Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?" Tony asked the Doctor worriedly. He couldn't stand the thought of something happening to his family.

The Doctor ignored him, trying to sort his thoughts out by speaking out loud. He also was trying to keep his voice level for Amy's sake as he held her in his arms and swaying side to side lightly, she had her face against his shoulder but was calm now, no longer crying at the idea of Tish being all alone beneath the ground. Holding her served a dual purpose once Amy had calmed down by keeping him level and keeping her off the floor. If the ground opened again he'd be sucked down, but she'd be safe or at least with him.

Sometimes he wondered if she acted younger than most children when with him because that was how she was or if it was because she knew he liked babying her and knew it kept him calmer and more collected in times of crisis. Or maybe that was how all eight year olds acted, how was he supposed to know.

"It's not quicksand and it's not the same programming as before." the Doctor rambled, "It's not like she just sunk, it pulled her in. It wanted her!" he growled.

"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen nearly scoffed.

"When you first saw the ground this morning it was dormant, correct?" when Nasreen nodded he continued, "The drill was stopped as well?" he continued frowning at their reactions.

"That's right." Tony agreed.

"But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back." he pointed out, "it tried to stop us." He stated turning to look at the ground.

"So...the ground wants us to stop drilling? Doctor, that is ridiculous." Nasreen scoffed.

The Doctor freed one arm and pointed his sonic at the hole Tish had disappeared through. As he pressed down to make it send a pulse the ground began to vibrate.

"It's not ridiculous and that's not exactly what I'm saying." the Doctor told her. "It's bio-programming." He explained looking at the readings his sonic was giving him.

"What's that?" Nasreen questioned.

"It's where you use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects. It's mainly sued in engineering and construction and mostly on Jungle planets but I've seen it used in desert climate though mostly it's way in the future so why's it here?" he said mostly to himself.

"Sorry, did you just say jungle planets?" Nasreen clarified.

"You're not making any sense, man!" Tony nearly yelled.

"He's making perfect sense," Amy spoke finally. She'd stopped being frightened badly ages ago, but only recently had the Doctor stopped vibrating with fury. Until he had calmed down enough that she was sure he wasn't going to go running off and get hurt she'd kept up the 'terrified' act; he wouldn't and couldn't do anything stupid if she was in his arms. "You just can't keep up 'cause he's brilliant and you're not." She said defensively sticking her tongue out at the people.

The Doctor snorted but shook his head, "The ground beneath our feet has been programmed to attack, either to protect something or to hunt." He explained, as if talking to three year olds.

"Yeah, okay, even if that were possible, which by the way it's not, there's still the question of why?" Nasreen was clearly getting irritated by his lack of answers.

"I'm not sure, I think it might be trying to just stop the drilling...We need to find out who's programmed the ground here, find Tish and get her back!" He paused and frowned, a strange look on his face. "Shh, everyone shh!" he paused again, head tilted slightly. "Have I gone mad? I think I've gone mad." He babbled.

"Doctor?" Nasreen said.

"Shh! I need silence, absolute silence!" the Doctor commanded. He cocked his head to the side, obviously listening to something they couldn't hear. "You stopped the drill, right?" he asked facing her.

"Yes." Nasreen agreed.

"And you've only got the one drill?" he confirmed.

"Yes!" Nasreen insisted.

"You sure?"

"YES!" Tony exclaimed.

The Doctor moved and sat Amy down on the desk out of reach of the ground. He moved closer to the hole that Tish had been sucked down, listening closely.

Maybe he was catching it because of his enhanced hearing but it seemed loud enough to him. "So...if the drill is shut down and there's only the one, why can I still hear someone drilling?" As he asked the question he quickly laid down on the floor next to the hole, ear flat against the ground. "It's...It's under the ground." He whispered.

Tony and Nasreen leaned closer, trying to pick up whatever he was hearing but they could only make out a faint buzzing noise.

"How could something be drilling UNDER the ground? It's not possible." Tony told him.

The Doctor hopped to his feet and away from the hole, rushing back to the equipment that Amy sat near. "Any thoughts, Pond?" he asked the little girl, causing the other adults to stare in a mix of shock and disbelief.

"Targans?" Amy suggested worriedly.

"Too far North," the Doctor told her, making that bit of fear disappear. "They'd turn into ice lollies!" he made a face and used his sonic on the machinery to locate the data he needed. "And no one wants that!" he said teasing, "They'd taste horrible." He said shaking his head.

"What are you doing?" Nasreen rushed over to the equipment. It was sensitive and she was just sure he'd break it.

"Hacking into your records. Looking for reports, samples, sensors...There we go!" He said eagerly once he'd found it all, "Now just unite the data, make it all one big conversation so we can have a look!" He tapped the screen and smiled, "We are here and this is your drill hole. 21.009 kilometres. Well done!" the Doctor said, rather impressed.

"Thank you." Despite her annoyance at the Doctor she did have to take pride in her work. "It's taken us a long time." She said proudly.

"Why here, though? Why drill on this site?" the Doctor questioned.

"Was it special?" Amy asked.

"Well, we found patches of grass in this area," Nasreen told them with a glance at Tony who nodded, " that contained trace minerals unseen in this country for 20 millions years." She explained going into lecturer mode as she continued.

"The blue grass?" Jack had mentioned minerals and not for the first time the Doctor found himself worrying about the boys. "Oh, Nasreen...Those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot saying 'Dig here!' they were a warning. Stay away." he said slowly, his voice held a warning tone. "'Cause while you've been drilling down somebody else has been drilling up." He said ominously.

"Wow." Amy whispered, looking at the screen. "Dad, are those-" she trailed off looking at the displays.

"A network of tunnels that go all the way down." the Doctor whistled as he looked over the vertical network of tunnels that surrounded but did not intersect the drill hole that Nasreen had created.

"No, no," Tony shook his head in denial, "We've surveyed all that area." He insisted.

"People only see what they look for." Amy told him, fiddling with her bracelet.

"What's that mean?" Tony questioned crossly.

Nasreen ignored Tony and Amy and tapped the bottom of the screen where three small dots that flashed orange and green were now moving up the tunnels.

"What are they, Doctor? I don't recognize that." She said a hint of fear in her voice.

"Heat signals." the Doctor told her. He frowned in confusion as he watched them. "Dual readings, hot and cold...that doesn't make sense." He said quietly.

"They're moving fast." Amy commented.

"How many people live nearby?" the Doctor asked urgently.

"Um...Just my daughter and her family." Tony said, "The rest of the staff travel in." he told the Doctor honestly.

"Grab all this equipment," he said, gesturing to the table, "and follow me." the Doctor reached towards Amy and she shook her head.

"Why? What're we doing?!" Nasreen demanded.

"That noise isn't a drill." the Doctor told them, confused by Amy. "It's transport. There's three transports about 30km down. They're heading towards us at about 150km an hour. They'll be here...oh, quite soon." he looked at his watch even though he didn't need to, "Twelve minutes." He stated.

"Whatever it was that bio-programmed the Earth is on its way up, now." he looked at Amy again and frowned when he hopped off the table, "The ground-" he said worriedly.

"You need to help carry things." Amy told him, but did slip her right hand into his left.

"I'm strong enough to carry you and equipment." the Doctor said.

"You need your hands free too." Amy said with a smile, "I'll stay close. If anything happens you'll save me 'cause I'll be right next to you!" she said brightly hoping to not worry him.

He nodded, smiling at her logic, and lifted one of the computers in its case as Nasreen and Tony packed up the second one. "Let's go, then. I think we might have to locate the idiot boys if they haven't found us yet." The Doctor said smiling down at his daughter.

* * *

><p>Amy hurried along beside her dad, cords held over her other arm to help with the equipment. Both boys were hauling the computers while Nasreen was pushing a wheelbarrow full of even more equipment. Technology always needed more and more pieces to put together, it seemed, at least big stuff.<p>

"How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" Tony asked as he walked next to them.

"Who told you that?" the Doctor asked curiously. "There's Dinosaurs, alive and dead, Anti-matter, Huon particles, Spiders, Daleks...well, not yet." the Doctor admitted. "Beyond that, you saw the readings!" he said firmly looking at the others.

"What are you talking about?" Tony looked confused.

"Who are you, anyway?! How can you know all this?" Nasreen said, at a loss.

He was distracted from answering as a loud whirring noise over took them and something bright red shot up and streaked across the sky in almost lighting like arches.

"What was that, dad?" Amy questioned.

"No, no, no!" the Doctor yelled, dropping the computer and letting go of Amy's hand to dart ahead to higher ground. He dug into his pockets to locate something to use to lob a projectile and found one of his slingshots. The Doctor grabbed a rock of the ground, took aim and fired at the sky, hoping it would just keep flying. Instead it impacted a force field, sending red lights streaking from the impact.

"No..." he groaned and scanned the sky with his sonic. "Energy signal originating from under the Earth." he looked back at the humans and sighed,"Essentially, we're trapped." He said simply.

"Rory!" Amy exclaimed, darting forward but stopping forcefully by the Doctor, remembering her promise. "Jack!" she yelled.

"Doctor!" Rory called out as he approached, followed by two new people, "Something weird is going on here. The graves are 'eating' people." He explained.

"Eating people?" the Doctors brow crinkled and he shook his head, "Jack, problems." He stated turning to look for the former time agent.

"What's up?" Jack asked, giving Amy a one armed hug.

The Doctor gestured upwards at the sky, "Someone's put up an energy barricade." He said pointing at the faint shimmer in the sky.

"Shit." Jack groaned, "How far?" he grumbled.

"Not sure." The Doctor answered worriedly.

"What's an energy barricade?" Rory questioned.

"It's a barricade that's invisible to the naked eye." the Doctor explained, "That prevents us from getting out and the outside world from getting in." he turned and looked worriedly down at Amy.

Rory nodded thinking hard on it, "What about the TARDIS?" he asked.

"The what?" Nasreen asked.

"TARDIS. Our ship." Amy told her.

"No, the energy patterns from the barricade would play havoc with her circuits. If we had time I MIGHT be able to fix it but as it stands we've only got nine and a half minutes." The Doctor stated beginning to pace.

"Till what?" Jack asked cautiously.

"We're trapped. And something's burrowing towards the surface." Nasreen said in both trepidation and annoyance.

Jack's hand went immediately to his hip where his gun rested in its holster. He wasn't supposed to shoot it, had barely talked the Doctor into letting him keep it, but the action was calming somehow, just the knowledge that if he had to defend his friends, if there were no other option, he could.

"Doctor?" Rory asked suddenly turning to look for Tish.

"What she said." he said flatly.

Everyone else was there, even people he didn't know. His girlfriend however was gone. Maybe she'd gone back to the TARDIS for something. "Doctor, where's Tish?" Rory asked.

The Doctor nudged Amy towards Jack and lifted the computer. "Get everyone inside the Church, Captain." He said walking towards his newest companion.

"Where's Tish?" Rory repeated.

"Rory, I'll get her back." the Doctor promised as Jack and Amy walked off with the other humans.

"What do you mean 'get her back'?" Rory's voice was fearful but angry. "Where's is she?" he demanded.

"She was taken. Into the Earth." the Doctor expanded.

"Again!?" Rory nearly screamed, hands bunching into fists. "Why didn't you stop it?" he continued angrily.

"I tried." the Doctor put down the case and walked closer to Rory, "I promise you, I tried." he grabbed Rory, hands on his upper arms and looked him in the eye. "We've all had it happen, Rory, so I know what you're feeling and I swear to you I'll find Tish. I'll keep you all safe. We will get her back."

"We?" Rory looked surprised the Doctor was including him.

"Of course. I need you alongside me." the Doctor told him urgently.

Rory swallowed hard and nodded, "We'll get her back." He said determined.

The Doctor smiled finally and said with determination, "Nothing's going to stop us. Tish told me that if we don't get her she's going to be 'very cross'. I don't want Tish cross." he said, lifting up the computer equipment and leading Rory away. "A cross Tish makes me cook my own breakfast." He said frowning at the memory of the last time Tish had been cross with him.

* * *

><p>Jack followed behind the others to the church back by the graveyard, Amy clutching his hand.<p>

"Tish got taken underground?" Jack repeated.

"Yeah, it pulled her down under the ground." Amy said, voice cracking again. "I don't like it underground. They took us in Australia. It was cold and wet and all around and pressing in and the dirt got into your nose and mouth if you tried to scream and you can't breath and-" Amy swallowed hard trying not to cry again but the memory genuinely still terrified her.

Jack stopped and crouched down, grabbing both her hands. "Hey, that's not going to happen again." Jack said seriously, no hint of a smile as he looked into her eyes. "Never again. I won't let it, not while you're with me and I know your dad won't. Even Rory'd protect you." He said trying to calm the younger girl.

"Rory got taken too last time." Amy said quietly.

Jack hadn't heard that before and mentally gave Rory another respect point. "He'd protect you even more now, then, if he's had it happen. Point is, Amy, we'll take care of you. We'll get Tish back and then we'll have to make it up to her, won't we?" Jack said smiling.

"How?" Amy questioned looking questioningly at him.

"Hmm...How about we make a giant mess of the kitchen and make triple chocolate fudge brownies?" Jack smiled now, getting a tiny smile in return, "We can play Marco-Polo in the pool and then watch a movie. Sound good to you?" he continued smiling at her.

Amy nodded, "We have to let Tish pick the movie though." She said firmly.

"Aww, and here I was hoping to make her watch 'Highlander'." Jack hugged Amy before straightened up and started walking again.

"What's that?" Amy asked.

"A movie about what it means to be Scottish." Jack said simply.

"Oh...So lots of fighting and swords?" Amy said thinking of her Scottish lessons.

"You know it!" Jack smirked.

They caught up to the others at the door of the church where Tony was trying to open the door but failing.

"Where's Mo?" Ambrose asked Nasreen and Tony worriedly.

"This flaming door!" Tony cursed, trying to pretend he hadn't heard his daughter's question as he shoved it with his shoulder. "Always sticking. I thought it was being fixed!" he grumbled.

"Dad!" Ambrose yelled.

"Something's happened to my dad, hasn't it?" Elliot asked quietly, looking at Amy.

* * *

><p>As churches went, Amy decided, she preferred the one from Christmas. The church they were in now was in a sever state of disrepair and obviously hadn't been used in years. It was filled with boxes, crates and just plain junk. It looked more like a storage shed than anything.<p>

She stood to the side watching as Jack helped the Doctor, Nasreen and Tony set up equipment. Rory was mumbling something to himself that Amy didn't understand, it sounded like he was listing medical terms or something but the Doctor was nodding in approval and adding a word here or there.

"So, we can't get out, we can't contact anyone and something, the something that **took** my husband, is coming up through the Earth." Ambrose stated with anger.

"Yes." the Doctor said, "And if we move quickly enough we can be ready to face them."

"No." Ambrose shook her head, "Stop. This has gone far enough. This is some sick joke or something." She asked terror and hysterics in her voice.

"He's telling the truth, love." Tony told his daughter softly.

"Oh come on! It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals." Ambrose said, hoping it wasn't true. "The reception up here has always been rubbish!" she said her voice wavering.

"Look, Ambrose," Nasreen said firmly as she looked at the woman, "your dad and I saw the Doctor's friend get taken, OK? You saw the lightning in the sky, didn't you?" when Ambrose made a slight nod Nasreen continued, "I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it, for me,is the Doctor." She said trying to calm the other woman.

"Him?" Ambrose looked at the Doctor who was fiddling with wires.

"Me!" the Doctor agreed cheerfully, popping up from his spot on the floor and reminding Jack of a gopher.

"Can you get my dad back?" Elliot asked, his voice loud in the quiet church.

Everyone's eyes moved to the Doctor even as Amy frowned at them doubting him.

"Yes." the Doctor told him. "But I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say from this second onwards because we're running out of time rapidly."

Ambrose searched the Doctor's eyes and looked towards his friends. They were all doing exactly as he'd told them to. Jack was putting together the computers and Rory was listing everything they might possibly incur injury wise from being sucked through the Earth and how to fix it. Even the little girl was doing as told, though that was just staying out of the way and off the floor. "So tell us what to do." she said finally.

The Doctor smiled, "Thank you." He said softly.

"Right, you lot, we have got eight minutes to set up our line of defence. I'm going to need every phone, camera...basically every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find." He said standing quickly and bouncing around the room.

"And if that doesn't work I've heard that situations like this used to be solved by a virgin sacrifice.." Jack said, trying to lighten the situation as the others set up a course of action. "I nominate Rory."

Rory flushed bright red and looked at his feet.

"Oh!" Jack exclaimed, eyes going wide, "You haven't! You did! Doctor!" Jack yelled.

The Doctor looked over as he grabbed some tape and headed towards the door. "What?" he yelled back.

"Rory doesn't qualify!" Jack yelled back.

"What? Never mind, Jack start setting things up. You too, Rory. Kids stay here!" the Doctor yellow.

Amy crossed the church when the adults left to start setting things up, leaving just the two children behind. "Don't worry, my dad will get your dad back. I promise." She told him smiling.

"Does he always do stuff like this?" Elliot asked quietly.

"He's like a superhero." Amy said with a smile. "I'm Amy McCrimmon, by the way." She said sticking her hand out to the boy.

"Elliot Northover." Elliot said, shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Elliot." Amy replied making Jack who'd come back to grab tape snort. "What?" Amy asked.

"Nothing." Jack shrugged his coat off and tossed it to her, "Hold that for me." He said smirking at her.

"We need to be ready for whatever's coming up." the Doctor told the children, placing one hand on each of their shoulders. "I need a map of the village marking where the cameras are going." he told Elliot.

"I can't do the words." Elliot said with regret, "I'm dyslexic." He insisted.

"That's alright." the Doctor said with a grin, "I can't make a decent meringue. Besides, a good friend of mines grandson is dyslexic and that will never stop him. Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot!" the Doctor smiled.

"I'll help you with the words," Amy promised Elliot as the two disappeared to find papers and pens.

The Doctor looked at the computer screen closed his eyes, "Six minutes forty." He said to himself.

Nasreen checked the timer that was counting backwards on the computer and realized he was right without having looked.

"Here," Tony motioned to the Doctor to get him to look at the computer. On the screen was an overlay of the village with certain areas highlighted. "We've set it up so it will work in quadrants, every movement sensor and trip light we've got. If anything moves, we'll know." He insisted.

The Doctor smiled and patted Tony on the back, "Good lad!" he said hope in his voice.

* * *

><p>The Doctor frowned as he dug through the van that Ambrose had driven. A meals on wheels van, not usually a place you'd find something useful for an alien invasion but he'd once found a key component for the TARDIS inside a junk box in someone's shed.<p>

"Oi! What're you doing?" Ambrose called out as she made her way towards him, arms filled with gardening tools, sports equipment and something gun shaped.

"Resources." he told her. "Every little bit helps." the Doctor patted the wall behind the seat and shook his head as if marvelling, "Meals on wheels, warmer in the front and refrigerated in the back, brilliant."

"It's a bit chilly for a hideout, mind." Ambrose said, setting down what she'd gathered in the front seat when he moved out of the way.

"What've you got those for?" he asked curiously.

"Like you say, every little bit helps." Ambrose said cautiously.

"No." he shook his head sternly, "No weapons. That's not the way I do things." He frowned.

"You said we are supposed to defend ourselves." she countered.

"Oh, Ambrose, you're better than this. We all are. I'm asking nicely. Put them away." he might have said 'asking nicely' but the voice that came out reminded her of when she'd gotten into trouble as a child.

* * *

><p>"Three twenty three." Jack called out the warning as he replaced the tape he'd taken earlier.<p>

"Here," Elliot said, proudly holding out his map for the Doctor.

The Doctor took it and smiled approvingly at the kids, "Look at that! Perfect. Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein and it's not stopping you."

"I don't think he's dyslexic." Amy said, tapping one of the words on the map, "I think Welsh people just can't spell anything.

"They really can't." Jack agreed with a laugh.

"I don't understand what you're going to do." Elliot told the Doctor.

"Ah, it's a four step plan." he replied, "First the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives. Second, when it does arrive, I use my sonic screwdriver to send a pulse through all the devices we set up. A pulse that should temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe." he toyed with the sonic to show Elliot. "Three, we go find the newly incapacitated creature and bargain with it. Four we get our friend and your dad back. Simple?" he said looking at the boy.

"We knock 'em out." Amy told Elliot with a smile and attitude that made Jack think of the Doctor.

"No injuries?" Elliot looked impressed.

"Nope. Well, from falling maybe." Amy rubbed the back of her head in thought, "But that was just the once. Right dad?" she said looking over to the Doctor.  
>"Right!" he agreed.<p>

"Is it monsters that are coming?" Elliot asked them, finally putting a voice to his fears.

"Not as such." the Doctor made a face but wasn't exactly sure how to describe what he'd not seen yet.

"Have you fought many monsters before?" Elliot continued, undeterred.

"Yeah." the Doctor nodded.

"Are you scared of them?" Elliot asked him quietly.

"No." the Doctor looked quite cocky, "They're scared of me." He said smiling at Elliot.

"You'll really get my dad back." He asked quieter.

"No question about it."

"He always gets everyone back." Amy told Elliot.

Elliot smiled and reached up, frowning when his hands hit air. "Oh! I left my headphones at home, I'll just-" he started only to be interrupted as the Doctor grabbed his shoulder.

"No leaving." the Doctor told Elliot though he didn't look away from the computer equipment.

"But I left my head phones, It'd only take me a minute." Elliot tried to reason with him.

"I'll take him, Doctor." Jack offered. "I want to do a second scan of the perimeter anyway."

"Can I go?" Amy asked, wanting to see more outside of the church.

The Doctor looked indecisive but Jack stood tall and tried to tell the Doctor without having to speak that he'd care for Amy. He knew automatically that Jack didn't actually need to go anywhere but was hoping to keep the kids occupied and not thinking of danger. "You three have exactly one minute before I come to haul you back. Run, quick." He stated.

The Doctor followed them outside and peeled off to talk to Rory. "How're you doing?" he asked.

"As well as can be expected." Rory told him. "It's getting darker." He responded quietly.

The Doctor looked up at the sky curiously. "It is." He said looking back down at his work.

"How can it be getting so dark so quick?" Rory asked.

"They're shutting out light from within the barricade. If they shut out light they can try and isolate us in the dark. Which means..." he almost smiled when a rumbling noise was heard. "It's here." he said in sing-song.

* * *

><p>Tony stopped to flip on one of the lights inside the church as the light seemed to evaporate outside. Nothing to do now but wait and pray. He crossed to join Nasreen by the computers, the countdown was down to less than a minute.<strong><br>**

**"**They're close to the surface now." Nasreen said, placing her hand over top of his.

Tony debated mentally with himself for what felt like an eternity, emotional and logical combating till finally he caved into the emotional. To hell 'unprofessional conduct'. He grabbed Nasreen and pulled her close into a kiss.

After a moment she pulled back, looking slightly surprised, "Tony!" she exclaimed staring at him in shock.

He rolled his eyes, "Like you didn't know." He said smiling softly at her.

Nasreen smiled and this time she kissed him.

They pulled away from each other as the computer beeped.

She squeezed his hand as they watched the screen.

The timer had run out.

* * *

><p>"I can't open this stupid door! It keeps sticking." Ambrose growled as she struggled with the door. "The wood's warped." She grumbled.<p>

The Doctor moved to help her haul it open and grunted with frustration. "Care to help instead of laughing at us, Williams?" he said grumbling at Rory.

Rory snorted, "I'd say sonic it, but I forget that the sonic is rubbish with wood."

"Don't diss the sonic!" the Doctor said, eyes narrowed.

"Not dissing it." Rory told him but moved to help them haul it back open. "Just remembering the last time you tried to make it do wood and the cabinets caught fire." He said laughing.

"Oh, shut up." the Doctor grumbled as they finally got the door open.

* * *

><p>The ground was shaking hard when they entered the church, Ambrose shutting the door behind them.<p>

The Doctor dashed to the computer and started tapping on the keyboard, trying to locate what area they were coming through, even as things began falling all around them.

There was a loud crash and all the computers sparked as everything electrical simultaneously shut down.

The Doctor growled in annoyance and tried to use his sonic to restart the computers, but it didn't work.

"No power." He said looking at the now non-functional equipment, "It's deliberate. They're just playing with us now." the Doctor muttered.

"What do we do?" Rory asked as Tony turned on a large torch.

"Nothing. We've got nothing as back up. Our systems are wrecked."the Doctor said, hand over his eyes as he tried to think of a new plan.

"Is everyone OK? Is anyone hurt?" Rory asked. With everything rocking and falling and then the electrical sparks he wasn't sure.

"I'm fine." The Doctor Said

"I'm good." Said Tony.

"Me too." Said Nasreen.

The Doctor's eyes snapped open as a large rumbling noise and more shaking filled the church. "Amy." He whispered fearfully.

"What?" Rory looked around searching for her. "She was with you." he said with a hint of a question.

"Where's Elliot?" Ambrose demanded, finally noticing her son wasn't there.

"He wanted to get headphones." the Doctor told her.

"And you let him go alone!?" Ambrose nearly yelled.

"No, I'm not that thick. Jack wanted to do a sweep of the perimeter and said he'd take Elliot. Amy went with." the Doctor said. He sought out Rory in the dark and awaited the blame he figured he'd see. To his surprise he didn't see any blame, or anger. In fact Rory just showed determination and at worst minor annoyance.

"We'll go grab them then." Rory said, "at worst with the rumbling Jack will have got them somewhere safe. Hell, if he can survive the London blitz I think he can survive something drilling through the Earth." as he spoke Rory dug into his pockets to locate his keys and the little torch attached.

"Too right." the Doctor nodded. He froze for a moment then smiled slightly, "Cancel the rescue plan, Jack's on his way with the kids." He said smiling in relief.

"How do you know?" Ambrose demanded.

"He told me." the Doctor said and tapped the side of his head.

Rory rolled his eyes and kept his torch out. Jack had tried to do that to him one day for the sole purpose of scaring him. It'd been terrifying to hear Jack in his head out of nowhere and he really hoped it'd never happen again.

* * *

><p>"Hurry!" Jack told the kids, rushing them towards the church. It'd been a hard decision to make, heading towards the church, but the only one he thought for sure would work. Any basements in town weren't reinforced and if they were out and about it could confuse the motion sensors the Doctor had set up.<p>

Beyond that Jack really didn't want to keep the Doctor's little girl out when something big and bad was coming through the Earth.  
>They were halfway through the graveyard now, Jack holding both their hands to help them along. It was dark, way too dark and their eyes hadn't adjusted completely. One perk of being a genetically perfect humanoid from the 51st century was his eyes adjusted quickly to the dark. He wasn't on par with a Time Lord by any means but he was a bit more enhanced than the average human when it came to sight, hearing and reflexes.<p>

"Bit further." Jack said, helping them navigate the ground. Hell, the Doctor'd probably noticed by now and Jack needed him aware they were doing something that might trip the sensors.

He concentrated, while still running, and pushed a single thought towards the Doctor.

_'Heading to Church with the children.'  
><em>

He didn't get anything back but knew the Doctor had got his message.

"Jack!" Amy gasped and he looked backwards where she'd been looking and noticed something was there.

"Go!" he yelled, shoving them forwards and around the tombstones towards the church. The least he could do was put himself in between the potential danger and the kids.

* * *

><p>"Mum! Grandpa Tony!"<p>

"Dad!"

The two children's frantic yells echoed from outside the door as they tried to open it.

"Help me get this open." the Doctor demanded as he grabbed hold of the door. Bloody door, he had plans to burn it the moment this was all over.

"Open the door, please!" Elliot yelled through to them.

"There's something out here, Dad!" Amy cried.

Rory and Tony joined efforts to haul the door open, all three men trying their hardest. It was much harder to pull open a door that was warped than to shove it open. When trying to shove it open you had momentum and lift on your side.

A gunshot rang out in the night and the kids both screamed.

"Push, Elliot!" Ambrose yelled, trying to find a way to get her son inside.

There was a shriek from Amy and then silence from the other side of the door.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Don't expect updates like this often but here's 23 for the week, the next to come on Friday. These two episodes are important so they must be done, however that doesn't mean I want to spend six WEEKS on them. I have more fun things to write that are original. My partner is in bed already for the evening or else she'd probably have something sarcastic to say. Enjoy, as always!]  
><strong>


	84. Hungry Earth Part Three

__"Elliot!" Ambrose yelled as the door was hauled open. No one was on the other side. "Where is he? He was here...He was here!" Ambrose darted out the door, screaming for her son.

"Ambrose!" Tony jogged out after her.

The Doctor's eye searched over the graveyard but he didn't see anyone. "Rory?" he said quietly to the man next to him as an unspoken understanding occurred between them.

"I'll go left, you go right." Rory said, jogging off towards the left side of the graveyard with some hope.

The Doctor nodded and went opposite the way Ambrose and Rory had gone. They weren't hurt, no alarms had gone off but that didn't make any sense.

As he went to reach into his pocket Ambrose's scream rang out through the graveyard. "GET OFF ME!"

He changed directions and went running in their direction. When he got there Tony was on the ground, groaning in pain and clutching his neck. "What happened?" the Doctor asked examining the scene.

"My dad's hurt." Ambrose said even as Rory checked on the man.

"Get him into the church, now." he directed Rory and then turned back to Ambrose. "What happened?" he asked again.

"I...The creature it...It's run off now. Elliot's gone." she cried, holding out his much loved headphones. "They've killed him, haven't they?" she said as tears ran down her face.

"No." the Doctor shook his head and noted there was a bullet hole in the gravestone behind Ambrose, Jack must have shot to scare the creatures away. Jack wouldn't miss a shot so close up. "They're alive." _'at least my Amelia is'_, "They've now taken five people that they easily could have killed up on the surface. There's hope, Ambrose." he told her seriously, "There's always hope." He said gently to the distraught mother.

Ambrose wiped at her eyes and left him to go help her father up and into the church."

"You're sure Amy's okay?" Rory asked carefully.

"Completely." the Doctor said. He dug into his pockets and produced a small silver device that Rory thought looked a lot like an iTouch. He tapped the screen and motioned for Rory to move closer so he could see.

There were two tiles on the screen with names, _'Amelia' _and _'Yumo'. _The Doctor tapped the tile with Amy's name and the screen morphed and gained four tiles on the side. The Doctor moved it so it was held lengthwise in his hand and tapped the tile that held a red heart in the centre. Instantly the sound of a heartbeat filled the air and on the screen a heart monitor showed.

He smiled at Rory and tapped another button that seemed to be monitoring breathing then finally pressed something that put both on the same screen. "Her heart is beating perfectly, her breathing rate is, while elevated, normal. She's not struggling for air, she's not terrified. She's...Well, I'd say 'scared' judging by the beat, but she's fine for now." He explained.

Rory's eyes widened at the screen, "That's amazing. Imagine how much use that would be for proper medical Doctors!" he exclaimed nearly drooling at the prospect.

"Rory, by time this technology came out it was barely 1/10th of what a medical doctor could do." the Doctor said with a grin, "Now. Let's go catch our 'monster' so we can get our girls back." He said shaking Rory out of his awe.

Rory nodded and followed the Doctor, listening closely to his plan and wondering exactly how badly the creatures who had done this would be hurt for taking Amy away.

* * *

><p>The Doctor left Rory lying in wait and strolled casually down the street, toying with the glasses he'd located. They registered heat signals. He'd tested them out already and found it easily changed between the signals when comparing Rory's warm skin to his much colder skin.<p>

He heard something move in the bushes nearby and had to smile some. Walking alone and acting unaware was a brilliant way to attract trouble. He quickly sought out the location where the noise was coming from and stared intently. He knew the glasses were working and knew he was staring straight at the creature, since it wasn't registering that also meant it had to have cold blood.

"Cold blooded...I know who they are." he almost sang to himself.

The Doctor crossed quicker now back to where Ambrose's van was parked, whistling to himself and trying to act unaware the entire way.

He carefully opened the front driver's door and pulled out the fire extinguisher as he listened. He shut the door and kept watch in the window until the creature was right behind him. At the last second he spun away and opened fire with the fire extinguisher, putting his training at putting out his own kitchen fires to good use as it screamed and tried to back away from the blast of freezing foam.

The back of the van was shoved open as Rory leapt out and with the Doctor's help was able to shove the creature into the back.

The Doctor slammed the door shut and locked it, leaving both males panting in the dark.

"We got it!" Rory proclaimed.

"We just defended the planet with meals on wheels!" the Doctor shook his head and high fived Rory. "Next step: Find out who they are and go down into the Earth to get Amy, Tish, Elliot, Mo and Jack. Preferably before they realize Jack can't die, and can regrow limbs and think the rest of us can too." He stated trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

The ground started rumbling and the darkness was slowly integrated by sunlight again.

"What was that?" Rory asked.

"Sounds like they're leaving." The Doctor said listening carefully.

"Without their buddy?" Rory asked.

"Now both sides have hostages." the Doctor commented, "The bad thing is they've got five and we've only got one." He said calmly as he watched cautiously.

* * *

><p><strong>-Tish-<strong>

* * *

><p>Tish awoke slowly, her eyes trying to focus to the dimness of her surroundings, as they did she saw the clear plastic coffin surrounding her. Instantly her head focused and she began pounding relentlessly on the clear barrier above her, frantically trying to free herself.<p>

"Let me out! Can anybody hear me!?" Tish screamed, "I'm alive, please let me out! My name is Letitia Jones and I am alive!" Tish yelled. She saw a blurry figure wearing a Doctor's mask "Please?" she whispered.

"Shh!" she heard the figure above her say.

"Did you just shush me?" Tish said adrenalin returning "You just shushed me? Can't you at least address me properly?" she said louder, not noticing until too late the sound of gas beginning to fill the coffin.

"Oh, God, please not gas!" she yelled frantically. She always had adverse reactions to anaesthetic and she doubted alien knock-out gas would be any different.

Dizziness started to overwhelm her, the gas reaching her lungs causing her to cough before finally succumbing to the sensation and passing out.

* * *

><p>She awoke again later, reclined against cold flat surface, her arms and legs clasped down by restraints. As awareness filled her again she began to struggle, pulling against the restraints hoping they would break free. She resisted the urge to cry as whatever it was in her system started working it's way out, leaving her feeling groggy.<p>

"Don't struggle," She heard someone whisper, startling her as she turned her head to the side to see a man strapped down like her, "close your eyes and don't struggle." He looked like he was in pain, his hair a mess, eyes wild and sweat was pouring down his skin. He was missing his shirt and she could see a long vertical red line running from his collarbone to the top button of his trousers.

"Where am I? Why can't I move my body?" she whispered back to him.

"Decontamination, they call it." The man whispered, hoping not to draw attention to them. "They did it to me, while I was conscious." He admitted his eyes glancing back and forth as if waiting for something.

Tish shivered "Who did what?" she asked, voice stuttering a bit as she started flashing backwards in her mind. She squeezed her hands tight, nails cutting into her palm as she tried to ground herself in the present.

"Dissected me." The man said softly, looking down at his torso. Tish looked at the line she'd seen again and focused on it. It looked like a newly healed over scar...In fact it looked like the Doctor's head after she'd used dermal glue on it.

"No." Tish whispered, shaking her head. "That can't... Quick, what's your name?" she whispered.

"Mo." He licked his lips and looked anxious, "Mo Northover." He responded looking at her.

"Letitia Jones." Tish replied, "When this is all over, Mo, we're so going for a drink."

Footsteps sounded down the corridors to the room they were in, clanking with each step.

"He's coming. I'm sorry." The man whispered, and then in a normal voice he said shakily, "I wish I could help you." He continued looking fearfully at her as a green scaled alien approached her.

He approached Tish, a surgeon's mask over his nose and mouth, an eerie apron that looked to be made out of scales covering his clothing. He wore rather fancy looking clothing that must have been a Doctor's uniform, the fact that it was still white did little to appease her fear. In his hands was a rather sharp looking instrument that made her think of the arrowheads used for hunting.

The creature approached Tish as she struggled frantically. "Please, stay away. Don't bring that near me." Tish pleaded as she squirmed in place.

The creature lowed his mask, revealing a strangely humanoid face and he pressed a button on the side of the machine she was strapped to. He opened his mouth and was clearly speaking but all Tish could make out were hissing noises like a lizard.

"Leave her alone! You got me!" Mo yelled as Tish struggled. Normally she'd do more to ground herself in the present when she couldn't calm down but she wasn't sure if the present or flashbacks were worse at the moment.

The creature took a small round device from his pocket and pushed a button causing the restraints to tighten around Tish's body.

He studied her and made another noise. He undid her shirt to show off the skin and looked slightly puzzled, seemingly comparing her to Mo as he made more hissing noises. Finally he took the scalpel and placed it on the centre of her collar bone. Tish closed her eyes screaming and trying to move away even as he dragged the scalpel down and the restraints bit into her skin. She tried not to cry as suddenly an intercom noise came on and hissing filled the room.

The doctor sighed and placed the scalpel aside on a small tray. He looked up at Tish's tears and looked genuinely puzzled.

He looked torn for a moment before he reached out and patted the side of her head, "Shh, you're fine." he said before turning and leaving.

Tish made a noise of surprise mixed with the pain as she finally understood his last few words. The TARDIS must be working fully again, fixed of whatever had caused them issue in the first place.

Tish whimpered again as she looked at the four inch wound on her chest, blood running from the wound.

Mo looked over at her and looked near tears himself, "I'm sorry." he repeated in a mantra as Tish lay her head back and cried.

* * *

><p>-<strong>The Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>"I've met these creatures before," the Doctor told Rory as they walked from the church around to the back of it again where the basement door was.<p>

"The Targans?" Rory questioned.

"No, that's a whole separate subspecies from another planet." the Doctor told him. "What I've met is a different branch of the species but it was more like meeting someone from Arizona and then their cousin from China." he elaborated as they walked inside the basement, "Now, let's see if our friend has thawed out yet." He said looking carefully at the door that separated them from their prisoner.

"Are you sure you're okay by yourself?" Rory asked, looking into the shadows where the creature sat, back against the wall.

"Completely sure." The Doctor stated cockily.

"What about the sting?" Rory asked looking at him.

"Venom gland would take at least 24 hours to recharge." the Doctor looked over to the creature, "Am I right?" he didn't get a response but turned back to Rory anyway. "I'll be fine, I know what I'm doing."

Rory nodded and observed the creature whose body language suggested she was very uncomfortable. "I'll go see if I can find some blankets, maybe a space heater. All this cold can't be very good for her." He said turning to go to the main building and search.

The Doctor smiled as Rory left on his own little mission feeling quite proud of the human. He turned and walked down the few remaining steps to the floor and examined the creature he'd found with Rory.

It was definitely alien, or at least non-human, and the scales shone a beautiful green hue that made him think of lizards but in the best of ways. They'd bound it's hands in front of it just to be safe and hooked it to the wall with enough chain to let it move but not enough to let it attack them.

The armour it wore looked like chainmail, but if they were who he thought they were than it did so much more than regular chainmail.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. I've come to talk to you." He said calmly, hands up as he approached slowly. "Now, I'd like to talk to you face to face so I'm going to remove your mask. Alright?" he asked, not expecting or waiting for an answer. The Doctor crouched down and slowly reached out amid the harsh hissing of breath and threats and gently removed the mask, pulling it backwards and revealing a humanoid face staring back at him.

He grinned stupidly at her, moving backwards. "Oh you are beautiful. Gorgeous! A remnant of a bygone age yet no more different now than you must have been at the beginning." he said softly, moving backwards and standing up. "Lovely mode of travel, by the way! Best system I've seen in ages. I mean using geothermal currents to project yourself upwards though a network of tunnels? Brilliant!" he exclaimed before looking around and spotted a wooden folding chair, "Mind if I sit?" he asked, gesturing to the chair.

She didn't respond beyond with a look that clearly was questioning his sanity so the Doctor grabbed the chair anyway, unfolding it and sitting it across from where she was.

"Now, we have something very important to discuss." the Doctor said, clearing his throat. He crossed his legs and folded his hands together, the picture of serenity and power. "Your people have my daughter and a good friend of mine. I want them back." he said seriously, "I will get them back, but it will go so much smoother if you help." He stated looking into her eyes.

She was silent as she stuck to glaring at him.

"Why did you come to the surface? What is it you want?" when she stayed quiet he let out a low growl and narrowed his eyes a bit. "I refuse to monologue in a situation like this where time is critical. How many are you?" he asked quietly.

"I am the last of my species." she bit out finally.

"Really?" he shook his head, "I don't believe that. Using the 'Klempari defence' is too old to work against interrogation." He said shaking his head and trying again.

"I am the last of my species." She repeated with the same tone.

"No, you're not." he said flatly. "I am the last of my species and I've met others who are the last of theirs. I know how it sits in a heart so DON'T insult me." He ground out, a tic in his jaw where he was gritting his teeth. "Now, I've had a **very **trying day and it's not seeming to get any better yet and I'm not going to sit here and have my intelligence insulted. Let's try this again." He cleared his throat. "Tell me your name." the Doctor said firmly a tint of anger in his voice and expression as he looked at her.

She hissed in a breath and glared at him but eventually spoke with resignation. "Alaya." She spat out.

"How long has your tribe been asleep under the Earth, Alaya?" She stared at him, clearly stunned and he shrugged, "It's not too difficult to work out where you are from and why. You're oh...near 300 millions years outside of your comfort zone. I want to know what woke you now?" he asked.

"We were attacked." Alaya said defensively.

"The drill." he groaned.

"Our sensors detected a threat to our life support systems so the warrior class was activated to prevent the assault." Alaya growled, her body language changing and becoming more menacing. "Now that we're awake we will wipe the vermin from the surface and reclaim our planet," she said viciously.

"Do you have to say 'vermin'?" the Doctor asked, "If you behave they're really very nice." He said trying to persuade her.

"Primitive apes." Alaya scoffed at the idea of them being anything else.

"They're an extraordinary species. If you attack them they will fight back and they will keep fighting till the end." he warned, "But there is a peace to be brokered here and I can help you with that." He stated staring inter her eyes.

"This land is ours." Alaya shook her head, denying his words. "We lived here long before the apes did." she said with disbelief.

"That doesn't give you automatic rights to it now." the Doctor nearly laughed, "Humans are not going to give up the planet," he warned.

"So we'll destroy them. Hunting apes was always a favoured pastime," Alaya said dismissively.

"You underestimate them. They've grown, learned and changed." He insisted.

"You underestimate **us**!" Alaya growled.

"One tribe of homo-reptilia against six billion humans?" he whistled lowly. "You've got your work cut out." The Doctor said shaking his head.

Alaya stood, towering over him now to gain the mental advantage. "We did not start this, but we will end it." she threatened, "Combat is easy." She stated angrily looking at him.

"Tell me where my daughter and friend are." he said, eyes flicking up to catch hers but he didn't change his posture or tilt his head, refusing to give her the advantage.

She smirked at him, "No." Alaya's tone was taunting, daring him to retaliate. She reminded him of a small child testing the bounds of what her new babysitter would allow.

He breathed deep and sighed, "I'm not going to let you provoke me into helping you start a war, Alaya." he said as he stood and folded the chair to put it away again. "There will not be a battle today. Not ever if I can help it." he walked away towards the door.

"The fire of war is already lit!" She called after him, "A massacre is due." She said prophetically.

He stopped in his tracks but didn't look back, "Not while I'm here."

"I'll gladly **die** for my cause." Alaya swore, "What will you sacrifice for yours?" she asked him, calmly.

He looked back at her and a thousand threats, promises and memories shot through his mind. Eventually he just smiled sadly and turned to walk away again.

* * *

><p>"You're going to what?" Rory looked at the Doctor, searching for any sign he was lying or just taking the mick out of them.<p>

The Doctor had re-joined them up in the church after his little chat with their 'hostage' and quickly plotted out his idea leaving the rest of them confused or stunned.

"I'm going to go down to below the surface to find the rest of the tribe." the Doctor explained again. "I want to talk to them and try to sort everything out without violence." He explained looking at the assorted group.

"You're actually going to try and negotiate with these...Aliens?" Ambrose demanded in outrage.

"They're not aliens!" the Doctor would have laughed if it weren't so ridiculous and he weren't so annoyed at everyone. "They're native to Earth. Once they were known as the Silurian race; I've also heard them called Eocenes, but overall they're just Homo-Reptilia. They're not monsters and they're not evil..." he stood from his chair and started pacing. "Well, only as evil as any human is. They're just the previous owners of the planet, that's all. Look," he said as Ambrose glared at him and Rory looked pensive, "They're the previous owners of the planet, from their point of view you're the invaders. They went to sleep and next thing they know the 'apes' have taken over." The Doctor explained.

"Apes?" Rory shook his head, "and here I thought that was just your little 'insult'."

"Nah, lots of species use it." the Doctor said offhandedly, "Anyway, your drill was threatening their settlement so they fought back against the 'attack'. Now, the Silurian in the crypt is named Alaya. She's one of their warriors and currently she's also our best bargaining chip. I need her alive," he said pointedly, looking over the humans, "If she lives we have a better chance of everyone else living as well. I am going down and I will find them. While I'm gone you people in this church are going to have to be the best of humanity." He said hopefully.

"What if they come back?" Tony shot back, "Shouldn't we examine this creature? Dissect it and find its weak points?" he asked.

The Doctor shot Tony an enraged look that he quickly schooled back to his normal look, "And what if the Silurians were to think that as well?" He demanded, "What if they thought that was the best thing to do? Would you want them dissecting Elliot to find YOUR weakness?" Ambrose cried out and Tony flinched. "That's what I thought. No dissecting, no examining." He warned them, "We return Alaya to them and get our family and friends back in return. Nobody has to be harmed. If you are the best you can be; if you are decent and brilliant like I know humans can be then nobody has to die today. Understand?" he said sternly looking at them.

"Understood." Rory agreed, standing up as well. "No examining, no dissecting but is it alright if I take her the space heater I found? It's too cold for us which means it must be hell for her." He asked the doctor, cautiously.

The Doctor smiled at Rory and nodded, "Just don't let her provoke you into doing anything stupid."

Rory rolled his eyes, "If I can put up with Jack all day then I'm sure I can put up with one Silurian insulting me for the minute it'll take to set it up. Just make sure to bring our girls back, okay?" he said shaking his head at the Doctor.

"No doubt there." the Doctor nodded, "I think I have to bring Jack back as well. Imagine their reaction if they did decide to study him." He said grimly.

* * *

><p>The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS door but paused in opening it when Nasreen ran up beside him. "What are you doing? I thought I told you to stay in the church." He said sternly looking at her.<p>

"I'm coming with you, of course!" She said excitedly, "What is this? Some sort of transport pod?" she asked curiously looking at the blue box.

"Sort of, but you're not...you can't come with me!" The Doctor insisted.

"He's right, you can't!" Tony agreed, jogging over to them.

"Hey, I've spent my entire life excavating layers of this planet. You're going to head down into it personally and you want me to just stand back? I don't think so?" Nasreen scoffed.

"We don't have time to argue." the Doctor grumbled as he unnecessarily checked his watch.

"We are in a bit of a rush." Nasreen agreed.

"It'll be dangerous." he said.

Nasreen made a noise, brushing off his argument, "So is crossing the road." She scoffed.

He grinned for a brief second then shook his head, "Oh...all right then, come on!" He stepped inside, leaving it open a bit for Nasreen.

"Come back safe." Tony said quietly to Nasreen, grabbing her hand.

"Of course." Nasreen agreed, squeezing his hand before stepping inside.

She shut the door then turned around, eyes widening in shock. "Oh..." It was huge. There was no way this could all be inside so small a box, could it?

"Welcome to the TARDIS!" the Doctor waved his arms to show off the entire console room, briefly wondering where Yumo was. "Don't touch anything, it's very precious and probably dangerous." He said moving to push some buttons and start their descent.

"No way...But it's...This is..." Nasreen laughed, "This is fantastic!" she cried as she walked on the glass surrounding the console. "What does it do?" she asked her face lighting up in curiosity.

"Everything!" he proclaimed, "Space, time, travels across countries. I'm hoping the barricade won't interfere if we're just going down." He said pulling a lever.

Even as he spoke the TARDIS pitched hard to the left leaving the two adults clinging to the console.

"What did you touch?" the Doctor yelped trying to hold on.

"Nothing! Isn't this normal?" Nasreen asked him trying desperately to hold on.

"According to riders yes, but no! We've been hijacked." he pressed at the console trying to do something but it was futile. "I can't stop it. They sensed the field, must have and are pulling us down!" he gestured to the monitor where dirt could be seen rushing past.

* * *

><p><strong>-The church-<strong>

* * *

><p>"So, you've come to see me." Alaya said smugly as Rory entered carrying the space heater, Ambrose and Tony not far behind.<p>

"We're going to keep you safe." Rory told her. He gestured to the heater. "Figured you might be uncomfortable. I know I'm cold and with you being cold blooded..." he cleared his throat trying not to babble as he placed it near where the Doctor had put the chair and grabbed the extension cord he'd hauled down to plug it in.

"Your tribe are going to give us back everyone in exchange for you." Ambrose told her coldly, arms folded as she stood near her father.

"No." Alaya said sounding just as cold but also amused. She walked as close to Ambrose as her chains would allow then stopped again. "Shall I tell you what's really going to happen, apes?" Alaya asked, voice cruel. "One of you will kill me, my death will ignite a war between our species. Then before long every stinking ape will be wiped from the surface of my beloved planet." She said a tone of glee in her voice.

"We won't let that happen." Tony shook his head.

"I know you apes better than you know yourselves." she hissed in a breath and smiled meanly, "I know which one of you will kill me. Do you?"

Ambrose looked like she wanted to say something but Rory stopped her, "You two, back upstairs now." He insisted looking at the two.

Tony shot Rory an annoyed look, "Who put you in charge?" he demanded angrily.

"The Doctor. Now go." he ordered them again. Once they were gone he turned back to getting the space heater going. "Sorry about them, they're on edge." He said calmly, looking at the Silurian in front of him.

She didn't say anything, choosing instead to glare at him.

"There's a woman and a little girl your people took." he said quietly, looking up at her, "I just want to know if they're safe." when she didn't respond he continued, "Why are you fighting us? We're almost the same." He insisted.

Alaya made a noise of disgust, "You are so much less than us." She scoffed.

"No, come on." Rory sighed, "Look at the two of us." He stood now that the heater was going. "Our body structure is nearly identical. Even our faces are similar. I think it's mostly just the skin that's different. See for yourself." he stepped closer and watched her make a face, "You can feel me." He said treating her as if she was one of the more adversarial children at the hospital.

She cringed back and hissed, "No!" she yelled angrily.

"I want to understand you." Rory said, not pressing the issue. "You're our predecessors, you know. You're our history, you were here first and you must know so much more than we do about the Earth." He explained watching her.

"It is our planet." Alaya said possessively.

"We can't be all that different in culture. Ever species has something like belief." He offered something that might be similar. "Do your people have a God? Any beliefs?" he asked curiously.

Alaya laughed mockingly, "Deities are just for simple-minded apes."

Rory grinned and shook his head, refusing to be cowed, "I should introduce you to my dad. That'd be real laugh." He said remembering the long, long discussions he'd been forced to endure about the subject.

Alaya made another hissing noise of annoyance. "We watched how you live your lives. You cling to beliefs for comfort while we laugh at you. Doesn't my very existence disprove your ape religion?" she asked him.

Rory shrugged, "Faith isn't that fragile." He explained moving closer to her.

Alaya looked at him and he thought he saw some curiosity. "What do you believe, ape?"

"I don't know that I really believe any one thing. I've seen so much with the Doctor, so many planets and species. Just...so much. I think...I believe there are far greater things waiting in the universe than we could ever imagine." Rory said finally. He smiled at her again, "I better go upstairs before they decide to do something decidedly 'un-brilliant'. I'll come check on you again in a little while." Rory said smiling leaving Alaya feeling slightly confused in his wake.

* * *

><p>Tony excused himself away from his daughter who was sitting far too quietly in the main part of the church and went to the back of it, searching for a mirror. He finally found one on the ground in a store room. It was dirty and foggy but it would work to inspect the pain he was feeling.<p>

He knelt down and hesitantly opened his shirt.

He immediately regretted that decision as he saw the bright green venom that coursed through his veins.

* * *

><p><strong>-The Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>The Doctor clung to the console, trying to keep his footing even as he yelled in displeasure at the situation. He hadn't the slightest clue where Yumo was – the lazy thing was probably off snoring in someone's bed with his braces – but his tennis ball had nailed him in the head about three screams ago.<p>

Suddenly the TARDIS came to a stop, rocking them away from the console and onto the floor.

Nasreen looked over at him from her spotted on the floor and with an annoyed yet impish grin she pulled his braces and let them snap back against his shirt.

"Oi!" He let out a token protest as he sat up.

"Where are we?" Nasreen questioned him.

"Not sure yet." he stood up and stuck his hand into his pocket, pulling out the receiver again. Amelia's heartbeat was still strong and normal, her breathing normal...still alive and safe.

He tucked it back and ran to the door, swinging it open without care, Nasreen right behind him.

Outside the door they instantly realized there was no denying it, they were inside the earth. The walls were dirt and in lines where dirt had compacted. Roots and fungi hung and grew inside everything they saw. Water dripped from the ceiling.

The Doctor whistled in amazement and looked up the way they'd fallen, it really was a long way up.

"Looks like we got tugged right through their tunnel system but I doubt it was designed to handle a TARDIS." He explained looking around cautiously.

"How far down are we?" Nasreen looked around in amazement. She'd dreamed of what could be beneath the Earth but this was beyond even her wildest imagination.

"A lot more than 21 kilometers." he said with a grin.

"So...If we're this far down why aren't we burning alive in vast plains of lava?" Nasreen asked him looking around in awe.

"Don't know." he shrugged, "Isn't it interesting?" The Doctor asked smiling at her.

"You act like this is every day to you!" she laughed accusingly.

"Not every day...only days in which we're teaching Amelia science." He replied cheekily.

He looked around, made a decision at random and stared walking down one of the side tunnels, Nasreen not far behind.

* * *

><p><strong>-Amy-<br>**

* * *

><p><strong><strong>Amy glowered at the hand that held onto her arm with less malice than she should have. "You can let go, I'm not going to run." Once again the creature ignored her complaints. Not that it really mattered. Both alien's or whatever it was they were stayed quiet under their masks from the Graveyard where they'd grabbed the two all the way through the tunnels until they arrived in a very unassuming looking room...in fact it looked like a hospital room where they did check-ups almost.

Jack was handcuffed and pale, sweating and looked a bit unhappy as he tried to breathe evenly. He still winced every few seconds but didn't speak much.

Elliot was still just staring in shock at everything around them. Even the pattern on the stone wall held some fascination to him.

Amy still had her sonic in her pocket and her bracelet was sending out it's signal like always so it wasn't going to be long before the Doctor came to save them.

She could have used the sonic to annoy the creatures probably, at least to unlock Jack's handcuffs, but then where would they go? Jack was sick and they didn't know their way around.

A few minutes into her third monologue about how the underground was dirty and why couldn't they talk the door opened and a man entered...well, a male creature?

He was a bit shorter and a bit plumper then the two that held onto her and Elliot but the same species none the less. He didn't wear a mask and instead wore a proper doctor's uniform complete with an apron over front.

"Small apes!" he exclaimed sounding happy, "And alive at that! Where did you find them?" he asked nearly bouncing as he examined them.

"They were outside a building with the others." the voice came from the creature that held Elliot's arm, harsher than the other man's because of the mask.

"They can speak for themselves." Amy protested.

"It talks!" the doctor said, stunned beyond all.

"It never shuts up." the one holding her said dryly.

"My name is Amy McCrimmon," Amy said, voice stronger than she felt, "And if you hurt any of us my daddy is going to kick your backside." She said defiantly.

* * *

><p><strong>-The Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>"We're looking for a small tribal settlement." the Doctor said, unaware Nasreen had stopped as he walked on. "Shouldn't be more than a dozen of them, maybe less. Probably less." He said giddiness in his voice at the thought of adventure.<p>

Nasreen stopped, placing her hands on a guard rail fence placed around the ledge she stood on, staring out across the area far beneath her feet. "One small tribe." she said slowly.

The Doctor, finally noticing she'd stopped, made his way back to her. "Yes." He said reaching her.

"Probably less than a dozen?" she added.

The Doctor nodded, "Yes, they aren't-oh." his eyes went wide as he stared across finally catching on.

Below them on small 'islands' surrounded by rivers of lava stood huge buildings, they were stone craft and several floors tall, some covered in foliage and some plain but seemingly aglow. There were even a few statue-like monuments mixed in the group.

"Okay...Maybe there's more than a dozen." he said, hands resting on the fence as well. "Maybe it's an entire civilization living beneath the Earth…" he said trailing off as he stared at the world below them.

* * *

><p><strong>-Amy-<strong>

* * *

><p>Malohkeh, as the male doctor was called, seemed nice enough, Amy decided. He'd gushed, sent the warriors away and got the three of them settled in a larger room that looked like an office but had the same little exam table in it. Amy had made him a deal. If he let her ask him questions she'd answer some of his.<p>

"Now then," Malohkeh said, hands clapped together in happiness as he nearly bounced with joy, "What's your first question?"

"Where are we?" Amy asked, "Well, what civil-ation I mean." She said trying hard to pronounce the big word.

"Civilization." Jack corrected with a wince.

"Yes, Civilization." Amy nodded.

"The great and wonderful Silurian one, of course," Malohkeh proclaimed. "Why do you apes have less fur now than you use to?" he asked curiously.

"Um..." Amy bit her lip and looked sideways at Jack.

Jack groaned and readjusted himself in his chair, "Evolution." he told them, "Didn't need it as much so it got bred out. Though I have met a few people you'd swear didn't evolve at all." He said tiredness in his voice.

"What he said." Amy nodded. "And we're not called 'Apes' anymore." She insisted looking at him.

"Oh?" Malohkeh grabbed a clipboard and started taking notes. "What do you call yourselves?" he said looking again at the strange ape child.

"It's a big word...it was in my book, Tish had to say it..."Amy closed her eyes trying to remember, "Homo...Homos...Homo..." Amy started thinking hard.

"Homo-Sapien, honey." Jack informed her, trying not to make a joke.

"Yes, Homo-sapien. Though we just say human." Amy told him.

"'Human'." he repeated as he wrote it down. "Your question?" Malohkeh said looking at her to continue their game.

"Why did you take us?" Amy asked quietly looking over at Jack.

"The warriors were activated to stop the attack on the city." Malohkeh informed her, "This giant machine was threatening our life support so we had to send them up to stop it." He explained carefully.

"Oh! That's not an attack." Elliot spoke up finally, "That's my Granddad Tony's drill project!"

"His what?" Malohkey asked looking at the little male ap…no human who until now had just been sitting quietly.

Elliot briefly outlined the idea behind the project as the ten year old understood it and left Malohkeh gaping in surprise. "Apes—Humans," he corrected, "Who would have thought you'd progress this far." He said thoughtfully.

"As a friend of mine says, 'they're indomitable'." Jack smiled at the two tiny humans.

Amy decided to look that word up later, "Your turn." She said evenly.

"Ah." Malohkeh nodded, understanding she was probably too small a human to answer some of his more complex questions. "What is the purpose of the water that comes from eyes?" he asked hoping he had phrased it right so the little human could understand.

Amy frowned in thought. "Oh, tears?" she said her eyes lighting up as she figured it out.

"Tears?" he questioned.

"Uh-huh. Tears are when people are sad, happy or most times when they get hurt." Amy explained. "It means something bad happened when people cry and make noise accept when they're smiling cause then they're happy tears." Amy explained smiling at him.

"Pain?" he looked surprised, "I didn't know Ape...Humans could feel pain." he frowned, clearly disturbed.

"Of course we can!" Amy declared. She pulled up the sleeve of her flannel over shirt to show him the dual scars on her right forearm from Demanshi. "These hurt really badly until I was given medicine to make the pain go away. I even cried." she admitted, looking sideways at Elliot as if to make sure he didn't make fun of her for that. "Unless you have medication to keep things from hurting, you cry." She continued frowning.

"Oh my..." he looked genuinely upset, "I didn't know." Malohkeh said guiltily looking between the three humans in front of him.

Jack winced and sat upright more, "Malohkeh?" he questioned.

"If I had known I wouldn't..." Malohkey continued not hearing the older human.

"Dr. Malohkeh?" Amy looked worried now, "Where are my friend and Elliot's dad?" she asked frowning again in worry.

Malohkeh looked worried and glanced to the door. "Dad?" he asked not understanding the strange term.

"Adult male human caregiver." Amy corrected.

"They're in the lab." he offered and though he knew the children wouldn't understand he locked eyes with Jack. "I had to...examine them. It was my job. I didn't understand that apes had evolved into Humans or I wouldn't have without some sort of pain blocker." Malohkeh explained turning his eyes away.

Jack's eyes went wide, "Oh son of a bitch...You didn't?" He growled. "They're alive?" he asked frowning.

"Very!" Malohkeh nodded fervently. "They were yelling at me when I left. The female was...tearing?" he explained.

"Crying." Amy corrected absently, worry in her words.

"Crying." Malohkeh agreed, "But...Listen, if I agree to help you humans out and keep you safe will you agree to answer more of my questions later?" _'and not kill me'_ he added silently to himself.

"Of course!" Amy and Elliot agreed.

Before they could do anything else an alarm started blaring through the office yelling about 'unidentified lifeforms'.

"Does that mean someone's broke in?" Elliot asked.

"Yes." Malohkeh explained frowning more.

"That'd be my dad!" Amy said happily.

Malohkeh dug into his pocket and produced a small disk with buttons on it that he handed to Amy. "Here, take this and go down the hall to the right. The last door on the left is where your friends are. Okay?" he explained hoping they would be okay.

"Okay!" Amy turned to Jack. "Wanna go or do you want us to come back?" she asked him.

"Go on," Jack tried to smile as Malohkeh walked out. Once they were gone he was going to have to take the 'quick fix' to get rid of this stupid poison. A gun would bring too much attention but he was in a Doctor's office. How hard could it be?

* * *

><p><strong>[AN:Holy Hell, this marks 17,719 words from me since last Friday before she got hold of it. <em>Hey and it's still on time! We're doing good, we got close to the wire but we're on time! <em>...You're too peppy. This pattern update stops once we finish this arc and goes back to "Friday Only". Me typing this much gets a bit hard after a little while. My brain needs time to destress! _So we did calculate and realized this story will probably end around February, give or take a few chapters. _Joy, we'll have it finished in just under two years. This doesn't bode well for most of our works, does it? _Eh, don't be melodramatic. It might not take so long next time._** **Yeah, yeah...Enjoy!]**


	85. Cold Blood Part One

"This place is enormous!" Nasreen proclaimed as she looked around. She stuck to the centre of the stone pathway they'd found, carefully staying away from the edge where there was nothing to prevent them from falling hundreds of feet onto more stone or lava. The place really was beautiful with plants that no one had seen for millions of years mixed in with beautiful stonework.

"And deserted." the Doctor observed, he wasn't quite as effected by some of the sights as Nasreen was but it was still quite fantastic to see. If he weren't as worried about Amy and Tish he might have paid more attention. "I think the majority of the race are probably still asleep." he told her and dug into his pockets pulling his sonic and the receiver. He compared the data on the two briefly to figure out which one he should use to track Amy down and realized they were both leading to the same place and decided his sonic was more useful. "We need to find Amelia and everyone else." he said, tucking the receiver back into his pocket.

"How are you tracking them?" Nasreen asked curiously.

He waved his sonic and smiled, "Amelia has another one of these and the two track each other with the right signal sent out. It leads me to her and it beeps to alert her that I'm looking for her." He said smiling as he heard the rhythmic beeping of the sonic resonating with Amelia's.

"Very smart." Nasreen said.

"Thank you. Haven't had to use it often, thankfully." He said, thinking back on the few times he did have to use it.

He lead her away from the pathway and into a tunnel carved into the rocks, once again a bit impressed with the Silurian builders.

"Doctor, how can all this be here?" Nasreen looked around, reaching out and lightly touching one of the plant leaves with her fingertips. "I mean these plants have not only been extinct but it's...It's the centre of the Earth!" she said in amazement.

"Not certain." he told her, "Something they've done to make it habitable, I'm sure of that, but I'm not sure of how they've done it. I think we're getting closer to the centre of the city." the Doctor gestured down another pathway that led to large doors and smiled. "Front door." He said gleefully.

"You're sure that going in the front door is the best way to enter a city full of warriors that have been abducting our friends?" Nasreen said looking at him wearily.

"Well, when you put it that way..." he inclined his head and went to move back when an alarm blasted overhead.

He jolted backwards and closer to Nasreen protectively as it got louder and a female voice joined the alarm.

_"Hostile life force detected, Area 17."The computerized alarm voice sounded startling them.  
><em>

"Definitely the back door next time." the Doctor said to Nasreen, looking around for an escape.

_"Hostile life force detected, Area 17."The voice repeated.  
><em>

The 'front door' slid open revealing several armed and dangerous looking Silurians, all clothed like Alaya. "Doctor!" Nasreen said urgently.

He turned around and noticed them, his eyes widening slight in surprise. "We're not hostile!" he said quickly. "We're not armed either." he grabbed Nasreen's hand to pull it up and held his own up once she got the idea. "We're here in peace!" he insisted.

The Silurians walked forward anyway and suddenly gas was shooting out of their guns, encompassing both of them.

Nasreen coughed and managed about ten seconds before she fell unconscious. The Doctor hadn't been expecting anything and didn't have time to react. He lasted about thirty seconds.

* * *

><p><strong>-Tish-<strong>

* * *

><p>Tish had stopped crying, though her chest still burned fiercely, and had calmed her breathing back down to barely above normal. She really wished she had her medication right now, but that was a distant thought.<p>

"Do you think that creature was an alien?" Mo asked, swallowing hard and trying to make conversation to distract themselves from the fear and pain. "Do you think there's more? Like the Earth's been invaded." he added.

"I don't know." Tish admitted, trying not to look down at the blood least she get sick. "But my friend will have the answers. He'll come for us, Mo, and get us out." Tish insisted, knowing Rory and the Doctor would come for her.

"Well, I'm not dad, but I can get you out." A voice from the doorway announced causing both adults to turn and stare in shock at the doorway where two young children stood looking happy.

"Amy!" Tish yelled relief and fear echoed in her voice as she spoke.

"Elliot!" Mo yelled even as his son ran to him.

Amy's smile faded as she saw Tish's wound, "Tish-" she trailed off worriedly.

"How did you get down here?" Tish demanded, "Where's your dad?" she responded hoping her ward hadn't gotten captured and that she'd just hitched a ride with her father.

"We were going through the grave yard to get back to the church because they were coming through the ground and got grabbed." Amy said, pressing the buttons on the disk that released both adults bonds. "Jack was with us. We came down on a tunnel, not through the Earth." She bit her lip, clearly torn between hugging Tish and not wanting to hurt her.

Tish winced as she climbed off the platform she'd been on and gingerly gave Amy a one armed hug, "Thank you. How did you get in here specifically?" she asked a bit calmer as she noticed the girl was not harmed in any way.

"Oh, Dr. Malohkeh gave us the disk to let you out. We got taken to him because we were tiny Apes but we told him we're humans, not apes." Amy explained as she unlocked them.

"You told him." Elliot said his arms still around his dad, "I was scared." He admitted looking at the floor.

"You got better." Amy offered with a smile, "He didn't know we could feel pain cause he thought we were still apes and then he asked what crying was and why we didn't have fur." She said giggling a bit, "Isn't that silly?" she asked them.

Tish and Mo both looked stunned and Tish shook her head. "So, where's Jack?" she asked looking for the time agent.

"Right here," Jack called as he entered, looking much healthier than he had before. He even had a swagger back in his steps, like he were coming to the rescue.

"You k- fixed yourself in a not nice way, didn't you?" Amy asked.

Jack smiled at her, "Do what you gotta do." he turned to look over the others and his eyes went wide, "Oh, Hell, what happened-" Jack cut himself off, remembering Malohkeh's words with an oath.

Amy covered her mouth and looked at Jack sternly. "That's a really bad word." She said still glaring.

"Yes, but in this situation it's allowed." Jack told her as he hurried to Tish's side. "How bad?" he asked gently.

Tish didn't even try to lie, "It really hurts." She whimpered a bit, her brave facade dropping as she looked at her friend.

Jack looked around and located a chair at what was obviously a secondary desk used by Malohkeh. "Sit here for a moment." He looked around again, searching for what he needed.

"Shouldn't we be running?" Mo asked, "Trying to find a way out of here and away from the alien invaders?" he asked worriedly.

"They aren't Alien's," Elliot told his dad eagerly, "or invaders. They were here first!" he said excitedly, glad his father was okay and proud that he knew something they didn't.

"Really?" he asked staring at his son.

"Yeah!" Elliot nodded looking really excited, "They're sleeping under the Earth because they thought bad things might happen but the drill started hurting them so they tried to make us stop it." He rambled looking around.

"We told them the truth though and now Dr. Malohkeh is going to help us get out." Amy said.

"Really?" Tish asked.

"Yup." Jack nodded, returning to her side with his clean handkerchief now damp with water from the sink he'd located. "Sit back." He said gently.

Tish leaned back in the chair and allowed him to start cleaning the wound from the dried, sticky blood, trying not to cry out at the pain as even more blood welled up.

Amy looked nauseous, "Tish? Jack?" she asked worriedly.

"Amy, do me a favour." Jack said as he concentrated on Tish. He was trying to clean her wound, find out how deep it was and keep her from being exposed to the room by keeping her shirt from slipping any further. "There's a lot of medical boxes and bottles on the shelves. I need you to find one with a butterfly on the front of it, one with a drawing of a leaf with something sticky on it or one that looks like it's got a quilt pattern on it." He explained as simply as he could, mostly as a way to get her mind off what was happening.

"What'll those do?" Tish asked, maintaining her breathing.

"Dermal Glue's. Best I can do because there stuff is a lot different than what I'm used to." Jack told her, "By time I saw any true Silurian things they'd integrated and gotten a LOT better." he kept her attention easily, "Or they were using human material." He said trailing off.

"You've met Silurian's before?" Mo asked him.

"Yup. Several times, though never when they didn't know our species." Jack said easily.

Amy hurried back to his side with a box that was decorated with a monarch butterfly on the front. "This one?" she asked quietly.

"Yes. Thank you." Jack smiled. "You've been taking nursing lessons from Rory, I see. Now, how about gauze and a big bandage with tape?" he asked her keeping her occupied.

"On it!" Amy glanced at Tish's chest and nearly ran off.

"I'd laugh, but this really hurts." Tish muttered.

"I know." Jack nodded and looked for something to try off her cut.

"Here." Mo dug into his pockets and produced a handkerchief of his own with little initials embroidered into the corner.

"Thank you," Jack took it and slowly patted the wound dry of water. He opened the box and pulled out something green coloured in a sheet that made Tish think of those fruit treats kids loved. "This," Jack said motioning to the sheet, "Is material used as a butterfly to hold wounds until stitches or dermal glue can be used." Jack told her as he peeled pieces off one at a time and set about closing her wound to keep it from getting worse. By time he was done Amy had returned with bandages which he proceeded to tape into place above the 'butterfly'. He frowned at her shirt and shrugged his braces down off his shoulders and tugged at the bottom of his shirt to pull it from his trousers.

"What are you doing?" Tish questioned him.

"Well your shirt is soaked in blood, your bra's not going to work with that bandage without a lot of pain and I'm not letting you run around solely in a leather jacket." He said plainly as he undid the shirt.

Mo quickly turned around, tugging his son to do so and covering his eyes for good measure.

"Jack..." Tish questioned concerned.

"Hey, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before." Jack commented.

"You have?" Amy questioned, making a face.

"Long story, kiddo." Jack said and motioned for her to turn around.

"So...What is that beeping?" Mo asked, trying to make some sort of conversation. There had been a low beep sounding every few seconds since the kids entered the room.

"Oh, that's dad tracking me." Amy told him. "But he hasn't got any closer or it'd be faster so I think we might have to go to him." She said pulling out her pink sonic and looking at the blinking locator on it.

"I think your right. You're clear now." Jack said and they turned around.

Tish was now in Jack's blue shirt, buttoned up the front with Rory's jacket over top of it. Her red shirt lay discarded to the side.

"So...Now we go find dad?" Amy asked.

"Yup. Go find your dad, find Malohkeh, settle all this and get out of here." Jack agreed. "Speaking of...How're you feeling, Mo, isn't it?" he asked looking at the other man.

"Mo, yeah." Mo nodded, "I'm alright. Feel like I've just got over a real bad cold with lots of coughing, but I'll be fine." he motioned to his muscles to indicate they were sore without mentioning what had happened to his son.

"Right then." Jack rolled his shoulders, grinned and grabbed Tish and Amy's hands. "Let's go save the day!" he said smiling at them.

* * *

><p><strong>-Rory-<strong>

* * *

><p>Rory worriedly left the church, searching for Ambrose. She wasn't near Alaya and Tony was sitting quietly on one of the chairs inside the church just staring at the wall.<p>

He found her near the grave he'd 'investigated' earlier holding Elliot's headphones, near tears.

"Ambrose." he called out.

"You lied." Ambrose said, staring at the headphones. "You told us you were the police." She said anger, fear, and terror in her voice.

"Jack is." he said, "Well, special Police of sorts. I'm a Med-student." Rory explained sheepishly.

"Who are you really?" Ambrose looked up at him, "You, the Doctor and 'Captain Jack'." she nearly spat the names, "Is the little girl even really related to any of you?" she asked.

Rory shook his head, "We're people who are trying to help, Ambrose. That's all." He said calmly.

"Why is this happening?" She did start crying now, just a few tears slipping out. "What did we ever do to deserve this?"

"I don't know." Rory said honestly. "But don't lose hope. The Doctor'll get your son back, I promise." He absently ran his hand over the tombstone, unsure of what to do really. "Until then we'll watch Alaya and make sure she's safe." He said trying to reassure her.

"That's it? We sit, wait and take care of some creature that might've hurt my son and husband?" Ambrose said hysterically shaking her head.

"No." Rory shook his head, "We stay here, protect _**Alaya**_," he said her name forcefully, trying to make Ambrose acknowledge that Alaya wasn't just some 'creature', "and then we exchange her for your family. It's not just you affected, Ambrose." Rory looked at her, making sure to catch her eye, "My girlfriend was taken right after your husband, a very good friend I've known since she was nine-month's old is down there and Jack...Well, I'll probably miss him eventually." Rory tried not to acknowledge he actually was coming to like the man. "The Doctor will get them back, I trust him with my life. We stick to his plan, mostly because for once he has one, and we keep Alaya safe until he contacts us again." He explained firmly.

Ambrose looked away, not wanting to listen any more.

Rory sighed, "Come on, back to the church. We need to stay together in one place." He said taking her hand.

* * *

><p><strong>-The Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>Malohkeh hadn't felt this horrible in centuries. He and his family had always studied the Apes and though he'd seen their bodies change through the centuries by examining the bodies left in the soil he hadn't known just how much they'd changed. There's only so much you could learn by studying the dead after all and anything like 'do they feel pain' cannot be learned that way at all.<p>

Once he got back he'd have to apologize to the two older humans that had been here first. What did humans like? He'd have to ask that question of Amy. Used to be he could trap almost any Ape with something shiny, maybe that'd work as an apology..

As he neared the room he'd been called to he heard the screams of pain coming and hurried his pace, nearly running as he burst into the room.  
>Two humans, older and completely different then the ones he'd left behind, were strapped down into the decontamination chambers, both machines working.<br>The woman seemed to be unconscious but the man was screaming and writhing trying to get away.

"Restac!" he exclaimed, hurrying to the controls. "What are you doing?" he yelled turning the machine off.

"Decontamination so you can examine them." she said calmly before turning angry eyes to him, "How can they have escaped?" the other Silurian growled.

Malohkeh's eyes widened slightly in surprise but he hid it as he stopped the machine and the man stopped screaming.

"This just proves that all prisoners should remain under military guard." she spat.

"I'm sure you'd prefer to be in charge of everything and everyone, given the choice, Restac, but remember we rank the same." he said with more calm than he felt.

* * *

><p><strong>-Tony-<strong>

* * *

><p>Tony tried to walk quietly down to the basement where the creature was while Rory was distracted upstairs with his daughter but it appeared the creature had better hearing then he thought; when he was just at the bottom of the stairs he heard her inhale deeply and turn around.<p>

She'd been sitting calmly meditating on the floor, she'd deny to anyone who questioned that she was simply enjoying the warmth of the heater, when she heard him. Smelled him as well. Smelled death, but not quite.

Alaya narrowed her eyes at him, "Why aren't you dead?" she demanded petulantly. "Your blood is imbued with my venom, yet you live. Why haven't you died yet?" she spat.

"I don't know." He said quietly looking at her.

"Show me!" She requested in anger.

Tony walked forward slowly across the room and pulled aside his shirt enough to show her his shoulder. The poison was clearly visible as it worked its way through his veins and she grinned in response.

"How does it feel?" she asked venom in her voice.

"Like it's burning in my veins. Raging through me." Tony told her quietly. "Please, if you help me to cure this I can help you." he offered, "I could help you escape." He said pleadingly.

"Apes." She hissed and shook her head, "Begging and offering betrayal already? It's so early into the game. Escaping would mean giving up the perfect seat to watch the upcoming war." Alaya's eyes went from his face to his shoulder again, "The perfect spot to watch you die and secure yourself as the first death of the war." She turned her back to him and resettled herself on the floor so she could return to her meditation.

_'First death,'_ Tony thought even as he left, shame and guilt flooding him. FIRST death. Mo, Elliot and the three friends of the Doctor's were still alive then.

* * *

><p><strong>-The Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>"Why did you stop it?" Restac demanded, "We need to neutralize the ape's bacteria!" he yelled glaring at Malohkeh.<p>

"He's not an ape." Malohkeh told her as he stared at the scans. Two hearts, what looked like an expanded respiratory system and obviously he was in much more pain than any of the others had been.

"Exactly!" the Doctor gasped, "Remove all the human germs and you'll remove half the things that keep me alive." He yelled, frantically.

"Ignore him and complete the process." Restac demanded but Malohkeh didn't turn the machines back on.

"Much better, thanks." the Doctor took a deep breath and tried to steady his spinning head and take inventory of his body, checking for injuries. "Have you got any celery?" Restac just glared at him. "No..probably not then...I'm the Doctor, by the way." He turned to follow Malohkeh when the Silurian walked over to Nasreen. "That's Nasreen...She's safe, good." He babbled.

Malohkeh scanned Nasreen and had to resist a laugh when she awoke.

"Oh." Nasreen blinked in surprise as her eyes focused, "A green man." She said surprised.

"The Silurians." the Doctor told her, "Who are you? I don't feel like just using a broad species term all day. I've told you our names." He said staring at the two.

Restac hissed in annoyance but did introduce herself, "Restac. Military commander." She said growling.

"There's always a military, isn't there?" he looked at Nasreen and sighed again, "Why is there always a military?"

"We were enacted to protect the city." Restac informed him. "Your weapon was attacking the oxygen pockets above our city." She said anger and hostility in her voice.

"It's not a weapon." Malohkeh, Nasreen and the Doctor said at once.

Both human and Time Lord turned to look at Malohkeh.

"I was informed by a small human that his 'Grandpa Tony' was just trying to find out what was in the Earth," Malohkeh told them. "A second small human informed me that if I were to hurt anyone her 'daddy would kick my backside'." he looked at the Doctor, "I'm assuming you would be 'daddy'." He said smiling at the Doctor.

The Doctor grinned brightly, "That'd be me!" he then focused on Restac's words, "Oxygen pockets? How lovely! Oh...Not good when the drill's heading downwards...I guess now it makes a bit more sense" he said mostly to himself.

"Where is the rest of your invasion force." Restac demanded as Malokeh let the two loose from their bonds.

"Invasion force?" he snorted, "Me and lovely Nasreen? No, no, no. We just came for the humans you took." the Doctor said honestly, "And to offer the safe return of Alaya." Restac's eyes widened and she hissed, obviously surprised and worried. "You two...Same genetic source?" he questioned, finally seeing the difference. "You must be as worried as I am! But don't worry, she's safe with my good friend watching over her." He said reassuringly.

"You claim to come in peace while holding one of us hostage?" she demanded.

"Well, to be fair you are holding ours hostage as well." Nasreen offered and the Doctor had to suppress the urge to laugh. "And you did start it."

"Ye-Wait," the Doctor said quickly as Restac motioned and other soldiers surrounded the duo. "Hold up, we want the same thing here!" he said focusing on the Silurian once more.

"I don't negotiate with apes." she glowered at him, "I'm going to send a message to those on the surface; a message that can't be mistaken." She threatened.

"What message would that be?" the Doctor questioned.

"Your execution." She said glaring at him.

The Doctor shook his head and sighed, "I really wish this was the first time I'd heard that." He said taking a deep breath before continuing on.

* * *

><p><strong>-Tish, Jack, Amy-<strong>

* * *

><p>"There are chambers like this everywhere down here." Mo observed as they came across yet another glass covered alcove. They'd only been wandering a few minutes but they'd discovered quite a few of them but hadn't tried to open any at Jack's insistence.<p>

Mo had Elliot's hand clutched tightly in his to make sure nothing happened to him and Tish held Amy's hand as well.

"What do you think they hold?" Elliot asked his dad.

"Not sure. Captain?" Mo asked.

Jack had been walking a few feet ahead of them, gun drawn but pointed downwards for the most part though he looked prepared to fight if needed. "Warriors." He stated.

"What?" Tish asked in surprise.

"Not the lower warriors, of course." Jack said, finally pressing his hand on the sensor to show them. "Saw earlier when I came to find you." He said a smile on his face.

The lights lit up inside and they could see one of the Silurian warriors was standing completely still inside like an action figure inside it's box just waiting to come out and 'play'.

"Obviously they're not the lower class soldiers." he said, "I'm betting personally on these being the Lieutenants and Captains; soldiers always bunk together and the big guys get individual rooms." He said remembering years of military strategy.

"Why aren't they moving?" Amy asked him.

"Suspended animation is my guess." he told her. "They're all asleep, remember?" he said reminding himself to put together some lessons on Silurians when they got back to the TARDIS.

"Right." Amy nodded.

"Look up." Tish said, indicating what looked like a tunnel above them. "That how they get to the surface?" she asked, curiously.

"I think so." Jack agreed. "They used some sort of thermal energy to send themselves up through tunnels. I'm sure the Doctor's got it completely sorted, we'll have to remember to ask." He said pulling them along.

"Even better," Mo said and motioned to the warrior's hip. "They've got weapons. We could fight back." He stated.

"No." Amy and Tish both said with the same warning tone.

"Dad doesn't like guns or being mean to people." Amy told him, "He says violence never made anything better it didn't make worser first." She repeated sternly.

"Worse," Tish corrected automatically, "Not 'worser' and she's right." She corrected, smiling at the girl.

"But he's got a gun." Elliot motioned to Jack.

Jack nodded, "Know why I've got it out?" he asked.

"I thought it was to shoot them if they got violent again?" Elliot questioned.

"Nope," Jack shook his head. "Silurians and most other advance races use energy weapons." he told the young boy, "This is a standard HUMAN weapon that fires metal projectiles and does it rather loudly. I've got it out so it'll confuse them at first and if I fire it will scare them enough to back off until they figure it out." He explained.

"You fired it in the grave yard," Amy said, "but you missed." She said as comprehension of what had happened in the graveyard hit her.

"I didn't miss!" Jack protested, "I hit exactly what I was aiming for." He said smiling at her.

"You meant to hit my Aunt's tombstone?" Elliot asked.

"Yup." Jack nodded to confirm it and shut down the warrior's temporary home again. "I meant to scare, not hurt."

"Where to now?" Tish asked him.

"Hmm...Amy?" Jack looked to her.

"Um..." Amy pulled out her sonic and studied it. It was still beeping steadily but it wasn't getting any faster at all. She'd never tracked him with it before, he'd only ever tracked her. "I'm not sure...The end door, maybe?" she said looking at her sonic.

"You sure?" Mo asked.

"Nope!" Amy said cheerfully.

Amy's choice turned out to be a very bad one as they realized the moment the door opened. They stood on a platform above what looked like an air craft carrier. Instead of planes however this one was filled with groups of Silurian warriors standing in lines in full armour.

"We really don't stand a chance," Mo said softly, "Do we?" he asked staring in awe at the warriors.

"Of course we do." Jack replied. "But I doubt it'll come to that. For now we find the Doctor, keep him from getting grumpier because his daughter and friend got taken and negotiate." He explained grimly.

"He will be really grumpy, huh?" Amy said worriedly.

"Very." Jack said. "Now...How about this time we go to the right?" he asked as he led them off again to find the Doctor.

* * *

><p><strong>-Tony-<strong>

* * *

><p>Tony dug anxiously through one of the supply closets, searching for something, anything to dull the pain. The venom was lava coursing through his chest and with each beat of his heart it got worse. It was like someone had poured gasoline into his veins and then struck a match to light them.<p>

He finally found an old first-aid kit. He flung it open and tore through it, locating only a bottle of aspirin. Aspirin wasn't exactly the best pain aid and most likely not the smartest option at the moment as it would thin his blood and make the venom spread faster but all he wanted was relief from the unrelenting burning.  
>He grabbed the whole bottle and left the closet as he heard his daughter near him. He managed to swallow two pills before she found him.<p>

"Dad? Are you alright, dad?" Ambrose called as she caught up to him.

"I'm fine, Ambrose. Leave me alone. Go wait with Rory." he tried to send her away even as he stumbled.

"Dad!" she caught him as he fell, "You're not fine, don't lie to me." she helped him sit down and saw him wince as she brushed his shoulder. Where he'd been hurt..."Let me look, please?" she said, moving to brush his shirt aside.

"Get off!" he scolded her, batting her hand away. He didn't want her to see him like this. "Leave it be." He grumbled.

"Let me look." Ambrose said sternly. He sighed and looked away as she unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it back. His chest was flushed red and shining with sweat in a way that only helped magnify the intense green that pulsed through his veins. With every beat of his heart she could see the venom surge. "Oh God...Dad." She pulled her hand back, unsure of what to do. "What..." she asked in horror looking at the green rash on her father.

"I don't know what's happening to me." Tony said, also completely at a loss. "I don't know what to do." He said quietly looking at her.

Ambrose thought hard, trying to figure out a plan of action. "Well, first off we're going to start bringing this temperature down and get you resting. Okay?" Tony nodded in ascent and she smiled slightly, "Okay then. I'm going to go get you some water and an ice pack, dad, and I'll be right back." She said calmly.

She left, still thinking on what to do and how to fix her dad. Her husband had been taken, her baby boy snatched from right in front of them and her dad poisoned. The creature in the basement would know how to fix it. She'd find how to fix it and everyone would be together again. Together, happy and healthy.

* * *

><p><strong>-the Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>"So, what else did my daughter have to say?" the Doctor questioned as he followed Restac, ignoring the fact he was being followed by warriors with guns. He jumped to brush his fingers against a leaf from a large beautiful green plan they walked under.<p>

They must be in the centre city now and it was truly beautiful. So lush and green with so much around them he hadn't seen in ages! He'd caught Nasreen a few times to keep her from falling when she stumbled from looking so far above them instead of ahead of them.

"A fair amount." Malohkeh said with a chuckle. "I was shocked that one could speak and I could understand them but the warrior with her said that she 'never shut up'." He explained a grin on his face at the memory.

The Doctor grinned back and made sure the sonic was still in his pocket and still transmitting. "We have the gift of gab. She gets it from me" he said proudly.

"Yes, well...We traded information. She made me a deal, 'a question for a question' and I couldn't resist." his smile faltered and he looked nervous. "Doctor, you must understand that I did not know until she told me that humans had changed and were no longer apes. If I had known I never would have done anything like I had. If I had to do so I certainly would have done something to them like I would to one of our own."

"Malohkeh, what have you done?" the Doctor asked, voice low and dark.

"My job." Malohkeh told him. "There's only so much to be gained from dead bodies, they want information from live ones as well. I swear I didn't know they had evolved to feel pain on that level. I thought they were still basic apes." He explained babbling.

"Malohkeh." he said again.

"I vivisected him." Malohkeh said quickly, "The male. I didn't catch his name and I couldn't understand him. He's alive," he said as he noticed the Doctor's look, "Everything is still where it was and in the condition I found it, I promise. In fact his skin had completely healed back together with the dermal glue I used and he barely had a red mark last I was there." He defended hoping this Doctor wouldn't hurt him.

"And Tish? The woman?" The Doctor asked insistently.

Malohkeh couldn't read the Doctor's face, "I had just started when the intercom told me to go to my office where the new 'Little Ape's' were waiting. She has a small cut from here to here," he gestured to his own chest to show the Doctor, "and the moment I'm allowed to return to her I will make sure she's treated with the best I have. Doctor, I didn't know until your daughter told me." he tried to impress this knowledge.

The Doctor looked him in the eye and nodded seriously. "I believe you. If I didn't believe you then you wouldn't still be standing there." He said staring at the Silurian.

Malohkeh sighed in relief, "I did believe her threat about her 'daddy'." He grumbled.

The Doctor chuckled this time, "My girl would not make threats that cannot be backed up. Where are they, Malohkeh?" he asked quietly.

"In my offices last I checked." he looked like he wanted to say something else and shot a look towards Restac's back. "You should know," he said catching both Nasreen and the Doctor's attention, "It's where you **two** escaped from." He said pointedly.

Both adults caught on and the Doctor grinned brightly. "Too true, Malohkeh. Sorry about that." The Doctor said putting his hand behind his head.

"No troubles," Malohkeh said, "This is the most fun I've had in centuries." He said back smiling.

"You've been all alone?" Nasreen asked.

"Yes. First it was my family and I, then it was just me." he offered.

"Everyone's still in hibernation?" At Malohkeh's nod, Nasreen continued. "So why did everyone go into hibernation in the first place?" she asked confused.

"Their astronomers predicted that a planet heading to Earth was on a crash course." the Doctor spoke before either un-masked Silurian could. "They built a way to continue life underground and put themselves to sleep for millennia in order to survive the coming apocalypse they thought would happen." he explained, "In reality it was the moon coming into alignment with the Earth." He explained looking around as he went.

Restac froze and turned to look at the Doctor in shock.

"How can you know that?" Malohkeh asked in disbelief.

"A long time ago I met another tribe like yours. A similar but not identical set of homo-reptilia." He explained remembering.

"Others of our species have survived?" Restac demanded in surprise and hope.

The Doctor really wished he could say 'yes', that it would be that simple. Maybe if they had it wouldn't go further than this. For a moment he was back a few hundred years and eight bodies ago, full of outrage, hurt and disgust at the human race and the man he called his best friend as he stood by his companion and watched the Silurians caves explode.

"They attacked the humans. The humans fought back and killed them." the Doctor said simply. "I'm sorry." He said honestly looking at the ground.

Restac snarled, "Vermin race!" she spat angrily.

* * *

><p><strong>-Ambrose-<br>**

* * *

><p>Alaya sat, eyes closed on the floor still, soaking up the heat from the heater. Stupid above ground was cold. They'd have to fix that once they took over again.<p>

The apes were being...weird. Well, they were acting much as she'd come to expect them to, bar the one with dark fur on his head. He was acting like she were another ape or his equal. It was very disconcerting. It used to be that apes would catch sight of them and run screaming to hide in fear.

That was back before they'd had to go into hibernation underground to avoid utter destruction. Back when she and Restac were just starting out as warriors and Restac had yet to become a commander, they'd go out for a little fun with the others and hunt the apes down. Watching them run was always funny because they panicked and never seemed to know what to do bar grab the small ones and run.

There were small ones here as well and once again the larger ape had gone to protect them. He'd been struck by Kaya though and should be dead by now from the venom or close to it. Either way he was probably strung up in Malohkeh's laboratory being experimented upon.

Stupid apes, they deserved anything done to them after they'd tried to kill all of her people that slept below.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost missed the sound of footsteps on the stairs.

Alaya turned to look and saw Ambrose standing at the bottom of the steps looking quite nervous. She smelled like she was afraid as well, but there was determination in her eyes.

"What's the cure?" Ambrose asked, her voice wavering.

"What?" Alaya asked, playing dumb.

Ambrose took a few more steps forward but stayed out of range. "To what you've done to my dad. I've seen it," she added, "it's killing him slowly. What's the cure? How do I fix it?" she asked frantically.

Alaya stood from her spot and looked Ambrose up and down, "Why would I tell you such things?" she asked, not seeing any real threat in the woman yet. Maybe if she pushed? All it took was finding the right buttons to press in their tiny minds and the apes would dance.

"'Cos if you don't, I'll make you tell me." Ambrose said, taking a deep breath as she withdrew a yellow and black gun like device from her pocket. Alaya didn't recognize it by sight but was well aware of the shape and what it usually meant.

Alaya hissed in a breath, relishing the scent of fear and nerves that the ape was putting off. "And now you reveal your true self." She said snidely looking at the female ape.

"I don't want to use it." Ambrose said, the first words Alaya actually believed from her, "I...You took my husband, then you stole my son away and into the Earth and now my dad is...is...dying." She choked on the words, "I'm just trying to protect my family. That's all. Please, help me put things right!" she begged.

Hmm, interesting, this ape's buttons seemed all to revolve around family members, particularly the smaller ape. Alaya smirked, "Use it." she dared Ambrose.

"Wh-what?" Ambrose looked on the verge of throwing up. The hand that was holding up the weapon was shaking.

"Use it on me." Alaya took several steps forward till she was inches from Ambrose, "You won't though. You're too weak, too afraid to do anything. A pathetic woman that's too weak to even protect her own child-" the buttons she pushed in Ambrose were true and deep. She didn't even finish her sentence before pain was shooting through her body, spreading out from the centre of her stomach where in a fit of rage Ambrose had jabbed it without thinking it through first. Electric shock and deep pain echoed through all her muscles and she couldn't help the shriek of pain that came out as she dropped to her knees.

"Oh, God...I didn't...I didn't mean...I didn't want to do that!" Ambrose cried, her voice echoing strangely in Alaya's ears as she breathed deep trying to regain control over her legs to stand again. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

Stupid woman, even when trying to threaten she couldn't help but let the mother side of her take over. "Please, just tell me the cure so I can fix my dad." she pleaded. "I don't want to hurt anyone." Ambrose begged.

"He's vermin." Alaya spat out with as much strength as she could muster. Obviously the weapon harnered a very basic form of electricity. Barbaric, really, it didn't even dilute it into a stream like it should, it was just concentrated electricity pressed straight into her metal armour. "Like the other vermin he deserves as painful a death as he can get." Strong words, weak body. She mentally cursed as she tried to move her legs right but the muscles still weren't responding like she wanted them to and she was NOT going to stand shakily like a hatchling.

Ambrose winced at Alaya's words. "I didn't want to hurt anyone. Please, I'm giving you a chance. Just tell me what to do? Tell me how to fix him. I can't lose my dad too!" Ambrose cried.

Alaya looked up, making sure to catch Ambrose's eyes as she pushed the button yet again with all the malice she could. "I knew it would be you to kill me, the one with the most to lose, the weakest of the group. Pitiful. You're too late," Alaya tried to keep her breath even but it felt like her heart was beating out of her chest, "The vermin's going to die feeling like he's on fire." Alaya hissed, her head was dizzy as well now and breathing was a bit hard but she wasn't going to let that be shown. Never show weakness to the enemy. Dying in battle or in defense of your people was an honour.

"Even now your husband is being sliced up inside the labs and your child is frozen to be experimented up later." Alaya threatened, knowing how Malohkeh liked watching the little ones grow and recording it. "You're too late." She trailed off as Ambrose cried out and without thinking once again pressed the weapon forward and into Alaya's chest causing the Silurian to scream once more as pain wracked her body.

* * *

><p><strong>-Rory-<strong>

* * *

><p>"You should have told me about this earlier." Rory chided tony as he examined his wound. "I'm a med student!" he yelled at the older man.<p>

"Generally they're still in training and don't know anything practical." Tony hissed in pain when Rory's fingers brushed the vein that was now green.

"Yes, but I'm also a paediatric nurse." Rory told him, "Now if you sit still and are a good boy I'll get you some sweets afterwards." Rory said cheekily as he taped down a new bandage.

Tony snorted but his retort was cut off by screaming that seemed to come from under the floor boards.

"Alaya!" they heard Ambrose and Alaya scream from the basement.

"Ambrose." Tony leapt to his feet.

* * *

><p>Rory lead the charge down the steps, Tony just a few steps behind, hoping desperately that both women were okay, that nothing was wrong. His hopes were dashed the moment he hit the bottom of the steps.<p>

Alaya was lying on the floor, wheezing as she tried to breathe, Ambrose was standing near the stairs, back against the wall looking horrified and near tears, a Taser held limply in her hand.

Rory ignored Ambrose for the moment, rushing instead to Alaya's side.

"Ambrose..." Tony hurried to his daughter, he put one hand on her wrist and the other on her shoulder. "What did you do?" he asked accusingly.

"I...She kept taunting me about Mo and Elliot and you. About how you were all going to die or already dead and oh God...dad." Ambrose cried.

Tony took the Taser out of her hand and put it aside, pulling his daughter into his arms. "We have to be better than this, Ambrose." He said scolding her like a child.

"I just wanted her to tell me how to fix you." Ambrose said, face buried against the un-damaged side of his chest. "I didn't mean to hurt her. I just...I want my family back, dad." She said softly curling into him.

"It's alright, cariad." Tony said, wrapping his arms tightly around his daughter. He turned his body to keep her from seeing Alaya as Rory tried to help her. No matter what she'd done, no matter why and no matter how old she was, she was still his little girl and he'd protect her.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" Rory asked, trying to locate a pulse point in Alaya's neck but he couldn't find anything. "How do I help you?" She didn't respond, "Come on, Alaya, tell me what to do!" he pleaded.

"Nothing." Alaya rasped out tiredly. "Knew this would happen...soon the war..." the Silurian's voice trailed off as she slowly faded out of consciousness.

"No, no wars. You're not dying." Rory said, frantically trying to help her somehow. He couldn't find a pulse, he couldn't do CPR through the armour, even if he could do it he didn't know if it would work.

Her breathing slowed then stopped even as he searched desperately for a way to help her.

"No!" He yelled, beating his fists against his thighs, feeling hopeless. He raised his eyes to meet Tony's and found the man looked just as hopeless as he felt.

They went silent and the only sounds in the basement were Ambrose's broken sobs and Tony making soft comforting noises to try and stem the tears.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Hey, look at that! It's 11:30 AND it's a double chapter! <em>Sadly it wasn't finished on Wednesday when I wanted it out, but double today is okay. _Y_es,_ well you can't have it on Wednesday when I have a staff meeting on Tuesday and fall festival on Wednesday as well as Halloween! _Pah, pagan rituals at pre-k, why can't it just be a 'Halloween Party'? _I've explained that every year for the last five years. _Bah. Anywho...Yes, to those asking there will be a second story for Series Six - _And for the other ideas that don't fit quite in Series six but are ours and going in- - _Yes, original content in it as well as one-shots, side stories and alternates. Basically? RA take II. _Oi, it's 'Creating the Future' not "RA take II" that just sounds stupid. _See what I put up with? Now I'm going to sit in the corner, eat my leftover halloween candy in my jammies and ignore her sulking. Enjoy! _I'm not sulking...Enjoy!]_**


	86. Cold Blood Part Two

"Restac, think about what you're doing." Malohkeh tried again as they entered a large room that looked like it was where court was held.

It had beautiful high benches that seemed to be carved of dark stone against the walls and high ceilings, the far wall seemed mostly made of glass and looking through it he could see the lights from magma and the city. Their feet clicked slightly as they walked on the cream coloured stone floor.

"I'm doing what I have to do to protect our species." Restac replied, voice level. "While they sleep I must work to protect them." She hissed, looking wearily at the prisoners.

"Lovely place!" the Doctor proclaimed, spinning slowly in a circle to examine it all, ignoring the soldiers with guns all pointed at them. He surreptitiously examined the room and located all the entrances. The sonic in his pocket was vibrating slightly and he could hear with his enhanced hearing a low yet rapid beeping heading in their direction. It was highly unlikely the Silurian's or Nasreen had heard it yet though. "Very...shiny." he said distractedly.

"This is where people are tried and executed." Restac warned him, eyes sharp and reminding him of a starving hawk.

"Ah...That might be a problem." he said slowly as Nasreen looked around to find the beeping.

"You plan to resist?" Restac challenged.

"Well, yes, but what I meant was -" the Doctor started said facing her.

"Dad!" they heard a child's voice say causing Restac and the soldiers to turn and see the group of very strange looking humans standing in the opposite doorway.

Amy stood, clutching tight to Tish's hand with her right, sonic in her left hand beeping. Tish was wearing what looked like Jack's shirt for some reason and looked almost sickly, sweating heavily and she looked like she'd been crying. He thought back to what Malohkeh said and frowned unhappily. Jack stood in front of the two of them, looking quite funny to the Doctor's thoughts, wearing just his white under shirt with his red braces over top of it and his gun in his hand.

The Doctor realized something that made him a bit proud; though Jack did have his gun out he wasn't aiming it at anyone, in fact he seemed to have it to where if it did go off he'd hit the table. They were missing two people though...

"Let them go." Jack warned, his voice strong and deep.

The Doctor laughed quietly, "I know what it looks like but I swear they are not an invasion force." He started, looking nervously now between the Silurians and the humans.

"No, but we do have you covered both ways." Said another voice startling them all and causing them to turn.

The Doctor turned and saw Mo and Elliot step into the room from the way they'd just come in.

"Mo!" Nasreen exclaimed, "Elliot!" she yelled relieved.

Amy was fidgeting in place, her eyes locked onto the Doctor's as she toyed with her sonic. She obviously wanted to run to him, but was unsure.

"Let them go." Jack warned Restac again. "I don't want to hurt anybody." He stated firmly.

Restac looked at him but to his credit Jack didn't budge. He didn't even twitch in a way that could be seen as weak. He kept his eyes fixed on Restac, hands steady and his stance unwavering. "I don't want to hurt anybody, but I will." He said his tone even but forceful.

Restac seemed to cross the short space between herself and Jack in the time it took to blink. The Doctor wasn't sure what happened but suddenly there were two pairs of hands on the gun and a loud shot rang out followed by Amy screaming and several yells of fear.

Jack's eyes widened slightly and he grunted, letting go of the gun as Restac stepped backwards, gun in her hands, looking quite shocked as crimson spread across the centre of Jack's shirt and he crumpled to his knees. It wasn't the blood on Jack that made the Doctor's hearts speed though, Jack would be fine, it was the bullet hole in the centre of the coloum behind him that was just inches from Amy and Tish, the blood that had sprayed and now covered a portion of Amy's clothing and the utterly terrified look on her face.

The Doctor dashed past the Silurian guards and vaulted over the table, feet sliding a little on the stone floor as he grabbed Amy up in his arms and away from Restac, pulling Tish back slightly as well.

"Fuck." Jack grunted out in pain, left hand coming up to press against the wound that was gushing blood rhythmically as was the exit wound in his back, his right hand balancing him on the floor.

"Vein?" the Doctor questioned even as Mo and Elliot were grabbed by soldiers.

"Pro-probably. Heart." Jack's breathing was laboured and his hand slid on the ground some.

Tish was grabbed by one of the soldiers as well and pulled backwards.

"This is now a military tribunal," Restac declared as she stopped Malohkeh from going to Jack's side. "You are of no use. Go back to your laboratory and play with your test tubes." she ordered him with a smirk, setting Jack's gun on the table.

Malohkeh tried to move forward but another soldier pointed their gun at him and hissed.

He looked from human to human and then to Jack on the floor before looking at Restac and shaking his head, "This isn't the way, Restac. This isn't what we should be doing." He said sadly looking at her.

"Go." Restac said as she waved her hand and hissed an order for them to tie the 'enemy' to the pillars.

Malohkeh looked back several times as he left, his mind made up on what to do.

"Jack?" Amy whimpered, holding tight to the Doctor's hand even as she was tied to one of the pillars beside him.

"'m 'kay." Jack gasped out, his hand finally slipping far enough that he was lying flat on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. "Jus gon' rest now." he said as his eyes slipped shut.

"Daddy?" Amy felt his hand squeeze hers, "Sorry we didn't rescue you right." She said quietly.

"You did better than most ever do." the Doctor said. He couldn't see her and really wasn't sure he wanted to at the moment. The sight of her clothes, hair and face covered in a mist of blood and the look of terror in her eyes was something that made rage rise inside him until he wanted to destroy everyone who'd caused it to happen. "Do you know who they are?" he asked, trying to occupy her to keep her from looking at Jack who was no longer breathing.

"Silurians." Amy whispered, "They sleep under the Earth and knew us when we were apes." She said remembering what she'd learned from Malohkeh.

"Correct." he replied. "Tish?" he asked glancing over his shoulder as best he could.

"I'm here." Tish's voice was stronger than Amy's but still showed a hint of fear. "They want the planet back now." She said worriedly.

"Not till they've wiped out all of us first." Nasreen sounded like she was going to be sick or cry. "God..." she trailed off as she closed her eyes.

"Dad?" Elliot's voice was tentative and so much like Amy's that the Doctor had to shut his eyes again.

"We'll be fine, son." Mo told his son with such assurance that the Doctor had to admire him. "Nothing'll ever happen to you if I'm around, right?"

"R-right." Elliot replied.

"Why're they waiting?" Nasreen asked him.

The Doctor tried to figure out by voices who had been tied where but it was a little hard. He was on the centre of the right pillar, Amy to his left, Tish to his right but he couldn't see enough of the other pillar from his spot without hurting his neck to locate them.

"They're not ready yet," he said slowly, caressing the back of Amy's hand with his thumb when he heard her breathing speed up and trying hard to pretend the moisture he felt was sweat and not blood, "They've got something they're doing first..." he said quietly.

* * *

><p><strong>-Rory-<strong>

* * *

><p>"She didn't mean it." Tony said quickly to Rory, his daughter still held tight against his chest. "She wouldn't have. Not my little girl." He insisted defensively.<p>

Rory nodded, standing up from Alaya's side and trying to reign in the impulse to yell like he wanted to. Working with children raised his tolerance for stupid actions, but this was straining him. He didn't trust his voice not to betray his temper and couldn't be sure he wouldn't blurt out something like_ 'you stupid BITCH'_ instead of _'I'm not sure'_.

"What...What happens now?" Ambrose asked, her voice choked with tears.

"I don't know." Tony said, as he dug through his pockets and located a few clean tissues so she could wipe her face . "I honestly don't know." He said rocking her gently.

A loud buzzing noise filled the room and the lights flashed repeatedly, flickering before going steady again. Rory searched for what was creating the disturbance and located an old computer monitor laying on top of a pile of junk that was now broadcasting a female Silurian that looked like Alaya but with deep red stripes through her scales.

"Oh God." Ambrose stuffed the now damp tissues into her pocket and nearly flinched when her dad stepped away.

Tony took several steps away and located a blanket in one of the boxes used for storage. He unfolded it as best he could out of view of the monitor and carefully covered Alaya before making his way back to Ambrose.

"Who is the ape leader?" The woman demanded from the monitor.

"It is them...How do they do that?" Ambrose asked worriedly. "How do they know where we are?" she said her voice shaking.

"Who speaks for the apes?" the woman rephrased her sentence, clearly annoyed at their silence.

Rory stepped forward into full view, ignoring the other two humans, and tried to look confident. "I speak for the **humans** that are present here." he tried to stand and look like his mother did when she dressed them down, his feet slightly spread and his hands in his front pockets. He wasn't quite sure he could pull off her famous glare though so he stuck to trying to keep his face blank.

"Do you understand who we are?" the Silurian said her tone dripping with distaste.

_'Severely pissed off Lizard people?' _"Silurians. You were here first and now you want us gone." Rory said as the other two joined him in standing closer, Ambrose still against her dad's side.

The woman nodded slightly, "We have ape hostages." The Silurian said flatly.

Rory's breath caught as the screen zoomed out and instead of just the woman in the centre there were now about a dozen soldiers in a room all with guns aimed at six people tied tightly to pillars; a seventh person lay completely still on the ground in a puddle of blood.

He fought back the instant panic he felt at seeing Jack laying dead on the floor with what was obviously an exit wound on his back and focused on the knowledge that Jack would get better. Ambrose and Tony didn't know that and both sounded like they were going to be sick.  
>"Doctor, Amy, Tish." He called out, trying to keep his voice as level as possible. He was trained to deal with panic, he couldn't let them see him panic or be afraid. "Are you okay?" he asked as calmly as he could.<p>

"Peachy!" the Doctor replied evenly.

"Mo! Elliot!" Ambrose yelled, "You-" she started hope in her voice.

"I'm fine, love." Mo yelled back, "I've got Elliot and we're coming home, don't worry." He said hope in his voice.

"You're not losing us, Nurse boy." Tish called over the monitor. "Like the ground sucking us in has stopped us before." She said relief in her voice as she heard Rory.

"Tony Mack!" Nasreen wiggled against the bonds till she could turn to see the screen. "It's amazing down here." She announced in amazement.

"Having fun?" Tony sounded incredulous.

"We were." Nasreen said, eyes flickering to Jack's body then back to them.

"Not to worry," the Doctor said, trying to make eye contact with Rory, "Just remember to stay calm. Calm...No matter how much you may want to just-" he paused and took a deep and settling breath, "Remain calm." He said hoping they had.

Rory nodded, not quite sure if the message was only for them or if the Doctor was trying to remind himself as well.

The woman stepped in front of them again, regaining their attention. "Show me Alaya." she ordered them. "Show her to me and then release her, immediately and unharmed or we will continue to kill your friends one by one." she looked back at them and then the body on the floor before turning to them again, point clearly made.

"No." Tony said quickly, stepping forward further and shielding his daughter who looked like she might cry again.

"Tony." Rory said warningly.

"Steady now," the Doctor's voice called out, "Remember." He said calmly.

"We didn't start this." Tony said, voice firm despite the poison that filled his body with pain and the fear for his daughter that was trying to cloud his mind. "and we're not following any orders." He growled.

"Let Rory talk," the Doctor's voice was a bit more angry now, "Don't do this, Tony." He demanded.

"Give us back our friends," Tony said, ignoring the Doctor.

The woman just watched him for a moment then hissed and said concisely, "No." she turned to the soldiers, "Execute the smallest ape." She stated an evil smile on her face.

"No, wait!" Rory surged forward, "He doesn't speak for us. **I **am speaking for us." He yelled commandingly.

"Ready?" the woman called as the bonds holding Amy were snapped and she was hauled forward, her hand slipping from the Doctors. Rory could see now the blood that was showing on her skin as well and had to wince.

"No! Don't do this!" Rory yelled.

The Doctor yelled as well, but Rory couldn't make out what he said. The Doctor was flexing his muscles, trying to free his arms and had pressed one of his feet against the column behind him as leverage to push.

"Aim." The Silurian commander said calmly.

"NO!" Rory screamed again even as the connection cut to static.

* * *

><p><strong>-the Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>"Fire!" As Restac yelled several things happened at once.<p>

The Doctor's bonds broke and he lurched forward like a runner off the starting block, moving to shift his body in between Amy's and the guns pointed at her as he grabbed her in a hug.

The other humans screamed trying to make them stop.

A loud male voice called out with authority, "STOP!" the male's voice echoing through the chamber.

No weapons were fired as a tall Silurian male in robes of black, red and gold entered looking more confident than any of them felt. Malohkeh was trailing several steps behind him and neither male looked happy. "You want to start a war while the rest of us sleep, Restac?" the male demanded.

"The apes are attacking us." she protested.

"You are to act as our protector, you are not our commander, Restac." he said warningly. "Unchain them, now." He demanded calmly.

"I...I do not recognize your authority at this time, Eldane." she snapped.

"Well, then, you must shoot me." Eldane said, holding his arms out to his sides to give them a clear shot. All the warriors seemed to find their shoes more interesting than any of the unmasked Silurian's now.

Restac hissed in frustration and stormed from her spot, stepping over Jack and avoiding the blood, and moved to stand inches from Malohkeh. "You woke him just to undermine me!" she glared as she spoke.

"We are not monsters and will not act like we are." Malohkeh told her, "The humans aren't monsters either, it was purely an accident." He explained.

"You believe that lie? What is it about apes you love?" Restac asked meanly, "that you'd believe them above your own." She hissed.

He ignored the barb and looked her in the eye for the first time, feeling more confident now that Eldane was awake and on his side. "While you've slept I've watched them evolve. Look at them and see for yourself!" he explained looking pleadingly at his childhood friend.

"We used to hunt them for sport." She growled not looking at them, "then while we slept they bred and polluted our planet."

"Shush now, Restac." Eldane said, keeping Malohkeh from having to formulate a reply. "Go play soldiers." he patted her shoulder as he passed, "I'll let you know if I need you." He growled.  
>"You will need me!" Restac hissed the threat, "Then you'll see." She hissed.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>-Rory-<strong>

* * *

><p>"Nothing!" Rory yelled as he hit the back of the flatscreen monitory trying to make it work. There were no plugs into anything so there wasn't anything but percussive maintenance to try and bring it back. "I've got to find a way to get down there." He took a step back, tugging at the bottom of his shirt with his fingers in a nervous gesture.<p>

"Rory!" The voice made Rory pause and within moments of the yell the monitor flipped back on. This time it wasn't the woman from before or even the warriors lined up with guns, but the Doctor.

The Doctor stood in front of them with Amy held tightly in his arms, her face against his neck once again and her arms tight around his neck. His eyes still held anger but his facial expression was lighter than it had been.

"Amy?" Rory asked, seeing only the back of her.

"She's fine." the Doctor told him, moving so that Rory could see Amy's face. There was still blood on it but she was obviously alive.

"Oh thank God." Rory whispered. "The others?" he asked worriedly.

"Fine." he repeated, "We don't have time to chat right now, just listen. You need to get down here so you'll have to go to the drill storeroom. There's a large patch of earth in the middle of the floor there and the Silurians are going to send up some transport discs to bring you to us. They use geothermal energy and gravity bubble-technology for their travel and it's frankly pretty cool." he nearly gushed at that, but Rory didn't miss how his hand kept rubbing soothing circles on Amy's back or the way he was rocking in place, "Bring Alaya with you, I'm sure she could explain it if you ask nicely. We'll hand her over and land this thing after all. It'll all work out, didn't I promise?" he looked off screen then nodded, "Got to dash. Come on, Williams." He said smiling.

The connection ended and the screen went back to black. Rory stood still, eyes closed and his hands resting on the crate the monitor had been in as he tried to think.

"The moment we get down there everything will fall apart." Tony said.

"And whose fault is that?" Rory snapped finally, turning his head to look at them. "He told you to stay put, he told you to behave, he told you to be the 'best of humanity' and this is what you do?" Rory straightened up and turned his body to face them properly. "You torture a woman to death for information that if you'd waited FIVE MINUTES we would have had?" he yelled angrily.

"Don't you yell at my daughter." Tony stepped in front of her, gaining a fighting stance.

Rory had to laugh at that because Tony looked as much a threat as any of his paediatric patients with the venom coursing through him and sapping his strength. "Your daughter nearly got one of my best friends executed and murdered a Silurian through stupidity." Rory said plainly but did step back and shoved his hands back into his pockets.

"We have to take her back," Ambrose said shakily, catching their attention. She stepped out from behind her dad and was toying with the pendant on her necklace. "It's the least she deserves." she said quietly, "we have to do that for her family." She said sadly.

Rory nodded, "Agreed."

* * *

><p><strong>-the Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>"Tish," the Doctor called Tish to his side and shifted Amy easily to support all her weight with one arm so he could hug Tish with the other. "I'm sorry I let go." He said quietly looking her over.<p>

"You didn't let go." Tish said, face against his shoulder, "I slipped." She reassured him calmly.

He nodded then his eyes went from her face to the top buttons on her shirt. "Amy?" he asked a calmness in his voice.

"Yeah?" Amy said quietly.

"Would you do me a big favour and wake up Jack?" he asked her softly, "Sometimes he's a bit stubborn and needs someone to tell him to get up." He continued firmly giving her something to do.

Amy nodded and let him put her down on the floor where she quickly made her way to Jack's side.

"Jack-"

"Is perfectly fine and awaiting the moment he can leap to his feet and be a hero and have an explanation for why he 'died' but hasn't." the Doctor brushed it off then gestured to her shirt, "Let me see." He demanded turning his attention to Tish.

Tish sighed but unbuttoned the top few buttons and revealed the bandage.

His eyes narrowed at the red that was starting to stain it and carefully peeled back one side of it to reveal the butterfly holding the skin together.

"I'm truly sorry." Malohkeh said, seeing the wound as he came to the Doctor's side. "I could fix that-" he trailed off as Tish interrupted him.

"No." Tish said quickly, patting the bandage back into place and buttoning the shirt back up. "I don't mean to offend but I'd rather wait till we were back on the TARDIS and let the Doctor do it." She explained trying hard not to offend him.

Malohkeh held up his hands to show he understood and wasn't offended, "I understand completely; I think I'd be a bit leery myself of letting the one who hurt me heal me."

Tish nodded slightly and turned as Amy laughed. Jack had sat up partially and had his head resting on her knees, obviously telling her something silly to cheer her up some.

"Eldane, if you will." the Doctor crossed the room to talk with him, making sure to keep his eye on Amy at all times.

"How?" Nasreen asked in alarm as Jack sat up onto his knees and was hugged tightly by Amy who didn't seem to think about the fact he was covered in blood.

"It's a long story," Tish said, "But it involves the word 'alien' several times."Nasreen nodded, "Well, I suppose if there are Lizard men in the Earth with energy weapons it's not so far out of the realm of possible to have a race that could heal a bullet wound with that much blood loss." She theorized.

"Keep thinking like that and you'll be fine." Tish told her.

"Nasreen, Tish, come have a seat." the Doctor motioned them over to sit at the table across from Eldane. "Jack!" he yelled.

Jack looked up and then down at his hands that were on Amy's back and winced. He hadn't thought about the fact his hands were coated in his own blood when he hugged her. The Doctor was going to flay him when all this was over, God knew how he'd react to seeing his kid -strike that, he knew how he'd reacted. "Sorry." He said sheepishly.

He pulled back from Amy and tried not to wince again at the sight of his crimson blood staining the front of her shirt. "Sorry." he repeated.

Amy looked down and frowned but shook her head, "It's okay. I have lots of shirts, but only one Jack." She said putting her hand up and grabbing his arm.

Jack smiled at her, "Go see your dad." Once Amy had stepped away he climbed to his feet and wiped his hands off on the butt of his trousers, thankful they were dark. He pulled at his shirt with disdain as the blood had already started to cool and stick to his skin. Ruined yet another one with bullet holes and blood.

"Now, I'd say, you've got a fair bit to talk about." the Doctor said, taking Amy in his arms once again, this time more for himself than for Amy.

"How so?" Eldane nodded in agreement and faced the girls.

"Both races want the planet, both have a genuine claim to it," he continued.

"Indeed, but are you authorized to negotiate on behalf of humanity?" he asked.

"Me? No!" He looked almost disturbed at the thought, "But they are." he continued, gesturing to the women.

"What?!" Nasreen choked.

"No, we are so not." Tish shook her head.

"Of course you are!" he said with a bright grin, "Nasreen Chaundry and Letitia Jones speaking for planet Earth? Humanity couldn't possibly have better ambassadors! Come on, who has more fun than us?" he questioned as he moved to stand at the end of the table near Malohkeh. "Who loves exploring more?" he said smiling at them hopefully.

"Is this what happens?" Tish asked him quietly, moving to stand at his side again, "Is the planet supposed to be shared? Is this something we need to make happen?" she asked quietly.

Nasreen moved from her seat again, making a 'one moment' gesture to Eldane, "What are you going on about?" she asked curiously.

"Right, sorry, Nasreen, it's probably worth mentioning that the lot of us are time travellers. Shouldn't be here really." The Doctor explained.

"From 2010, myself." Tish offered weakly, well aware how it sounded, "Captain Nude over there is from the 51st century." She gestured to Jack who had stripped off his bloody shirt and was trying to clean his back with it.

"Anything else?" Nasreen asked with a slight smile.

"Throughout time there are fixed points where things have to stay the way they are. This is not one of them, however." he swayed in place and Tish couldn't resist reaching up to brush his hair out of his eyes as he held Amy. "This is a temporal tipping point, a brilliant opportunity. Whatever happens today will change future events. Today is going to create its own time line, its own reality and everything will change around it." he said eagerly but seriously. "The future is pivoting around you humans here and now. So do good for Humanity and for the Earth. Be brilliant." He stated firmly placing all his hope on these two.

"No pressure though, right?" Tish said sarcastically but did smile as she went to go sit back down.

"It wouldn't work, Doctor. Nobody on the surface is going to want to share the planet. To go from Humans to this...It's just too big of a leap!" she said quietly.

"Come on, Nasreen." he smiled brightly at her, "Be as extraordinary as I know you are." He said patting her on the shoulder.

Nasreen laughed quietly, "I'll try."

"Okay!" the Doctor cleared his throat and shifted Amy so he could bang his hand on the table in place of a gavel. "Lets bring to order the first meeting of the representatives of the human race and the homo-reptilain! We are now in session. Heh," He grinned again, "Never said that before, It's fantastic! Carry on. Now," he pointed to Mo and Elliot, "Let's find someplace to get out of their way and get the little ones cleaned up, eh?" He turned to Malohkeh, "You have anywhere we can straighten up a bit?" he gestured to Amy who had a very large bloody hand print on the back of her shirt.

"Of course." Malohkeh nodded, "Follow me." He said gravely.

"Jack!" the Doctor yelled, gesturing for him to follow.

"Humans and their predecessors." Jack whistled lowly, "Just sort of...shooting the breeze." he said as he tucked his gun back into the holster on his hip.

"Never thought I'd see it." the Doctor agreed. He frowned then and looked at Jack, "Can't you keep your clothes on?" he griped.

"Hey, I'm decent." Jack complained good naturally, snapping his braces into place.

"You and 'decent' are never in a sentence together unless decent is preceded by 'in'." the Doctor countered as the followed Malohkeh.

* * *

><p><strong>-Rory-<strong>

* * *

><p>Rory moved slowly to keep from falling as he carried Alaya's body the remaining feet and sat her down slowly next to the newly appeared disks on the ground.<p>

He'd carried her all the way from the church, unwilling to let Tony or Ambrose help at the time but now he was begining to think he might have to let one of them help if he wanted to get her through the underground; who knew how far he'd have to walk.

"So those things are going to take us through the Earth?" Tony looked at the questionable items. They looked like manhole covers frankly.

"Like the Doctor said: Geothermal gravity bubbles." Rory said, repeating the words but not fully understanding.

"They sent up four." Ambrose said harshly. "She was our only way to get them back."

Tony looked darkly at the disks and reached his hand up to lightly touch the bandage on his neck. "Before we go there's something I've got to do. Wait here." Tony said, his mind made up.

Ambrose looked nervous and kept toying with her necklace when her dad disappeared.

"That necklace is important, isn't it?" Rory asked finally.

"Hmm?" Ambrose pulled her fingers away from the open heart shaped gold pendant. "Oh, Elliot and Mo got it for me on my Birthday. I..It has Elliot's birthstone." She looked away, "Nervous habit, I guess." She said quietly

"My mother turns the mother's ring we got her when my youngest sister was born." Rory told her with a sigh. He honestly was beginning to feel bad for her. "Just twists it around her finger over and over..." he took a deep breath, "I won't tell them what you did, but it's going to be impossible to hide."

"I'll tell them I did it." Ambrose told him.

"You will not!" Tony said as he hurried back in, the pace obviously hurting.

"Dad, I have to. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't face up to what I did." Ambrose said.

"I won't let you." Tony said strongly as he tucked something into his pocket. "I've already been infected, you're healthy. That's my Grandson and my son-in-law down there. I'm the one who did this, understand?" Tony's voice was commanding and Rory couldn't help but think of his Granddad when he set his mind to something. "I hurt her trying to find out how to heal myself and how to get Elliot back. It's my fault, Understood?" he demanded looking into his daughter's eyes.

"Dad-" Ambrose trailed off.

"I said 'Understood'?" Tony demanded again shaking her a bit.

"Yes." Rory said, nodding. "Completely." He said quietly.

Ambrose nodded weakly, hand reaching up to her necklace again.

The Doctor wouldn't buy it, Rory knew, he'd spot the lie immediately. Anyone who looked at the woman would but he would let Tony have his delusion for now.

* * *

><p><strong>-the Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>"Sorry." Amy said again as the Doctor cleaned her hands with the sterilized wet-wipes that Malohkeh had given him. He was sitting on the edge of a chair with her standing in front of him so he could reach her hands and face without her having to move a lot.<p>

"What for?" he asked as he gently made sure that her right hand was clean before grabbing a new wipe to start on her other hand.

"Not rescuing you right, getting taken cause I left the church, getting Jack shot." she said quietly.

"Hey, who said you got Jack shot?" the Doctor demanded, wiping blood off of Amy's wrist where somehow it'd gotten under the cuff of her shirt.

"I shoulda stopped it somehow. I was right there." Amy said worriedly.

"If Jack couldn't stop it than neither could you." the Doctor told her seriously. "Trust me, that was his own fault."

"But-" she started looking over to Jack.

"Jack, did you get shot on purpose?" the Doctor said loudly, looking sideways.

"No...That was unplanned," Jack admitted, clearly a bit embarrassed and annoyed by that.

"Could you have avoided it?" he asked.

"Only if I had never pulled my gun to begin with." he scoffed, "Or I was Superman...Huh, that's an idea...Wonder how I'd look in tights." he mused.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and grabbed a new wipe. "Chin up." he motioned for Amy to look up at the ceiling. "See? Nothing to be done." he wiped away the blood that had splattered on her neck, trying hard to stamp down the fury he was keeping inside. He kept telling himself it wasn't her blood, but that wasn't helping as much as it should have. "Down." He motioned again and wiped at the droplets on the side of her face carefully. "Ears okay?" he asked

"Yeah." She nodded, "They hurt when the gun went off, but they're better now." She said softly.

"Good." He forced a smile once her skin was clean. Her hair still had blood in it and her shirt was probably beyond any washer's ability to clean by now and her trousers might have to be soaked before being scrubbed. "How's your tank-top?" he asked.

Amy unbuttoned her flannel shirt and found the white cotton tank was almost as thoroughly soaked from Jack's blood. "Oh." Amy bit her lip worriedly, really not liking the blood that clung to her.

The Doctor gritted his teeth and shook his head, "Great."

"It's okay." Amy said quickly.

"No, it's not okay." the Doctor shook his head and tugged her onto his lap and into a tight hug. "You should never have blood on you like this. I should have protected you better." He said holding her tight.

"You did!" Amy protested, wrapping her arms around him in a gesture of comfort as best she could from her position. "I didn't get hurt at all." She insisted.

"No, but you should never have to see anyone die. Despite that person being a brain dead idiot with no sense of self preservation." he grumbled and made her giggle. With a sigh he brushed the hair back from her face and tried not to wince at the blood on his fingertips. "Once we get home you're getting a bath and new clothes then we're going to build a pillow fort and watch cartoons. Got it?" he said with all the threat of a father handing out a punishment.

"Okay." Amy nodded, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Hey, Doc!" Jack said after a few minutes, "Wanna help me out?" he held the thing of wet-wipes out and gestured to his stomach and back with a grin.

"No." the Doctor said flatly, resting his chin on the top of Amy's head.

"Aww, you don't have to say it like that." Jack sniffed, "Sar—I mean most people wouldn't pass up the chance to touch these abs." he quickly changed his statement, realizing a 'your wife' joke at this time might be a bad thing.

"Hmph." the Doctor grumbled and Amy giggled. "I think we might have to toss him into the pool again." He said smiling a bit.

"Might." Amy agreed.

Once Jack was cleaned up, he'd turned down the robes Malohkeh offered, and his braces straightened again he clapped cheerfully, "Right then...Shall we go watch the humans haggle?"

"Aren't you human?" Elliot asked Jack curiously.

"Close." Jack grinned. "But not quite."

"Yes, let's go." the Doctor stood up and Amy yelped at the motion as he didn't bother to put her down first, choosing instead to keep her in his arms. "This should be educational."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Early by a day because A) it was done and B) it's the election; we all need some cheering up! <em>Hey! Be happy I stayed up this late to beta it, I should be in bed. <em>Psh, we all know you're not going till the votes are in. Frankly I'm not going to be happy no matter who wins but I've got more RA and pumpkin cake so happiness is warm pastry. _I know, you went and voted your first time and didn't get a sticker, poor girl. _Nyeh, I'm just not a fan of either candidate more than anything..._Yup, but if you don't vote you don't have the right to gripe. _Yeah, yeah. Hey, at least we cancel each other's vote out. _Except your state might go Democrat and mine went Republican. _Eh, I repeat about warm pastry and writing. Enjoy, everyone!]**


	87. Cold Blood Part Three

"We did live on the surface of this planet long before you." Eldane pointed out as they talked. "Our sole purpose has been to return to our rightful place." He detailed.

"Yes, but we've got a planet that can't sustain the people who live on it. You want to add ANOTHER species to it? It'd be a horrible drain on what resources we have." Nasreen said.

They sat at their table for a long time, both sides feeling the weight of their species future resting on their shoulders. Both sides also had too much to lose to give up before a perfect compromise was reached.

Earth's future and the future of two entire species was in their hands, and they weren't about to give up, despite fears that they wouldn't be able to manage it.

"Here," Eldane pressed a button on a small device that looked like a keyboard less laptop on the table and popped up a projection of the Earth, slowly rotating above the table. "Maybe this will help." He said pointing to the projection.

"Thanks." Tish stood and stretched her hand out to touch the Earth's image before hissing and pulling back, pressing her hand to the front of Jack's shirt. She rearranged and sat partially on the table so she could reach without stretching the skin on her chest. "How about the areas that we humans can't inhabit?" Tish suggested, tapping the glowing section that represented Australia, "The Australian outback's no longer filled with Targan's thanks to the Doctor," she added under her breath. "There's the Sahara, the Nevada plains...The Arctic. All deserted areas that aren't habitable." She said looking at them.

Nasreen nodded but maintained the worried frown, "Yes, that'd be fine for a short while but," she held up her hand to halt them, "What happens when the Silurian population grows, breeds and needs more space to spread to? Then we also have to consider what benefit would humanity get from agreeing to that? I don't even know how we'd begin to sell this to the other humans." She countered thoughtfully.

Eldane cleared his throat to catch their attention again, "If you would allow me to speak." he smiled slightly as both looked suitably chastened. "If you give us space we can bring new sources of energy and of water supply. I think your friend here can attest to the medications and scientific advances we could offer." Tish winced but nodded, though they were horribly used it seemed Malohkeh had much better medication at his disposal than Martha did. "We were a great civilization, ladies, and we will be again if you give us a place on the surface." Eldane spread his hands slightly, palms up, "In return we'll give you knowledge and technology beyond humanity's dreams; we'll work together and this planet will achieve greatness." He explained happily

Nasreen's smiled spread and even Tish was grinning. "OK, now I'm starting to see how this'll work." She said cautiously optimistic.

"Definitely." He said quietly.

Wild applause and a whistle broke the silence and they turned to find the Doctor clapping excitedly as Jack moved his fingers away from his lips with a grin.

"Seems like you've covered ground." the Doctor said, slipping his hand back into Amy's. "Not bad for the first session ever. Did you finally discover you have more similarities than differences?" he asked them.

"Something like that, yeah." Nasreen smiled at the Doctor. "You're brilliant, you know that?" she said happily.

"Oh, I rather like to think so." he replied, adjusting his bowtie with a grin. "The two of you aren't half bad either. Three of you, that is." he said, nodding towards Eldane who just laughed quietly.

"Lots of people are more same than different." Amy observed. "If they talk." she said quietly leaning into her father.

"Of course, but you know no matter how much we're the same," Jack hooked his thumbs in his front pockets and rolled his shoulders back to stand in his long perfected 'I'm a statuesque god' - as Gwen called it - pose, "I'm still so much more handsome." He smirked.

"Definitely dropping him into the pool." the Doctor said, "Maybe from the L section." He said just loud enough for Jack to hear.

Jack blew a raspberry at the Doctor, making Amy and Elliot laugh.

The Doctor appreciated Jack's attempt at making him calm down overall, but that didn't mean he didn't plan to dunk him in the pool later. His rage was still held back but instead of the normal steel wall that held the majority of it in place it felt like it'd been replaced by plastic wrap. Amelia was the only thing keeping him from tracking down Restac and...no, he wasn't going there.

A loud noise echoed through the chamber, a woosh like someone was letting the air out of a mattress.

"That would be the transport returning; your friends are here." Eldane informed them.

* * *

><p><strong>-Malohkeh-<strong>

* * *

><p>Malohkeh strolled through the tunnels back to the medical storage room intent on locating an unopened bottle of dermal glue that would work better on humans. He still felt terrible for causing pain to the two adults he'd had brought to him before. Mo was already healed but Tish hadn't let him fix her up, which he understood perfectly, but the least he could do would be to provide her with the means to fix it herself.<p>

Most the bottles had fool proof instructions written on them; a monkey could use it! He chuckled to himself a little at the unintended joke and quickened his step.

He was just coming out of the storage room, bottle tucked neatly in his pocket when something caught his eye. "That's not right." he said quietly to himself as he noticed one of the sliding glass doors that held a few of the warriors had been opened. Not just warriors, though, these were some of the best warriors that didn't hold titles. Too high held in honour for a group sleep chamber but too low in rank to get one of the private glass sectored chambers, they instead lined the walls near his labs and the medical room for 'safety'.

He rounded the corner and found several more were open and the warriors were lined up behind Restac. "What are you doing!?" he demanded in outrage and fear even as she opened the last chamber.

"Defending our race from the attack by the apes." She said frankly, pulling her gun from her hip and aiming it at him.

"You...You can't do this!" Malohkeh tried to reason with her, "It's not an attack. It's not an invasion or anything like that. It was purely an accident, Restac. They're having a peace talk right now!" he yelled.

She hissed and shook her head at him with something akin to pity, "You're a good scientist, Malohkeh, but your reasoning is easily overwhelmed by nothing more than a sob story by apes in an attempt at trickery. This is war, Malohkeh." Restac took two more steps forward and fired her gun, hitting him dead centre like she had before with Jack. "And you have no place in war." she said even though she knew he couldn't hear her any more.

She did feel a little bad about what she'd done, she had known the man quite a while and he was one of her species but the ends would justify the means; she had to protect her race from an invasion.

More importantly, though she'd not admit that aloud, she had to get her sister back to where she could protect her.

Restac had great plans for tormenting her sister about allowing herself to be captured by apes...once she was home safe anyway.

* * *

><p><strong>-The Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>It was Rory who they saw first through the door, followed not far behind by Ambrose.<p>

"Rory!" Tish stepped forward and allowed herself to be caught in a giant hug by him when he dashed the few feet between them, lifting her up off the ground slightly.

"MUM!" Elliot darted from his dad's arms and collided with his mother, throwing his arms around her waist and holding on as if his life depended on it.

"Elliot." she cried, holding him tightly as well, even when Mo made his way to their side, wrapping an arm around his wife and resting the other on Elliot's back.

"What's...?" Rory stepped back and looked down when Tish hissed. He tugged lightly at the top of Jack's shirt and noticed the bandage.

"I'll explain later, I swear." Tish told him quietly, "It's not relevant anymore; it's been dealt with, okay?" she said calmingly to him.

"Okay." Rory looked around Tish at Amy, the Doctor and Jack, clearly trying to find the words for something.

"Rory, what's wrong?" the Doctor said, not liking what he was seeing. Rory looked lost for the first time since he'd first met Jack; Ambrose looked like she'd just recovered from a crying fit and Tony...

He turned his eyes to the doorway and felt what little stress he'd lost thanks to Amy's presence and Jack's jokes come back full force as Tony entered, walking slowly with great care and holding something shaped like a body wrapped in a blanket in his arms.

"Dad, what's he got?" Amy asked, tugging lightly at his hand.

"NO...Don't do this." He ground out, "Tell me you didn't do this!" he growled angrily.

Tony knelt down on the floor and carefully lay out what he was holding before stepping backwards slightly.

The Doctor dropped Amy's hand, leaving her standing by Jack, and stepped forward. A muscle in his jaw started twitching as he knelt and he was surprised his teeth didn't crack by the sheer force exerted when he clenched his teeth as he drew the corner of the blanket away and found Alaya wrapped inside as predicted.

He let the blanket drop again to cover her face and looked up slowly from under the fringe of his hair, leveling one of his worst glares at Tony. "What the hell did you do?" he yelled.

"It -" Ambrose started.

"It was an accident." Tony interrupted Ambrose, standing his ground despite the glare and the venom coursing through his system. "I did it. It was my fault." He said continuing to glare at his daughter warningly.

"Granddad?" Elliot questioned worriedly.

"Tony?" Nasreen looked like she didn't believe it, but Elliot looked like someone had slapped him.

"I just wanted my Grandson back, my son-in-law back and to be fixed." Tony said, eyes straight ahead, head unbowed.

He didn't believe it for a moment, none of the adults did. All it took was one look at who had come down and you'd know the truth. Rory's eyes were darting back and forth guiltily between the other two and the body of Alaya; Tony's posture was all set in defence though not of himself and Ambrose looked like a puppy someone had viciously kicked repeatedly, her eyes swollen and red from tears.

"Eldane, I didn't know." the Doctor said, turning to face the elder. "Believe me, I didn't know. And please believe that most humans are much better than this."

"Doctor," Ambrose started to speak but he whirled so fast his shoes squeaked on the stone and sent her that same glare now accompanied by a look of disgust.

"WE HAD A CHANCE!" He roared, not noticing the way Amy jumped back and hid against Jack's side or the way Rory flinched in shame. "We had a chance to do good! A chance to change EVERYTHING. A window of opportunity to fix the entire world and save everyone. For once everyone could have LIVED!" His rage was palpable and while Tony didn't flinch Ambrose did have tears starting to show again.

"But no, not now. Not now...When this is talked about in the future," the Doctor growled out, stepping closer to keep both Tony and Ambrose in his sights, "you tell people that we had a chance, we could have been perfectly happy but you were no where near the 'best of humanity'." he snarled, eyes locked on Ambrose's, even as he faced Tony. "So much less than that."

The Doctor hadn't even turned away from the two when the sound of footsteps echoed through the chamber, strong and fast to where he could almost feel them inside his chest. He back stepped several spaces and took a big step to the right to position himself in a way to protect Tish, Amy and Rory if need be.

At least two dozen warriors entered, half through the back and half through the front entrance, all armed and looking ready to do battle.

Through the front entrance Restac entered behind the soldiers looking angry and somehow smug. All those emotions however faded away when she saw the new humans in the room and her eyes went to the body on the floor. "My sister." she whispered, ignoring everyone else in the room, and quickly crossed from the warriors to kneel by the body. Restac hesitantly reached out and pulled back the blanket much like the Doctor had. Her cry made them all wince in shame and had Ambrose in tears again as she covered her mouth with her right hand and kept Elliot close with the other.

Restac looked up at the Doctor, rage and sorrow coursing through her – a combination the Doctor knew all too well to be horrifying – and hissed, "And you want us to TRUST these apes, Doctor?" she hissed angrily, anguish leaking into her voice.

"One wo-..One man." he said, waving his hand at the family group, "One man scared for his family and wanting them safe again. He's not typical." the Doctor lied, knowing very well that any scared human parent would scale mountains to save their child; killing an alien wasn't that far out of what he'd seen.

"He is." Restac stood and snarled at Tony. "He must be." She said casting a murderous look upon the man.

"One person," the Doctor pleaded with Eldane even as he kept an eye on Restac, "One person let us down, but there's a whole race of dazzling, peaceful human beings up on the surface." he entreated for them to believe him though he knew it to be a hopeless cause. "Please? You...You were building something here." he proclaimed, giving into the childish impulse and kicking the table with a satisfying thump. "An alliance...Eldane?" he asked.

"I'm afraid it might be too late for that, Doctor." Tony said, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Why?" the Doctor demanded, teeth clenched again as he reminded himself to breath and not start something despite how he felt.

"I've set our drill to start burrowing again." Tony said as he dug into his pockets and produced what looked like a small remote control screen, "In fifteen minutes." He said warningly.

"What?" Nasreen said flatly, eyebrows raised. The Doctor figured the look was significant but he couldn't quite figure out why as he internally raged.

"I didn't have a choice." Tony said, even as he winced against pain, "They had Elliot and Mo." He explained.

"Don't do this." the Doctor warned him, stepping forward and pointing at Tony warningly. "Don't call their bluff." He said calmly hoping to salvage the situation.

"Let my family and friends go back to the surface." Tony said to Alaya, "Promise never to go to the surface again and let them walk away and I'll stay. It's my fault that th..Alaya died." Tony said, voice strong though his hands shook slightly. "Just let them go free." He said in a deceivingly calm tone.

"Dad, no!" Ambrose stepped away from her husband to grab her father, "Dad, you can't, please-" she begged holding her father tight.

"EXECUTE THEM!" Restac screamed in rage.

"No!" the Doctor lunged forward and shoved Tony out of the way of the gun fire, pulling Ambrose out of the way with him and then looking back instinctively to where he'd left Amy.

Jack now had his gun out and was shielding Amy with his left side, Tish had made it to their side somehow along with Rory when he'd been ranting and now all three adults stood ready to defend her if need be.

"Everybody, back to the lab. RUN!" he encouraged them, "Elliot, show them." He yelled.

The boy ran ahead, tugging his mother's hand to show her the way as everyone followed.

"Dad?" Amy cried questioningly, even as she ran holding Jack's hand.

"Go, I'll follow." he promised her.

"Execute all the apes!" Restac ordered.

The Doctor reached into his pocket and withdrew his sonic, instantly turning it on the guns and pressing down causing the energy packs that charged the gun and provided the 'ammo' to explode spectacularly with bright sparks and a bang. "This is a very deadly weapon." he said levelly, holding it in front of him in warning, "So stay back or I'll use it." He threatened hoping they were distracted enough.

He backed his way out of the room slowly, only resorting to turning his back on them and running when he had to dodge a venomous tongue strike. The Doctor ran then, feet pounding against the stone as he caught up to the other humans part way down the tunnel.

"Doctor!" Jack yelled

"Dad." Amy reached for him.

He reached out and caught her hand in his briefly till he heard footsteps behind them again. He reluctantly let go and turned so his back was to the group, "Rory, make sure the girls get to the lab safely. They'll show you the way." He said training his sonic on the doorway.

"And you?" Rory asked.

"I'm covering for you so GO." the Doctor commanded.

Jack stood next to the Doctor, gun in his hand as the others ran.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked in irritation.

"Helping out my friend," Jack said, leaving no room for argument, "and buying time for our other friends to escape to safety." He widened his stands minutely so that he'd be able to pivot to run either direction quickly and still had a perfect view of the hallway in front of him.

The Doctor and Jack presented a very strange image as they stood in the hallway; the Doctor with his hair even more messy than usual with a deep scowl on his face, his shirt front stained with Jack's blood, transferred from Amy's shirt with his sonic held out in front of him threateningly and Jack who'd left his coat in the church and lost both his shirts along the way standing topless bar his braces for covering, standing with a look of determination as he held his gun in front of him.

Immediately when the Silurians turned the corner the Doctor sent a signal to their guns to disable them with the same explosive effect as before. "Stop right there or I'll use this on you." the Doctor threatened, "This is a very deadly weapon. All you get is one warning," he said strongly, "If there can be no deal, you go back to hibernation. ALL of you, NOW. This ends here." He said evenly staring at them.

"No." Restac snarled, "It only will end when we are victorious." She said viciously.

"I believe that's one." Jack observed.

The Doctor made a noise of agreement as he sent a second pulse causing the last two guns to explode outwards. "One warning." He turned, cueing Jack to do the same and both men sprinted down the hall to the lab.

"I'm suddenly craving bananas." Jack said as they ran. "And missing Rose." He said smiling a bit.

"I think I preferred Jamie to Silurians." the Doctor replied.

"If it's a question of a cute little kid trying to save his mummy by destroying the world and a blood thirty Silurian I'll take the cute kid, unquestioningly." Jack credited his 'awesome' boots for not sliding when he slowly stopped once through the doorway of the lab.

The Doctor twirled and pointed his sonic at the doors, forcing them to slide shut and lock behind them. Once it slammed shut he turned to face the group again.

"Right, Elliot, I need you and your dad to keep your eyes on that screen," he said, pointing to the control panel near the door, "tell me when we get company." He noticed Rory and Tish standing to the side, Amy with them and had to wince. He'd probably scared at least Amy with his yelling. Amy gave him a tentative smile and he smiled back before turning to Tony, "Now, how long until drill impact?" he demanded.

Nasreen snorted, "Never." She said shaking her head.

"What?" the Doctor looked confused and looked to Tony. "But you had a controller!" he said confused.

Tony reached into his pocket and handed the Doctor what he'd held, trying not to wince in pain when he did so. "Sorry, had to try." He said quietly.

The Doctor looked down at the touchscreen music player and felt both relief and annoyance at himself. "Oh. It really was a bluff?" he asked.

"Of course!" Nasreen placed her hand lightly on Tony's shoulder, and looked down at the man with affection and annoyance, "What use would we ever have for a remote timed operating system? Someone's ALWAYS on staff to take care of anything and the drill is always on." Nasreen told the Doctor, "There's just no reason to have taken the time to install something like that." She shook her head again.

The Doctor almost looked proud for a moment before his eyes narrowed, "Tony Mack...Sweaty forehead, dilated pupils, heavy breathing and wincing...What're you hiding from us?" he asked looking at the man carefully.

Tony sighed, looking up at his family before slowly opening his shirt. The infection was raging through him, every visible vein was now a lethal green, even the ones leading up his neck, his chest pale and covered in a small sheen of sweat.

"Tony!" Nasreen gasped, "What happened?" she asked concerned.

"Alaya's sting. She said there's no cure." Tony explained looking down.

"Oh, that's not good." Jack winced as he caught sight of the wound, "Fu-freaking painful too." He observed.

"How would you know?" Rory questioned.

"Jenny may have had a mean right hook but Vastra had poison and claws." Jack stated with a nostalgic smile as he placed his gun back in its holster. "Don't worry, Tony, it's easily fixed providing you have the right materials." He explained.

The Doctor looked at Jack and made a face, considering his options, "Fixable here?" he asked.

Jack nodded, "Easier here, actually, than it was on Earth. Decontamination program should get rid of all the foreign agents in his body which will shut down the poison quickly. Follow that up on Earth with some pain medication, an IV to replace all lost fluids and possibly a transfusion since the decontamination might kill off some blood cells." Jack ticked off on his fingers, "I'm sure Rory could manage all of that easily." He explained shrugging his shoulder.

"Eldane, can you run that program on Tony?" the Doctor turned to the so far quiet Silurian.

"Easily." Eldane replied, helping Tony to his feet and leading him to the chamber.

Rory looked around the room trying to see who was occupied and distracted but found it wasn't as many as he wanted but gave up on waiting. He crossed the few feet between him and Jack and grabbed the man in a hug, his arms crossing over Jack's back briefly. "I'm glad you're okay." He said as he stepped back. Rory reached down and straightened his shirt nervously and looked around, "That so never happened."

Jack smiled and clapped Rory on the back comfortingly, "Don't worry. A lot of people say that around me." He said smiling wider.

As Eldane set up the chamber to decontaminate Tony the Doctor turned to face Ambrose. He caught sight of Elliot and grabbed Ambrose by the wrist, "Give us a minute, Elliot?" Elliot nodded and turned back to the screen he'd been watching. "It was you." the Doctor stated simply once they were out of earshot of the children. It wasn't an accusation, just a fact.

"I didn't mean to." Ambrose told him, not looking away from him no matter how much she desperately wanted to. She wanted to look at the ground in shame, but she couldn't do that now. "It was an accident. She taunted me, telling me that they were using Elliot for experiments and they were slicing up my husband...that my dad would die a painful death that he 'deserved'...she said I was too pathetic to protect my own child." Ambrose said quietly. To her credit she didn't cry this time, even though her lower lip did tremble. "I had the taser in my hand and lashed out without thinking. What...What would you do to protect your child?" she asked, looking sideway at Amy.

"So much worse." the Doctor admitted, "I've already destroyed an entire civilization for her." he thought back to the Targans. Even though there had been a crack in the wall and it had needed sealed, if he really thought about it and stopped lying to himself he'd done in because he'd been angry. He'd wanted revenge for them scaring and taking his Amelia. He wanted them to pay for her suffocating in fear in the dirt and he'd wanted vengeance for what they'd done to Tegan's children - he'd always used that as a broad header for the three.

"You understand." Ambrose reached up and started toying with her necklace again, much like the Doctor did with his bowtie.

"That doesn't mean I approve." the Doctor said sternly, "Someone still lost their life." He said looking her in the eyes.

"And I'll be working the rest of mine to try and help balance that scale." Ambrose replied.

Both turned to look quickly when Tony started screaming.

"Don't worry," Eldane told them, "It's part of the program, that's all." He explained.

"I know." the Doctor ran his fingers through his hair, "It hurts." He grumbled.

"So much so." Mo grumbled, but he kept watch.

The Doctor looked towards Amy who looked upset again and held his hands out. Instantly she pulled away from Tish and darted into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her upper body but didn't pick her up this time; he needed to be free to move in case of an emergency. "I'm sorry I've scared you." he told her softly.

"It's okay." Amy said, her voice muted by his shirt. "You were mad. Still are."

"I'm getting better." the Doctor told her, brushing his hand over her hair affectionately to ground both himself and Amy. He turned and got Eldane's attention, "There can't be a treaty now, can there?" he sighed.

Eldane sighed and shook his head, "I do not think there can be, not while Restac is still awake." He explained.

"Doctor, there's a whole lot of Silurians on the way." Mo told him urgently, "We're surrounded." He said looking at the exits wearily.

"How are we going to get past Restac's troops to get out of here?" Rory asked.

"I can help with that..." Eldane offered, "We have a program: 'Toxic Fumigation' - it's an emergency failsafe meant to protect my species from infection should anything intrude on our city. A warning signal to occupy cryo-chambers will be sent out and after that, citywide fumigation, by toxic gas. Then the city shuts down." He explained.

"But if you do that you could end up killing your own people." Tish pointed out worriedly.

Eldane shook his head, "Only those foolish enough to follow Restac." He said calculating the risks and finding it acceptable.

"Are you sure about this?" the Doctor asked him.

"The Earth isn't ready for us to return to it, not quite yet." Eldane said, "and my priority is the survival of my species." he shut down the decontamination on Tony, now that it had finished and allowed Rory to help the man out. Tony looked shakier than he had before but the green tint to his veins had vanished.

"No, it's not ready yet." the Doctor agreed, "but it should be...Alright, here's the deal, everybody listening?" the Doctor raised his voice to make sure he had everyone's attention but didn't start yelling again just yet. He kept a hand on Amy's shoulder as he spoke, the girl looking up at him curiously. "Eldane, you activate the program and I'll alter your system a bit. I'll set the alarm for 1,000 years." Eldane walked to the controls as the Doctor spoke and started his work. "That leaves you lot with 1,000 years to sort out this planet. A thousand years to be ready for their return. This planet is to be shared, make that known. Pass it on as a legend, or prophesy or even religion but you make it known. Got it?" he demanded.

"Yeah. I get you." Elliot said earnestly.

"Of course." Ambrose agreed softly.

"Ooh, fluid controls, my favourite!" the Doctor sounded childish for a moment as he left Amy's side to go help Eldane. "Okay, first off we've got to cancel that energy barricade, it's a very annoying threat to all of us." as he spoke he used his sonic to rid the barricade happily.

"Fumigation pre-launching." Eldane told him.

"This isn't giving us much time to get to the surface, Doctor." Rory warned him.

"Get ready to run for your lives then!" the Doctor told him.

Rory nodded and shifted with Mo to help support Tony even as Jack made sure he had Amy's right hand secure in his left.

"Ready?" Eldane asked them.

"Yes." the Doctor said, sonic out.

"Good luck," Eldane told the Doctor as he pressed down on the controls.

"_Toxic fumigation initiated_." a voice rang out.

* * *

><p><strong>-Restac-<strong>

* * *

><p>"<em>Return to cryo-chambers<em>." The computers voice announced through the compound startling the awake soldiers.

"No!" Restac yelled even as the warriors she had with her turned quickly and hurried off, back to their chambers.

"Toxic fumigation initiated." The voice came again.

"NO!" Restac screamed, "This is not how it's supposed to be!" she yelled in frustration.

* * *

><p><strong>-the Doctor-<strong>

* * *

><p>"<em>Toxic fumigation initiated<em>." They heard the computer voice say.

"They're going away," Elliot told them, "We're clear." He announced.

"OK, everyone follow Nasreen and look for a blue box." he warned them, "And stay close. Get ready to run." he pointed his sonic at the door and with a pulse it slid open. Even as they ran the Doctor turned back to Eldane, "I'm sorry."

Eldane sighed, "I thought perhaps for a moment there our races..." he started wearily.

"Me too." the Doctor answered sympathetically.

"Doctor!" Tish yelled, waiting in the doorway for him.

* * *

><p>"Don't you dare let go." Jack warned Amy as they ran, well aware the heat from the underground along with body heat was causing their hands to get sweaty.<p>

"Won't." Amy replied, keeping up with Jack as best she could.

Rory and Mo were going slower, trying to help Tony who looked on the verge of passing out, Elliot and Ambrose were just a few steps behind them, Elliot clinging to his mother's hand with a look of determination, Tish and Nasreen were just in front of them with Nasreen leading the way to the TARDIS and Tish with her key in her hand ready to let them in.

"_Immediate evacuation_." The computerized voice said again, "_Toxic fumigation is about to commence_.'"

Amy let out a small gasp as her hand slipped from Jacks and she stumbled. Jack halted so quickly his feet kicked up dust and he nearly fell backwards, catching himself at the last minute with a terrified look in his eyes. It was gone as quickly as it had entered however. He reached out and grabbed Amy under the arms much like the Doctor had, lifting her into his arms. "Never letting go again." he said, mostly to himself as he took off running again, thoughts of a similar situation so many years ago flittering through his head.

"I'm fine." Amy told him. Jack didn't respond.

They turned a final corner and came face to face with the TARDIS, so to speak.

The Doctor was only seconds behind them but he didn't even smile at the odd looks the TARDIS was getting as Tish unlocked it.

"No questions right now, just in. Yes, I know it's 'big." he said as Rory traded places with Nasreen, allowing her to hold up Tony with Mo. "Ambrose, the sickbay is up the stairs to the left and then to the left again. Wait there and we'll be in to get you all fixed up." he promised as they entered.

"Dad." Amy's voice wasn't strong like it had been earlier, in fact she sounded terrified even in the safety of Jack's arms.

He turned quickly to face whatever it was that was scarring her, sonic out in front of him and his hearts froze when he saw the crack in the wall of the cave. It hasn't been there earlier...he would have noticed it.

"Not here. Not now." the Doctor almost pleaded. 'It's getting wider.'

"What is it?" Jack demanded, setting Amy down on the ground again.

"A crack in the skin of the Universe." Tish told him. She'd never seen one before, but Amy and the Doctor had told her all about them and what happened when one touched you.

"Very bad news." Rory added.

"It's the crack from my bedroom wall," Amy whimpered, clinging to Jack's hand and not taking her eyes off of it. "It's following me, Jack." She said fearfully.

_"Two parts of space and time that should never have touched."_

The Doctor whispered as he walked up to the wall and squatted down, trying to see what was inside. "From the Byzantium as well, and Australia. All through the universe there are rips in the continuum." He explained quietly.

_"How could it be following me?"_

"Wait, so something put cracks in the universe?" Jack looked shocked. "I thought it was figurative." He yelped hugged Amy to his side protectively

"No. Some type of space-time cataclysm, like an explosion, happened and it was big enough to put cracks in the universe...but what happened?" He frowned, anger rising again. "The Angels laughed at me because I didn't know. Rosanna knew, or at least some of it...Even Prisoner Zero mentioned it, he knew! Everyone knows what it is, except me." He growled.

"Doctor, please leave it." Tish pleaded, "Don't let it get you." She said fear lacing her voice.

"Where there's an explosion there should be shrapnel," he dug into his pocket and produced a large red handkerchief.

"Doctor, don't even think about putting your hand in there." Rory said. "I know you can heal yourself but I doubt you can grow a hand back." He said looking wearily at the crack.

"You'd be surprised." he replied smartly as he reached into the crack, arm sinking in clear up to his shoulder as the light got brighter. He cried in pain even as he tried to find something, anything to pull out. After a moment he felt something, "I've got something!" he yelled.

"What?" Amy asked worriedly.

The Doctor jerked backwards, pulling his arm out and falling to the ground in the process, still clutching what he'd found in the handkerchief. It was sizzling with heat and crackling with energy.

"I don't know." he said with disbelief, looking up at Amy.

"Doctor!" Jack called out.

The Doctor jumped to his feet when he caught sight of what Jack had seen. Restac was crawling towards him, gun still clutched in hand with pain and determination on her face.

"She got poisoned by the gas, didn't she?" Amy asked Jack as he shielded her again, keeping her closer to the TARDIS.

"You!" Restac nearly screamed.

"TARDIS, now!" the Doctor ordered his companions, sticking what he'd found back into his pocket without looking at it.

Jack opened the door and had just pushed Amy inside when Restac screamed again.

"YOU DID THIS!" Restac roared, taking aim with her gun.

"Doctor!" Rory yelled again, dashing forward and shoving him out of the way without thinking. He got the Doctor out of the way but he took the blast from her gun full on in his chest. He crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

"RORY!" Tish screamed, darting to his side and kneeling down near his head.

"Rory!" Amy shrieked, trying to run to him but Jack forced her back into the TARDIS. The only thing that kept him in place was the fact that Restac was now collapsed on the ground and very unlikely to be alive.

"Rory, can you hear me?" the Doctor demanded as he scanned him with the sonic, trying to understand what was happening to Rory so he could fix it.

"Don't understand." Rory groaned as pain echoed through his body. It felt like his chest was being zapped repeatedly by something electrical and his heart was skipping beats and going far too fast. A very bad sign, he knew. "Was on the cliff." he continued.

"Shh, don't talk, okay?" Tish brushed his hair away from his face and looked at the Doctor. "We've got to get him into the TARDIS." She said in shock.

"Love you." Rory said, struggling to breath and keep his eyes open.

"Don't...Doctor, help him!" Tish demanded.

The Doctor looked up as he felt something strange and his eyes caught sight of the crack again. Tendrils of light were now reaching out like a greedy child to wrap around Rory's feet as if he were a new plaything.

"If the time energy catches up with you, you'll never have been born. It will erase every moment of your existence. You will never have lived at all." He explained before standing quickly, making an agonizing decision, "Tish, step back. You can't let the light touch it or you'll be wiped from history." when she didn't move he raised his voice, "Letitia, move away NOW." He demanded.

"I can't leave him." Tish refused to follow his instruction as she held onto Rory. "We have to help him, Doctor." She yelled frustrated and upset.

"The light's already around him." the Doctor told her, holding onto her by her shoulders trying not to panic himself as rage and sorrow started swirling in him.

"We can't help him." He declared.

"I'm NOT leaving him!" Tish insisted straining to get back to Rory.

"We have to." He insisted.

"No." She protested, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, Tish." the Doctor said even as he grabbed her and pulled her backwards away from Rory.

"NO! Get off me!" Tish tried to wiggle away.

"I'm sorry." he repeated as he dragged her to the TARDIS.

"STOP!" Tish yelled.

The Doctor nudged Jack aside and shoved Tish in, trying hard not to turn back himself when faced with the idea of leaving behind his friend. Not just leaving him for dead but leaving him to never exist at all. "Jack?"

Jack bit his lip and looked from Rory's body to the sobbing girls inside the TARDIS. He made a split decision and ran forward, sliding to a halt by Rory's head.

"Sorry, Doc, not letting this happen." He told him. Jack reached down and grabbed Rory under his shoulders and trying to drag him backwards. The crack was stronger than Jack normally was though so he had to adjust his grip and hold on tighter. He grunted and braced his boots against the ground, tugging with all his might to get Rory loose.

The Doctor looked at the girls, "Stay here, go to the console." he then left the door and pushed Jack slightly to one side to get a grip on Rory as well. "We're idiots." he told Jack as he pulled.

"Mickey's title is lost to us." Jack agreed breathlessly as slowly the two got Rory loose and backwards away from the crack. Once he was freed Jack scooped the young man up in his arms bridal style and with the Doctor help got him inside and onto the console room floor. "Med help, now." Jack said as he pressed his ear against Rory's chest, clearly looking for something.

"Any preference?" the Doctor asked as he started setting coordinates.

"Emergency medical expertise," Jack said even as he positioned his hands on Rory's chest and started compressions.

"Jack?" Amy looked worried a she clung to Tish.

"Helping him, kiddo." Jack told her counting quietly to himself as he kept up compressions.

The Doctor looked around the console at Jack and his eyes lit up, "You're brilliant." He said relieved.

"And you're slow." Jack replied. He tilted Rory's head back to make sure his airway was clear and then took a breath before pressing his lips to Rory's. He pulled back, making an approving noise when Rory's chest inflated and deflated.

Mind made up the Doctor set course for someone who'd help him no matter what, someone who'd never let him down and would know exactly what to do.

"Help him keep from falling." the Doctor told Tish as he started the process.

Tish knelt next to Jack and Rory, getting a grip on Rory's arm and on the railing to keep from sliding.

There was a loud crack through the console room and Amy winced. "What was that?"

"Ribs breaking." Jack said, not fazed as he kept up his work as the Doctor sent them through time and space.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Starting now no more Wednesday postings unless it's special; I'm where I want to be! <em>She's just happy now she gets to go to more fun original stuff. <em>Totally. I love original stuff. So, surprise, surprise we didn't let Rory get taken by the cracks. _Yet...Besides, he's still technically dead. _Technically. Maybe he can live again if Jack doesn't mind doing CPR for a while..._Yes, like Jack minds mouth to mouth contact with anyone. _Hey, look! This post was done early! _Before Nine! _Woot, we're awesome. As always, enjoy and tell us what you think. _Yes, cause otherwise she'll keep bugging me wonder if i like the changes she made. She's so needy. _Shut up.]**


	88. Companions, Doctors and PERU

Ah, finally, a day she WASN'T on call. Normally, Grace hated Mondays, but when it came in the form of a day off where the sun was shining and she had tickets to the opera tonight...Well, she could tolerate Monday for that.

Grace lay back on her couch in her pyjama pants, music playing softly from her radio as she flipped through her newest book. She had no intention of moving until she absolutely had to.

Of course she shouldn't have been surprised when chapter five was interrupted by the loud noise of the TARDIS landing.

With a sigh Grace sat up and sat her book to the side, setting her bare feet on the floor and watching for the door to open.

The TARDIS looked different then it had last time which almost guaranteed that instead of a bald, grumpy man with big ears she'd find someone new.

She was not disappointed, the man who stuck his head out looked like he was late in his teenage years, dressing like his teacher and had brown hair that was currently wild and hanging over his eyes.

"Doctor?" she questioned in a mix of shock and amusement.

"Grace!" he exclaimed, "Need your help, NOW. Emergency." he stepped back into the TARDIS and she hurried in after him, hoping it wasn't another war victim;

after all he'd ended the Time War, he said so himself.

A young man was laying spread out on the floor of the TARDIS near the console. It looked so much different inside now, all shining lights, glass floors and bright colours but it was no doubt still the TARDIS. A young dark skinned woman sat a few feet away from him, looking scared and near tears while on the other side of the console a little girl stood holding onto the railing, clearly terrified and in tears while covered in blood; she didn't seem harmed though.

"What's wrong with him?" Grace asked, moving to the young man's side and looked at the dark haired man who was preforming CPR.

"Shot by an energy weapon. Stopped everything." the Doctor informed her.

"How many hearts?" Grace demanded as she knelt down next to him.

"Just one. Standard human." the Doctor responded, moving to the controls.

"Is that multiple choice?" the dark haired man asked her.

"Who do you think had to come up with a way to perform CPR on a Time Lord?" Grace replied. "Okay, I can't do this on my own and somehow I doubt you're a trained professional if he called for me. Doctor, staffed hospital, please!" she demanded.

"Can't take him to a hospital," the Doctor told her, clearly worried even as he shook his head, "No way to explain his wounds." He said simply.

"I need somewhere with other medical professionals that know how to help me then." Grace offered, gesturing for the other man to move his hands so she could examine the young man quickly before moving back to let him return to his work.

"How does a military institute with a fully stalked hospital ward work?" the Doctor asked getting an idea and pushing buttons quickly.

"As long as I have help, drugs and a defibrillator." Grace shot back.

"PERU it is then." the Doctor nodded and looked towards the little girl, "Get the boringers, will you?" he said turning to the little girl.

The little girl nodded and went to the console as the Doctor in put coordinates.

* * *

><p><strong>PERU headquarters<strong>

* * *

><p>Martha loved PERU, honestly, they were a fantastic organization who mostly tried to promote peace. She could count on one hand the number of gunshot wounds she'd had to treat while working for them and most of those had been accidental or by temperamental teammates.<p>

Actually, if she thought about it she could blame joining PERU on the Doctor or Sarah Jane.

Three weeks before everything ended that year she'd wound up being protected at Sarah Jane's home. She'd had been fantastic, calm and easily offered Martha shelter. The entire house had been put under perception filter just like the one Martha wore around her neck, but Sarah Jane had never explained exactly how she'd done it other than it had to do with the keys.

There had been no one else in the house, bar a metal dog, but signs every stated that several people had been living there for ages. She learned that Sarah Jane's son had been taken and murdered and that between her and a woman in Australia they'd managed to contact mutual alien friends to get the rest of the people living in the two places off planet and to safety.

When Martha asked why Sarah Jane didn't go she'd just smiled at Martha and commented she still had things to do.

She'd taken Martha to the attic and used a computer that everyone she knew would be jealous of to connect her to PERU where a man waited to send through the information Sarah Jane needed to print out the documents to keep Martha safe.

He'd been very nice and rather striking with dark brown hair and eyes. 'Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart II' or 'Al' as he'd told her to call him had given her a message to pass on to himself.

_'When this is all over come to the location I've sent through to Aunt Sarah. Tell me that I sent you to work for me and that I gave you the highest of recommendations. If you're saving the world like this, there's sure to be no limits to what you could do in times of peace.' He had told her.  
><em>

_'Won't you be suspicious?' she asked worriedly.  
><em>

_'My mother was a companion of the Doctor and my father is his best male friend, I'll not even blink.' He answered with a laugh.  
><em>

She'd joined PERU a month after the Year-that-never-was reset and never regretted it.

When UNIT called and offered to push her paperwork through just to hire her she'd been worried and unsure of what to do. Harry Sullivan had dragged her to the Brigadier's office and excitedly told him what she'd been offered. Instead of being angry like she'd expected the two seemed giddy.

They'd told her to take the job, if she wanted, but stay loyal to them and keep them informed on what UNIT was up to. UNIT wasn't to be trusted any more, there was too much going on that they thought couldn't be solved without violence.

She stayed on PERU's payroll, stayed loyal to them and kept them updated with reports in person every two weeks as to what UNIT was doing. UNIT never found out about their counterpart existing, let alone that Martha worked for them.

Then Jack had needed her desperately to work for him full time in September when the world went to hell and Ianto died. Gwen was pregnant and he couldn't risk not having a Doctor on staff.

After a nice little conversation in which Liz repeatedly smacked her husband with her paperwork and Harry whined a lot they'd agreed to let her work for Torchwood instead as long as she stayed on as a consultant at UNIT and again stayed loyal to them.

The best bit had been telling Jack about PERU. The poor man had nearly fainted and instantly threw a fit about how 'that UNIT pretty boy always wins'.

It didn't help when Jack found out PERU had a Dalek living in their cells and he only had a weevil.

"Anything interesting to report?" the Brigadier asked curiously as Martha filled him in. "What was it they needed your consult on?" he asked her smiling.

"They've found an 'interesting' bit of tech that look a bit like a Rubik's cube, only it's an octagon instead of a square with lines and patterns instead of colours. The more they get the patterns set up the more it hums. It's also on occasion spouted out lines of a language they can't identify." She said nearly laughing.

"Did you ask Sarah to translate?" Liz asked curiously.

"I did." Martha's lips twitched as she tried not to smile. "According to her it's shouting praise." She said still trying in vain to keep in her laughter.

"Praise?" the Brigadier asked.

"Yes, like what you'd say to a dog. 'What a smart boy!' 'Good boy!' 'Who's a smart boy?' According to Mr. Smith it's what amounts to a really sophisticated dog toy for a species of 'pet' that has four arms and a penchant for being hyperactive and destructive if not stimulated." She said humor in her voice.

"So...UNIT is currently puzzling over a dog toy?" Liz asked laughing.

"They're rather stumped by it too." Martha grinned.

The Brigadier laughed loudly, "Ah, that's brilliant!" he said jovially.

"Have you had any word from your sister yet?" Liz asked, changing the subject to another she knew Martha was worried about.

Martha hadn't heard anything from Tish or the Doctor since the last time she had spoken to them on New Year's morning. Normally that wouldn't be a huge deal, but not even Sarah Jane or Francine had heard a word from them.

"No. Nothing." Martha said, trying not to sound worried. "Not since she said she'd be by to talk to me. Mum and Dad haven't heard from her either and Sarah Jane hasn't lost her shopping since the last time I heard from them." She said worriedly.

The Brig frowned, "Maybe he's just gotten misdirected. It wouldn't be the first time he landed off by a few days. If I recall correctly he said he was off by a year with Ms. Tyler and it was two months before we saw him or Sarah after we first met her." He explained trying to reassure her.

"I really do hope it's just that simple." Martha said worried.

"I'm sure you'd know if something bad had happened." Liz consoled her, closing the file Martha had brought them and tucking it into one of the desk drawers.

"She might just not want to talk to me." Martha said quietly, "It wouldn't be the first time. Record for her ignoring the fact I exist is two months." She said depressingly remembering the last time.

"Ah, back when she was recovering?" Liz asked sympathetically.

"Yeah. Back when she only talked to dad." Martha nodded and resisted the urge to bite her nails in nervousness. "Your right, it must be a mistake in time lines." She said a hint of hope in her voice.

_**"Dr. Jones to the infirmary; code mauve. Dr Jones to the infirmary." **_Harry Sullivan's voice rang out through the PA system with just a hint of urgency to his tone._**  
><strong>_

Martha stopped long enough to look at the Brigadier and gain confirmation he'd be following before she opened the door to his office and bolted down the halls to the infirmary.

PERU was the only institution that she'd ever heard of using 'mauve' in their code system. When she'd asked they'd laughed and said _"Red's camp; no one takes it seriously."_

She reached the end of the hall and realized she'd either have to wait on the lift or just run down the stairs. Didn't matter really how fast the lift was, stairs were best in any emergency._**  
><strong>_

She reached the infirmary a bit out of breath and threw open the door only to freeze in shock. The TARDIS was standing against the far wall with the door open.

"Ah, Martha!" Harry motioned her over as he pulled one of the beds out and into the main part of the room, setting it flat and dropping the rails. "Inside, help Dr. Holloway; Cardiac arrest." He nodded to the TARDIS as he worked as fast as he could, grabbing the crash trolley and pulling it close. They didn't often have call to treat cardiac arrest, most of what they did in the PERU infirmary was physicals or other small injuries but they were stocked for anything.

Martha tossed her coat off and onto the desk and dashed inside, stopping short at the scene. Tish was crying and standing back from everyone, arms around a small girl Martha recognized as Amy McCrimmon, it was a bit terrifying really to see the girl was covered in blood. At the front of the console near the stairs Jack knelt performing CPR on an unconscious Rory. A red haired woman, Dr. Holloway, she assumed, knelt on his other side in what looked like pyjamas giving instructions.

Martha looked in shock at the Doctor then shook her head and pushed everything aside to focus on the medical emergency. "What happened?" she asked in her best professional tone.

"Energy weapon stopped his heart." Dr. Holloway told her. "Unconscious just at seven minutes." She explained simply.

"CPR administered right away?" Martha continued professionally.

"Within a minute." Jack told her, "Already broke a few ribs." He said helping as much as he could.

"That happens. The Doctor's gone to—ah, here we go." Grace said just as The Doctor skidded across the glass, a hard plastic portable stretcher in hands.

"This work? I couldn't figure out how to get the one with wheels to move." He said.

"Perfect." Grace moved to let him set it down beside Rory.

* * *

><p>–<p>

* * *

><p>"How long has he been out?" Harry asked as they shifted the stretcher out from under Rory and fixed an ambu bag to his mouth and nose.<p>

"Just over seven minutes." Grace responded, making sure Jack and the Doctor were clear of Rory's body.

"Any medical allergies?" Harry asked.

"Retcon." Jack supplied and gained one confused looks and two disturbed looks. "What? You asked." He shook his head, if they didn't want to know they shouldn't ask.

Tish winced as she left the TARDIS, whatever Jack had used to numb the pain in her chest had worn off and now it was burning like fire.

"What are they doing?" Amy asked Tish worriedly, holding onto her as tight as she could without hurting her.

"They're saving him." Tish told her quietly, brushing hair away from Amy's face in a comforting gesture even as she tried hard not to cry.

Jack looked around and caught Tish's eye, "Tish, you shouldn't be up and moving right now any more than you have to. Here..." He grabbed her by her arm and led her to sit on one of the other hospital beds where she could still see what was going on but wouldn't be moving around. When her borrowed shirt moved slightly he could see the bandage was starting to turn red in the centre. "Stay put." He insisted.

"Rory-" Tish started worriedly.

"They're working on him." Jack told her, sitting on the side of her bed.

Amy ran to the Doctor's side, impacting him in a way that would have knocked down the average human. "Dad?" she asked wrapping her arms around him.

"It'll be okay." the Doctor said, his eyes fixed and unmoving as he stared at Rory while they worked. They'd injected two different syringes full of something into his body and were doing CPR again. This had to work, he couldn't lose another companion.

"Son of a bitch." Harry muttered, as he used the bag on Rory to force him to breath.

"Need the paddles." Martha said.

"Paddles? What about the pads? Oh God, he took me to the past." Grace groaned.

"No, the Brig just hasn't OK'd the funds for new medical equipment yet." Harry responded, moving so Martha had access.

The Doctor vaguely registered when a few other people entered the infirmary, not finding any reason to pay them any attention as he listened to the three doctor's talking rapidly to one another and the few curses that flew.

He was willing to ignore them, let them go because they weren't really on his radar until one of them grabbed Amy's wrist.

"Hey, sweetheart, let's get out of here, okay?" the voice was kind, but it was a soldier who said it. A young man in full uniform, his hand on Amy's wrist.

"Let her go." the Doctor growled the warning.

"Sir, it'd be best if she weren't in here." the soldier replied, trying to keep his voice level. He again lightly tugged on Amy's wrist to pull her away from the Doctor. "She needs examined too; we'll take her with us -" he explained evenly.

His sentence was cut off as the Doctor's hand wrapped around his throat and hauled him backwards against the wall. He struggled for a hold, his toes barely touching the floor and his hand on the Doctor's arm as he was held against the wall.

"You are NOT taking my daughter away from me." the Doctor growled dangerously, eyes unrecognizably dark as he finally let the rage he'd been feeling manifest itself, his right hand tightening slightly around the soldier's neck as the other hand held down the soldier's arm that had been reaching for his weapon. "I will not have any military men near her. If you touch her again I swear by Rassilion I will make sure you were never born." He glared at the man threateningly.

The soldier believed the threat, but his eyes were starting to go dark from lack of air and he found himself unable to reply.

"I've had a very, VERY bad day and if my friend dies I don't know what I'll do." the Doctor hissed out, "so don't you touch my child. Filthy humans and soldiers always screwing EVERYTHING up." He continued tightening his grip on the man.

"Doctor!" he heard his name vaguely through the anger and his grip relaxed slightly as he recognized the voice, causing the man to gasp.

The Doctor turned and tried to bring himself back to the present, push back the rage and focus on who was calling his name.

The Brigadier stood as impressive as ever, his cane pointed straight at the Doctor and his face impassive. "Let Private Evans go." He ordered.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed at the Brigadier. "If you hadn't blown them all up years ago we might have still had a chance. A better chance than before." He said his voice tight.

"You'll have to be more specific than that if you're angry I blew something up." the Brigadier said calmly, not responding to the anger in the Doctor's voice. "Now, let him go." He ordered again.

The Doctor stepped away from the wall but kept hold of Evans as he hauled him the few steps to the door where the Brigadier stood and forcefully threw Evan's out into the hallway, pushing the Brigadier out as well, though much gentler, trying not to hurt him despite his anger, before hitting a button next to the door as hard as he could.

A warning noise blared through the infirmary and he pulled his sonic out, pointing it at the door and pressing down.

_**"Lock down initiated."  
><strong>_

_"You can't just lock down whenever you get annoyed at the outside world." _Liz's voice came over the intercom. He looked over and noticed her through the observation windows that had the blinds up and made a rude gesture. _"Lovely. You've only gotten more charming in your old age." _she said sighing, really she'd thought she had gotten enough of this particular type of childish temper when their youngest had hit twenty one._  
><em>

He repeated the gesture and moved back to where he'd been standing. Immediately he was prepared to apologize when he saw Amy's face but was shut up when she just held her arms out to him. The Doctor gratefully lifted her up into his arms again, holding her tight and feeling the rage start to slip away.

"You were mean." Amy whispered.

"They tried to take you away." he responded, at a loss.

"Hah! Got a pulse again." Grace looked over her shoulder at the Doctor and flashed a grin that he returned. He felt the rest of his anger fade the moment the machine they'd hooked to Rory started beeping again.

"I never doubted you." he lied as Amy hugged him tight, obviously crying. "He's okay." he whispered to Amy, stroking her hair, "He's alive." He said calmly to the little girl in an attempt to calm her down.

Amy nodded against the Doctor neck, not looking away even when Jack let out a whoop of joy and nearly did a happy dance across the room.

"Let's get him set up." Grace spoke softer now as she helped set Rory up safely till he regained consciousness.

"Okay, next step." Martha brushed her hands on her thighs, feeling her jeans roughly wipe off excess powder from the gloves. She'd leave taking care of Rory now that he actually had a pulse again to the woman who'd proclaimed herself a cardiologist and focus on what else was bothering them. "She's soaked in blood." she gestured to the girl that the Doctor was holding close.

"It's not hers." the Doctor assured her, "It's Jack's." he explained.

"Good." Martha nodded, "Any other big emergencies we should know about?" she asked the Doctor looking at him in a mixture of anger and relief.

"Well," the Doctor tilted his head towards the TARDIS, "We've got a man in the TARDIS who was vivisected but has no visible wounds I want scanned just in case, though I doubt anything is wrong with him; a man in need of a blood transfusion, pain medication and some IV fluids to replace what was taken when we cleared venom from his system...oh, and Tish needs some dermal glue to close an incision." the Doctor added, patting Amy's back soothingly as she cried.

"Right." Martha prioritized in her mind quickly, "Harry?" she questioned.

"I'll go get the man in the TARDIS." Harry said, "Human?" he asked.

"Completely." the Doctor told him, "He's in the med bay with his family. He's called Tony!" The Doctor explained a bit cheerily.

Martha turned and walked towards Tish. "Let's see then." She sighed.

Tish winced but slowly unbuttoned the shirt till it was open to her midriff though she made sure it didn't part.

Jack looked around and made a quick decision, "I'm going to go help Sullivan out in the TARDIS and leave you two...Doc, do you want me to take Amy? Taking that question back!" he said quickly at the glare he received. "I'll be back. Call if you need anything," he called back as he entered the TARDIS.

"How'd you get hurt?" Martha asked, ignoring the obvious questions she desperately wanted to ask and trying to be a professional as she put a new pair of gloves on. Separating emotion from her work was something essential and also something that could be hard at times. She slowly peeled back the medical tape, almost afraid of what she'd find.

"Attempted vivisection. He got interrupted." Tish whimpered as the bandage was pulled back, pulling at the butterfly as the blood stuck to both the bandage and it. "He felt really sorry about it afterwards. He didn't know humans could feel pain." She explained.

"Jesus Christ." Martha bit her lip as she studied the wound. "What all did they give you?" Martha said quietly.

"Um, Jack cleaned it, put something on it that stopped some of the pain and then used the butterfly. Nothing else." Tish explained.

"How long have you been hurt?" Martha questioned trying to stay professional.

"Um...About an hour?" Tish looked at the Doctor for confirmation and received a nod in reply. "Yeah, an hour." Tish answered.

"Okay." Martha stood up and crossed the room, pulling the gloves off and tossing them in the bin before digging through drawers and locating a kit that Tish recognized.

"I could use glue." the Doctor offered but received a glare in reply.

"Afterwards. I don't fully trust that on humans." Martha told him in her best doctor voice.

"Okay." the Doctor nodded slowly, not wanting to upset a very scared and scary looking little sister.

* * *

><p>Martha pulled the curtain closed around the bed Tish occupied as she waited for the anaesthetic to numb the wound so she could start stitching it closed. She'd so far avoided any of the questions she desperately wanted to ask and was desperately afraid to ask but she wasn't sure how much longer she could go without asking.<p>

The Doctor had disappeared into the TARDIS with Amy – Martha still wasn't sure of the story there but couldn't help but think of Donna and the protests of 'not a couple!' – and Jack had come to sit at Rory's bedside leaving the other two medical Doctor's to deal with the other two patients in the TARDIS.

"You can ask, you know." Tish said softly while Martha's back was still to her. "I won't yell."

Martha bit her lip, "Where were you when you got hurt?" she asked quietly.

"Close to the centre of the Earth directly under Wales, Earth, 2020." Tish responded. "Silurian underground civilization trying to stop them from attacking humans due to a misunderstanding regarding a drill. See, was that so hard?" she asked teasingly.

"Why were you almost vivisected?" Martha didn't respond to Tish's question and didn't look back at her either.

"Oh, that was a mistake. Well, not mistake so much as misunderstanding. He'd been dissecting dead humans for years to study our growth and didn't understand we could feel pain or that we'd evolved that much. The TARDIS wasn't translating due to an issue with electronic barriers and I couldn't tell him any different. He was very apologetic though." Tish said earnestly, "Looked like he might cry, were Silurians capable of it." Tish paused, "Silurians are-" Tish started to explain only to be interrupted sharply.

"I know what they are!" Martha snapped, sniffing back tears. "I've read the UNIT files." She said angrily.

"Martha? Martha, what's wrong?" Tish tried to sit up then remembered better and lay back against the reclined bed again.

"Why did you take so long to show up?" Martha demanded, not looking at her sister, right hand clenching the neck of her t-shirt without realizing it.

"What?" Tish frowned, "Okay, so I was off by a few hours...I meant to show up for breakfast, I swear, but then we got hurt and Rory needed emergency medical care, that's all." Tish's frown deepened when Martha didn't respond or look at her. "Martha? How late am I? Martha, what's the date?" she asked worriedly.

"February the first, 2010." Martha said, turning around finally, tears welling up in her eyes. "I haven't heard from you since New Year's morning when I saw you on the telly." She explained quietly.

"What? Oh, God. Martha, sweetheart, I didn't mean to leave that long." Tish held her hand out to her sister, gesturing for her to come closer. Very few people would understand why that would affect Martha as it did and Tish felt horrible she'd done it, accidentally or not.

Martha moved and sat down on the bedside, facing the curtain. "I thought you hated me again. I know you said that you didn't mean it and you...the ignoring us wasn't our fault but I've always thought you just...you did mean it." Martha said, not wiping away the tears on her cheeks.

_"It's all your fault anyway! If you'd never left with the Doctor, if you'd never found that fucking watch and never told **him** to open it then I'd never have been hurt! Stay the hell out of my life!"_

Tish closed her eyes against the memory and reached her right hand out, holding Martha's in it to settle them both. "I didn't mean it, Martha, I never really did." She said quietly.

"But you ignored me then," Martha said, choking on emotion as she tried to speak, "And I had you in my hospital then in an emergency." Martha continued.

"Only I was in Rory's place and you in Jack's." Tish acknowledged, wishing she could hug her sister but unable to do so with her wound. "Martha, I never meant it. I don't hate you, and I wasn't ignoring you on purpose. I promise. The TARDIS must have just been off on her timing." Tish squeezed Martha's hand, getting her sister to finally look at her. "Martha, I'll never do anything like that again; I'm never going to hate or ignore you, so you better get that through your skull, okay? Though I can't guarantee I won't ever need you for medical care again." Tish admitted, "I mean you are the best medical doctor I know and you don't often ask questions." She said wrapping an arm around her sister's middle in the best attempt at a hug.

"I was scared." Martha admitted, leaning her head down carefully to rest her forehead on Tish's shoulder.

"I know. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to." Tish pressed a kiss to her sister's head and smiled at her, "I bet mum's going mad." She said worriedly.

"More than." Martha sat back and sniffed, wiping her eyes. "Doesn't help that your toyboy can't answer any questions as to where you are." She explained simply glancing over towards Rory before looking back.

"My what? Wait, Rory? You've spoken to Rory?" Tish asked in a mix of shock and relief.

"Mhmm. Found him in your flat. Nearly arrested him till he showed me a letter you'd written warning me not to do it because you were letting him live there. All month he kept saying he hadn't heard from you. Felt a little bad for him the first week, he was walking real unsteady and in pain from breaking ribs in an 'accident'." Martha glanced towards the curtain where Rory lay on the other side. "Guess I know the truth now. Though I might have to beat Jack, he was there the entire time as well and never said a word." She grumbled.

"Well, they haven't been on Earth since New Year's either," Tish told her softly, "So I guess we'll have to drop them off and force them to play nice on Earth for a month." Tish said smiling softly.

Martha nodded and switched her gloves for a pair that weren't 'contaminated' from touching other things. "Numb enough?" she questioned.

"Can't feel a thing. This is gonna be gross looking though." Tish said, looking downwards.

"Very. Sorry." Martha shrugged.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was torn between waiting outside of the bathroom while Amy took a bath and running back outside to check on Rory and Tish again.<p>

Tish was getting stitches and Rory was still asleep and being watched over by Jack but he still worried.

The only thing keeping him from moving away from his spot on the floor in the hallway was Yumo who'd climbed up onto his lap and curled up, his muzzle pressed against the Doctor's side.

Harry was in the infirmary treating Tony still. He'd set up the IV and given him some pain medication to stop the fire that still felt like it was raging and Grace was preforming a scan on Mo last he knew.

Something was bugging him about Harry though. Two time lines were spreading out before his eyes whenever he saw Harry and they were contradicting each other. Something big had recently changed in Harry's past, but then again the fact that Harry was alive proved that.

Retired Surgeon-Captain Harry Sullivan who worked for PERU, alive and still creating vaccines and saving millions of lives; who had a wife and five healthy sons all who were doing great things for the world, the middle of which was a Doctor named Greg who would go on to find at least one more vaccine his father hadn't and save millions more lives.

Surgeon-Lieutenant Harry Sullivan who died in 1983 and three sons left behind, the youngest named Dan instead of Greg and worked as an accountant for some medical firm.

He wasn't sure what happened exactly or who had changed what but he more than preferred the first reality that was now in place and would do what he had to to make sure it stayed.

"Everything's gone wrong, Yumo." the Doctor said with a sigh, stroking the Uval's ears and smiling slightly at Yumo's response. Anyone else would just hear purring noises, but he'd always understood the little creature. Yumo always understood him as well which meant the yappy little thing with the IQ equivalent to a two year old human took great pleasure in bugging him about every little want, need or question. He'd nearly gone mad the day Yumo had discovered the gardens and Arthur.

"Sulking or just pensive?" Harry asked interrupting the doctor's thoughts.

The Doctor looked up from his spot and smiled slightly at Harry. "Time Lords don't sulk."

"Yes they do." Harry laughed, "Now, will you walk with me or are you going to make an old man sit on the hard ground?" he teased.

"You're not old." the Doctor said, setting aside Yumo and standing. "I'm old." He said honestly.

"By human standards I am." Harry countered, walking down the hall towards the console room with the Doctor. "What happened, today?" he asked carefully.

The Doctor sighed but gave a brief account of all that had gone on with the Silurians, Amy being taken and what happened with Rory. He left out the cracks, though, not wanting to scare PERU too badly until he knew what was going on.

"Amy was unharmed?" Harry continued.

"Yes. The bullet that struck Jack nearly hit her and I..." the Doctor closed his eyes and swallowed hard, "I nearly lost it. I almost struck down a civilization and if the second attempt had gone through, if she'd been shot I would have. I wouldn't have thought twice." he paused and looked down at his feet instead of at his friend or ahead as they walked. "Does that make me a bad person?" he asked thinking of the Targans.

"No, it makes you a father." Harry told him, "Any dad would do whatever it took to save and protect their child. Well, any GOOD dad." He insisted.

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you, Harry." The doctor said wrapping his arms around him.

"Really? Here I always thought I was just an 'imbecile'." Harry said with a grin.

The Doctor laughed, "Never 'just'. You're many things, Harry Sullivan, that's just one of the many words I've used over the years. Ask Amy, I've also used 'brave', 'loyal', 'stubborn', 'funny' and 'heroic'." He admitted.

"Good to know." Harry stopped, leaning against the railing around the console. "So...The woman in the medbay?" Harry questioned teasingly.

"Grace. What about her?" The doctor responded with confusing.

"She looks a little like your Amy." Harry suggested.

"What? NO. No, no, no. Grace isn't Amy's mother!" the Doctor said quickly.

"Damn right." Grace's voice rang out as she made her way in quietly, still in her pajamas. "Though it really wouldn't surprise me if she turned out to be half human on her mother's side." She teased.

"Are you ever going to let me live that down?" the Doctor whined, face slightly red. "I was newly regenerated and had amnesia." He pouted.

"No, Ace never let you live it down and I've taken it up as my duty to never let it go either." Grace said stubbornly, crossing her arms across her chest and smiling

"Well, I highly doubt her mother is Sarah." Harry said, following the Doctor out of the TARDIS. "She doesn't have the red hair." He paused then grinned brightly, "Though I suppose she is, given Poosh and all that." He smiled cheekily at the Doctor.

The Doctor whirled and pointed his finger at Harry, "Don't you dare tell her that. If she realizes she can enforce parental rights I'll never hear the end of it." the Doctor insisted, pouting and stomping his foot like a toddler.

"Why? You do it with Luke despite the fact he's adopted." Harry pointed out.

"That's different. I want to take him to far off planets and to see the Dinosaurs, she'd want me to put Amy in school." He whined.

"Ms. Jones, any idea who Amy's mother is?" Harry asked, cheerfully as Tish re-buttoned her shirt, bandage in place from Martha's work.

"Yes." Tish responded smirking.

"Care to enlighten us?" Harry asked when Tish didn't say anything more.

"Not really." Tish smiled at them, "It's on a 'need to know' basis." She said her tone even, even as she tried to hold back laughter.

"That's what Amy said." Harry protested.

"Going to unlock us anytime soon?" Martha asked, gesturing to the locked doors where two soldiers stood watch outside. Well, standing watch was a loose term, they were actually sitting on the floor playing what looked like 'Go fish'.

"Nope." the Doctor said, crossing to Rory's bed. "Anything yet?" he demanded.

"Not really." Jack said, sitting upright instead of reclining back in the chair. "He twitches every now and then and makes a noise but he hasn't woke up yet." Jack explained calmly to the doctor as he continued to watch over the younger man.

"He'll be in a bit of pain when he does wake up." Grace warned them, "So if I'm not in here call for me right away." She said as she walked towards the TARDIS and the room it held for her.

"Have to say, Jack, for someone who doesn't like Rory you certainly did a lot to help him." Tish said, sitting up on the edge of her bed.

"Yeah well, we're even now." Jack said, averting his eyes.

"Not many people would give CPR like that for that long." the Doctor told him, "I'm proud of you." He admitted.

"Yeah, well..." Jack gained a look of horror, "Oh God, think that counts as cheating?" he asked panicking a bit.

"Depends; would Sarah be annoyed at you kissing her friend's nephew for several minutes?" he asked teasingly.

Jack wrinkled his nose, "I wasn't kissing him." He insisted.

"Lips on lips, hands on bare chest." the Doctor nearly smirked, feeling better now that all his friends were in good hands. "I think I could make a compelling case for cheating." He countered, smiling at his friend.

Jack glared at him, "You're lucky there's only three doctors in the room, otherwise you'd be needing medical attention too." He threatened.

"Oh, love a threat." he rolled his eyes, "I'm going to go check on Amy. Play nice and Jack put on a shirt!" He yelled jumping out of Jack's way as Jack swung at him playfully.

Jack waited till he was back inside the TARDIS then stretched back out in the chair. "Well, he's calmed down." He said smiling.

"How bad was he before?" Martha asked, sitting next to her sister. "I sort of caught the thing with Private Evans but..." she trailed off.

"I thought it was going to be the Targans again, maybe worse." Tish admitted. "When they shot Jack and then tried to shoot Amy." She said looking at Jack and grimacing at his nod.

"Targans?" Martha questioned.

"Um, Alligator people that lived under Black Mountain in Australia. He sort of blew them all up." Tish winced. "They did sort of deserve it though." She said quietly.

"Think 'oncoming storm'." Jack told Martha, "And you'll get close to how angry he was. It was coming off of him in waves; gave me chills, honestly." He said frowning again.

"He was rude to Liz, but when he threw the Brigadier out he was very gentle." Tish pointed out. "He'd calmed then." She considered this then looked at Jack.

"He had Amy grounding him." He said softly looking at her.

"That little girl is the only thing that keeps him from going a little insane sometimes." Tish mused, "but other times she's egging him on."

"Oh?" Grace pulled a chair over to sit down for a minute and talk.

"Well, she keeps him sane when he's angry, but she also thinks it's fun to engage in the weirdest of activities. Four words: DDR in a kilt." 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Update! Love updates. For once I'm ahead where I should be in writing! <em>Yes, since you're freaking out about Miracle day. <em>It's a legit concern! How am I going to manage Miracle day which is 10 episodes that takes place in between 'A good man goes to war' and 'Let's kill hitler'? Then there's all the parallels and...Yes, I'm stressing over something that's over a year away most likely...Yay me. _You're going to take a break during that time to do Miracle day because Miracle day locks into 'Raising Amelia'...well, the sequel. _I know it does, but most fans wouldn't want me to take a break from the main TARDIS group to do Torchwood and Sarah Jane. _Eh, they'll get oneshots. Now, while she's distracted...Enjoy! Next week's might be a teeny bit late because she's being invaded by several family members and my aunt is coming during my week off. It WILL be posted though! _I forgot...I now get to share a bed with a 6 year old who thinks he doesn't need pyjamas...joy.]**


	89. Royal equations, apologizes and Earl

Amy slid down lower in the tub till the bubbles covered her chin and the water just covered her ears enough that she didn't hear much from outside. The water was always hot, but not too hot. It always stayed hot too, unless the TARDIS thought to be funny and make it really cold suddenly or make it go cool to make her get out after too long.

She'd gotten all of Jack's blood off of her now and was just relaxing.

It'd been a really hard day, a really long day too and now it was all confusing.

Her dad had gone mean, really mean. She'd known he'd been angry ever since Tish got taken under the Earth but she calmed him down then.

That was her job after all. Tish called her a Princess and Princess always 'tamed the savage beast' Jack had said and then winked to make her giggle.

Her dad wasn't a beast though, and she didn't know what savage meant but it couldn't have been bad. Her dad was more like a King that could turn into a dragon.

He was really protective and amazing and a little scary when he went mean, she'd never seen him go fully mean before today though and it had scared her some but she'd been more scared for Rory than anything.

But he'd gone back into a King from a dragon by time they went to see her Uncle Brig and by morning he acted like he'd never changed.

She kept him protected too, by keeping him a King. Kings were less threatening than dragons; nobody bar evil Queens would hurt a King. And if he were the King that meant Sarah Jane was the Queen and Sarah Jane wasn't evil so he was safe. She entertained herself briefly by figuring out who in their little family would fill what roles inside a Kingdom before the water started to turn cold a little while later and taking the hint she got out of the tub to dry off and change into her clothes.

"Dad?" Amy spoke quietly when she finally exited the bathroom feeling more human after a long bath to get rid of any dirt or blood that had been left behind.

She'd given up on day clothes and dressed simply in a pair of purple cloth pyjama pants and a light blue t-shirt decorated series of interlocking royal blue and emerald green squares at the centre of which was a diamond housing a symbol that looked like a cross between an ampersand, an asterisk and a treble clef.

The shirt was a Christmas present that he'd bought her after one of the games they'd gone to see.

"Where are your socks?" he demanded in reply, looking up from the floor where he'd been sitting playing with Yumo.

"I didn't grab any." Amy admitted.

"Ah, that's okay. In here at least, it's warm enough. Do you want me to do your hair?" the Doctor asked, standing up.

"No, that's okay. It's still getting dry." Amy replied, running her hand over it and feeling the slight dampness. "Is Rory okay?" she asked quietly.

"He's still sleeping but Grace says that's normal. Tish has gotten her stitches and here in a bit when Martha's less scary I'll go administer the dermal glue as well." He said seriously.

"What about Tony and Mo?" Amy asked.

"Tony's still hooked up to an IV but he's not in pain and Mo is perfectly fine." The Doctor answered honestly.

"That's good." Amy said, hugging her dad. "I was scared." She whispered, as if afraid of the confession itself.

"Me too." the Doctor said, hugging her back just as tight. "But that's okay, we're allowed to be scared sometimes." He continued as he rubbed her back.

"I know. That means we're brave because we were scared and fought to help anyway." Amy quoted

"Exactly!" the Doctor pulled away but held onto her hand. "Now, I'm almost positive you've got to be starving by now."

"Yeah." Amy answered looking at the ground and blushing a little, laying one hand over her stomach as the Doctor led her down the hallways, Yumo prancing behind them. "Does it mean I'm weird if I can still eat after Jack..." she asked worriedly.

"If it did then Martha, me and the entirety of Torchwood-I'm derailing that train of thought right there because it might possibly prove your point and just say 'no', you're not weird." the Doctor's attempt worked and Amy smiled again.

* * *

><p>"Oh, hello." Ambrose said, spotting the Doctor in what looked like a kitchen standing at the stove wielding a frying pan. Amy sat on a stool at the island counter watching him with a smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt but..." she said turning to leave.<p>

"What's wrong?" Amy asked quickly smile fading with obvious worry.

"Nothing," Ambrose assured her, "Elliot was hungry so I was trying to find your dad to ask him if there were supplies or some way to get something for Elliot." She said quietly.

"Oops, forgot for a moment there that others might be hungry as well." the Doctor frowned, "I'm cooking some for Amy, you can bring Elliot in here, Mo and Nasreen as well if you want and you can join us for a meal. I'm afraid Grace said no food for Tony till his IV finished but..." the Doctor smiled, "You're welcome to join us." He offered.

"If you're sure." Ambrose said hesitantly.

"Of course. The more the merrier." the Doctor said, "Amelia, call Jack and tell him to come eat before he starves to death." he told her, handing her his phone from his pocket. "And tell him to put a shirt on!"

Elliot poked at his food curiously, unsure of what all it was. There was some sort of meat that was shaped like a star and thin like a hamburger patty, cooked potatoes that were purple and a weird looking group of oval shaped orange and red things that looked like they were some sort of vegetable. He tried the orange and red things hesitantly and was surprised to find them bursting with juice that tasted like very sweet carrots.

Almost everyone was sitting down at the table, bar Dr. Jones, Tish, Dr. Sullivan, his granddad and Rory; Rory was sleeping, Tish and Dr. Jones were staying with him – but had brought food back – and his granddad wasn't allowed to eat yet so Dr. Sullivan was visiting with him.

"I'm sorry, it's distracting me, what is on your shirt?" Mo asked Amy finally, giving up on trying to figure it out.

"Huh?" Amy looked down at her shirt, "Oh, it's the team symbol for the South Saurtine Sirens."

"What are they? Future Footballers?" Nasreen asked, poking at her food just as curiously as Elliot was.

"No, they play Jikarinku." Amy frowned as she spoke, the last word didn't sound English, in fact it came out just as musical as it did when they talked to the players. "Dad, that didn't translate."

"There isn't an English translation." Jack told her. He'd finally donned a new dress shirt, this one was light purple.

"Oh, I remember that sport!" Grace said, eyes lighting up. She'd gone and raided the wardrobe and come back in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "Do they still have the Jorex Jumpers?"

"Yeah, they lost though." Amy told her.

"What is it?" Elliot tried to say what she had but the word didn't come out right. "How do you play it?"

"Um, there's these hoops you have to throw a ball through, well balls, but they're not hoops they're kind of like basketball hoops but they're sideways on these wires suspended without nets." Amy said, gesturing with her hands. "And you have to get one of the two copper balls through them to score; you get two points then." She started to explain, thinking hard.

"There's another ball," Grace added, "Made from leather...well, we're assuming it's leather because I don't want to think about that, that you have to get through this small rectangle on the ground, up the hill and into a cannon that blasts it back to you. Think skeeball." Grace said at Nasreen's confused look, "But with a black leather football. It's worth five points, last I knew." She said shrugging.

"If you manage both together you can get FIFTEEN points." Amy told Elliot. "And there's another ball, but it's not really a ball it's like a metal and wood rectangle but it's smooth all around and you use it to hit the other players like by throwing it." She was quite animated as she described the game, "But only five players are allowed to touch that ball per team. Everyone can score though, but normally just the four strongest players use the copper ones you have to throw and the rest stick to the one on the ground." She said waving her arms a bit as she talked, trying to show the moves with them.

"Do they still have the flag?" Grace asked her.

"Yup!" Amy bounced.

"Flag?" Elliot questioned.

"Yeah! It's got capture the flag too, and if you get the flag you score two hundred points!" Amy started babbling again as she got into the movie.

"Wicked! I bet everyone always goes for the flag though." He said watching her.

"Nah, not many." Amy shook her head, "'Cause there's a big chance each time that it'll electrocute you." She said simply still bouncing.

"What?" Mo looked surprised.

"Yeah! They get this thing through it and if you touch it you might get electrocuted really badly with a LOT of power." Amy told them.

The Doctor watched as Amy drew them into conversation, rather proud of her ability to make friends with almost anyone. The only person not participating in some way was Ambrose. She sat picking at her plate and staring downwards, though she did look up to check on her son occasionally.

"You should eat. Keep your strength up." the Doctor said quietly to her, leaning over just enough to make sure she could catch it and that Amy who sat to his left wouldn't.

"I'm not even sure what it is." Ambrose said, lifting one of the star shaped pieces of meat.

"Genola. It's sort of like a snake, but with arms and teeth and claws and this beak...not a snake, forget the snake." he said quickly, brushing off the bad metaphor with his hands. "It's good for you. Lots of protein, iron and vitamin G-57." He insisted putting more on Amy's plate.

"Sometimes I'm not sure if I should believe what you say or not. You haven't been wrong so far, though, and your ship is so much bigger on the inside."

"No, cause like they've got cricket bats, but they're more like kayak paddles with holes or spikes!" Amy said loudly interrupting their quiet conversation by accident, nearly knocking her drink onto the floor. "Oops, sorry, dad." She said sheepishly.

"Don't forget to tell them about the hover disks." the Doctor told her with a smile then turned back to Ambrose once Amy and Elliot were suitably distracted again. "That means it's safe to eat. When people are hungry but don't eat it's either because they suspect something of the food or they're too upset to do so. It's safe so..." he prodded.

"Elliot won't talk to my dad." Ambrose said softly, "Won't even go near him. It's my fault. Whenever I try to say anything dad and Mo stop me from talking. They don't want me to tell him, and I don't know why." She said sadly.

"They're trying to protect you as well." the Doctor told her as if it should be obvious. "Children hold greater grudges against parents than they do other family members. I'll talk to Elliot, though, if you'd like." He said looking over at the boy who was talking animatedly to Amy.

"You'll tell him?" Ambrose questioned.

"Of course not. But I will talk to him about being nice to his granddad again." the Doctor smiled at the two children and the laughing adults. "I know what it's like."

"To be mad at your granddad?" Ambrose asked.

"No, to have your grandchild mad at you." he looked sadly at Ambrose when she looked surprised, "I'm over nine hundred years old, Ambrose. Amy is my youngest and my most unexpected. My youngest grandchild would be older than you and your father combined." The doctor said contemplatively.

"How...how did you stop them from being angry at you?" Ambrose asked curiously.

"I ran away and took them on a trip to see the stars." he said, smiling again.

"Oh, and if you have more than four arms you can't be the referee!" Amy said finally.

"Think you've got everything covered?" Jack asked her, aware that the Doctor was now paying attention again.

"Uh huh." Amy nodded.

"How many players per team?" the Doctor prompted her.

"Oh...I forgot." Amy looked embarrassed as they laughed some.

"Elliot, how about after dinner you take something to your granddad?" the Doctor said, "I've got a few drinks that he might appreciate that Harry wouldn't protest him having." He said calmly.

Elliot's face fell again, "Do I...I mean, Grandpa Tony he..he killed someone." Elliot stuttered looking to the ground.

"Many people have." the Doctor told him, "that doesn't make them horrible people."

"You can't be a good person if you've killed someone." Elliot countered.

"Sure you can." the Doctor gestured with his fork, making certain his point was got as Amy sat quietly just watching them talk. "Doctors save lives every day, but sometimes they can't save someone or something they do accidentally causes a death...Does that make them a bad person?" he questioned.

"No...But," Elliot started only to be interrupted.

"What that a shot?" Grace asked, narrowing her eyes playfully at the Doctor, "I do believe I apologized to you for that one." She grumbled.

The Doctor stuck his tongue out at her then returned to Elliot. "How about the police man who has to hurt someone to keep them from hurting other people really badly? Sometimes the bad guy dies. Is the Policeman a horrible person." He continued.

"I guess not, but-" Elliot started only to be interrupted again.

"Thanks." Jack said dryly, mouth full of potatoes. He swallowed then glared lightly, "So happy to be an example." Amy leaned over and patted his hand in consolation.

"How about the dad who has no other choice than to kill the person attacking their child?" the Doctor countered. "There was an alien race I knew, a few months back actually, that thought humans were pests. They were to be eliminated and fed to their Goddess. They pulled Amelia underground, Rory and Tish as well, making sure they suffocated on the way. They in fact they took great pleasure in hurting one of my friends, a nineteen year old girl. She was taken to the hospital with about twenty fractures to her legs. Ended up in casts – plaster and cloth – from ankle to thigh, has several metal bars and screws now holding her bones together while she heals and with a lot of work and tears she'll be able to walk again in about a year, maybe more. You know what I did?" He asked Elliot, voice low as Amy grabbed his hand under the table.

Elliot shook his head mutely.

"I blew up their entire home. Made sure every single one of them would never hurt another person – human or alien – again." the Doctor was aware now of everyone watching him and fought back a blush or grumbling. "Your Granddad didn't mean to do what he did. All he wanted to do was find out how to get you back, how to get your dad back and how to cure himself. It was an accident." the Doctor made sure to stress the last sentence. "Completely not his fault." He insisted.

Elliot bit his lip, processing what he'd been told. "Not his fault? So...Granddad was just being protective?" Elliot asked quietly.

"Yes." the Doctor nodded, pleased his point had gotten through.

Elliot was quiet for a few moments before finally speaking up. "If...if it's okay I want to take him something, after." He said quietly

"More than!" Ambrose and the Doctor said happily.

They ate in silence for a while before Amy spoke, "Oh! I forgot to tell you the rules about players with wings!"

* * *

><p>Once dinner was done and everyone settled down from the day, his group tired from the excitement of the day and the PERU group along with Grace being tired from the general time, he started calming down much more as well.<p>

Ambrose, Mo, Elliot, Nasreen and Tony were all in beds in the medbay for now, Tony looking much healthier than he'd been earlier; Grace had found her old room from when she'd been forced to 'sleep over' in the past; Martha and Tish were out with Rory and Harry – the former sleeping and the latter still doing paper work, which just left Amy, Jack and himself.

Amy had been in her pyjamas since dinner but the image of Jack in black sleep pants and a pink tank-top made him laugh.

"What?" Jack said with a large yawn, "I'm tired. I revived earlier and now I've stuffed myself with food. That means sleep time." He said drowsily.

"Nice top." the Doctor said.

"It is, isn't it?" Jack said, tugging at it lightly. "It was a gift from your wife." He teased.

Jack had to dodge one of Yumo's toys chucked at his head but laughed all the same. "You two going to bed?" he asked cheerily.

"I-" the Doctor frowned when his mobile started ringing. It'd been ringing off and on all afternoon with the Brigadier or Liz trying to contact him, but this ringtone was unique. Only one person got 'Sara' blasting from his mobile.

"Oh, speak of the devil!" Jack laughed at the Doctor's face. "I'm off to bed. Don't stay up too late." he told Amy, stopping to hug her and give her a kiss on the cheek goodnight.

"I haven't done anything." the Doctor answered his mobile guiltily even as he fidgeted in his seat, Amy moving to sit next to him.

_"Yes you have."_ Sarah Jane replied.

"No I haven't! And even if I have you can't prove it!" He said anxiously..."Wait, what've I done?"

_"Saved Luke's life by jumping in front of a car."_ Sarah Jane's voice sounded like she was on the verge of crying.

"Oh..." the Doctor went quiet then smiled, "Yeah, I did do that." He admitted.

_"Yeah, you did. Jack said you saved everyone?"_ Sarah Jane said calmly.

"Yup, trust me that wasn't easy." he mock complained, "Do you know how many places Jo's been that involved dangerous situations? And don't even get me started on the Brig!" he grumbled halfheartedly.

_"Ah, speaking of."_ Sarah Jane sounded amused_. "Are you planning on keeping him locked out of part of his own building all night? You know Harry was supposed to go off shift at Five, right?"_

The Doctor checked his watch and winced, "So they called you to come down here and make me behave?"

_"Please,"_ Sarah Jane laughed,_ "If they called me for every time you annoyed them I'd never have my phone silent and if I came to deal with you in person I'd never get anything else done! No, they asked if I'd see what was horribly wrong since you weren't answering calls and if I'd convince you to open the door to let Harry go home and let Greg take over. Greg is Harry's middle child -"_ she explained.

"I know." the Doctor thought about it and wrapped one arm around Amy's shoulders. "I'll go play nice." He grumbled.

_"Heard you strangled a soldier."_ her voice wasn't accusatory at all.

"Sort of...Kind of...think I should apologize?" The doctor asked quietly.

_"Maybe, it is bad. Though I certainly understand that impulse."_

"I think the Brig can attest to that." the Doctor teased.

_"I was under mind control!"_ Sarah Jane insisted firmly.

"Excuses!" the Doctor teased, "I guess I better let them in and figure out what I'm doing after..."

_"Why don't you stop by here tomorrow?" _Sarah Jane suggested._ "If your companions aren't against it."_

The Doctor nodded, though he knew the gesture wasn't seen. "I believe Tish wants to spend a few days with her family and I have to drop Rory and Jack off so they can re-do the month." He said smiling.

_"Then come spend the day with us." _Sarah Jane said._ "Just Luke and I, maybe Jack if he decides it's too 'fun' to pass up. We'll have breakfast." _She cajoled.

"You're not a much better cook than I." the Doctor said slowly..."does that mean we can do takeaway?"

_"Yes._" Sarah Jane said exasperatedly.

"It's a date!" the Doctor said cheerfully, "About eight? I'll bring coffee."

_"Deal."_ Sarah Jane laughed and he flipped his phone shut with a satisfying click.

The Doctor smiled down at Amy and put his phone away. "We're going to go visit Luke and Sarah, and possibly Jack, tomorrow for breakfast and a relaxing day." He said quietly.

"Good idea." Amy said sleepily.

"Do you want to go lay down for bed or come with me to talk to the Brig? I can tuck you in or make Jack go sleep in the top bunk if you want." he said quickly, trying to figure out how to both protect her and keep her from being sleep deprived.

"I'll go with you. I like Uncle Brig and Aunt Liz. Plus if I'm there you don't yell as much." she explained with a yawn.

"Do me a favour and call him that to his face." the Doctor grinned and took her hand, leading her out of the TARDIS, Yumo following behind.

He stopped in the PERU infirmary and looked around. Rory was in his bed, oxygen mask on and heart monitor beeping steadily. Two beds away Tish was curled up with Martha under the covers, both sleeping soundly in their pyjamas. He had to smile, even in her sleep Martha was moved just right to keep in contact with her sister and not aggravate the new stitches. "Wait here with Yumo for a minute and be quiet, okay?" he told her patting her on the head.

"Okay." She said quietly looking around.

He crossed and knocked lightly on the door frame that lead to Harry's office. The door was open so he could hear and keep an eye on his patients.

"Since when do you knock?" Harry asked, looking up from his files.

"I don't know. It's new." the Doctor said, shutting the door partially behind him to give them some semblance of privacy, "You were supposed to go home hours ago." He stated.

"Yes." Harry responded unsure of where this was going.

"Why didn't you tell me?" the Doctor sat down in the visitors chair across from Harry's desk and frowned.

"You were busy trying to keep from going on an explosive rampage; Grace was monitoring Rory and Martha's about two steps off from a panic attack. It seemed a smart idea to stick around." He insisted.

"Your son could have taken over." the Doctor grumbled.

"You would traumatize Greg in that mood. He's only twenty-seven, he hasn't had the...pleasure of dealing with the rage induced in a parent by a hurt child, or in this case the rage brought on by a scared child and a hurt companion." Harry teased.

"You're skilled at dealing then?" the Doctor inquired, trying to figure out if this was good or bad.

"I'm old enough to have dealt with it a few times. More than." Harry laughed.

"Stop calling yourself old." the Doctor scolded him, "You're only five years older than Sarah. Imagine what she'd say if you said you were old in front of her." He teased smiling at his friend.

"She kicked me in the shin and told me if I said it again she'd make my vinyl records disappear." Harry stated with a fearful look. "The Brigadier can get away with it, but if Liz says anything of the like she will glare. That woman is far too feisty for anyone's good." He continued smirking a little.

"Don't I know it." the Doctor shook his head but grinned. "I'm going to unlock the doors, if you want to call your son to take over I promise not to traumatize him. I'm relatively certain the rule about 'no touching tinies' is still in place." He said looking around.

"They're not tiny anymore," Harry laughed. "And that's only in place because you wouldn't leave the babies alone." He insisted.

"Blame Sarah, she didn't stop me." he said cheekily. "Now, I'll unlock it and then Amy and I are going to go talk to the Brigadier." The Doctor insisted.

"Take her to see Earl." Harry suggested, "He's got a new paint job." He said with a smile.

"What? Really? What colour did they turn him this time?" The doctor asked curiously turning to look at him.

"He's still green-grey like the other Daleks, but they've painted 'Property of PERU' across the back of his head in neon pink." Harry grinned as the Doctor laughed.

* * *

><p>"PERU is big." Amy said as they walked down the halls, his boots making soft thumps and her socks keeping her mostly silent.<p>

"Very. It's completely secret too." the Doctor told her, resisting the urge to take his shoes off and go sliding across the waxed floor in his socks. Unlike Amy's sleep socks his didn't have a tread on the bottom to keep him from slipping.

"How do you keep a big building a secret?" Amy asked curiously. If it were as big as she though then it had to be a giant building!

"It's underground." the Doctor said, a smile lighting up his face in pride of his friends. "It's hidden far beneath another business."

"What one?" she asked curiously.

"A used car lot." he nearly laughed, "Run by another ex-UNIT member and current PERU consultant."

"Really?" her eyes widened at the thought.

"Yes. John Benton, great soldier, brilliant friend and he makes the best cup of coffee in the universe." the Doctor told her, following the signs and finding himself outside the Brigadier's office. "If he gets really quiet that means he's angry."

"Like you and River?" she asked, pausing a moment to remember how angry he had been and shivered a bit.

"Mhmm." the Doctor froze, not looking forward to this.

"If you talk to him the worst he can do is yell." Amy suggested, "He was really nice." She said quietly.

"Worst he could do would be to say he never wants to see me again." the Doctor said softly, but knocked on the door anyway.

"Come in!" the Brigadier's voice rang out strongly.

The Doctor opened the door and peeked in finding both the Brigadier and Liz in the office. Liz was relaxed on the couch with a book in her hands while the Brigadier was sitting in his desk chair playing what looked like solitaire. "Bored?"

"Waiting for you." the Brigadier said, closing the game. "I knew you'd give up and come speak to me before midnight."

"I unlocked the infirmary and told Harry to go home. Everyone else is sleeping." the Doctor said, shutting the door behind him. "I shouldn't have manhandled you earlier." the Doctor said quietly, looking down at his shoes.

Liz set her book aside and gestured for Amy to sit next to her. "Sit and watch them, don't interrupt and you'll see one of the stupidest displays of male bonding it's possible to see." Liz told her quietly. "Also known as 'the manly apology'."

Amy giggled but stifled the noise with her hand as she sat down next to Liz.

"That was manhandling?" the Brigadier rolled his eyes and shook his head, "I've had worse treatment from a three year old."

"Oi!" the Doctor looked insulted, "I didn't want to seriously injure you, no matter how annoyed I was at your love of explosives." He frowned.

"That's another thing." the Brigadier said, standing from his chair and moving to stand in front of his desk. "I've been giving myself a headache trying to remember which explosion you're mad at me for. There have been a few."

"A few?" the Doctor crossed his arms, "UNITs default go to method was 'blow it up'!" he said loudly.

"PERU has an explosives safety course." the Brigadier replied, trying not to smile.

"The Silurians." the Doctor said finally.

"Ah." the Brigadier nodded seriously, "That one. I take it you found another group of them?" he asked quietly.

"They attempted to vivisect my companion, kidnapped my daughter, nearly killed a second companion and shot Jack." The Doctor griped.

"Hmm. I don't blame them on the last one, I've done that myself a time or two." the Brigadier said, "If it makes any difference I do feel bad about the Silurians. I was given orders to carry out and no way to defy them without there being dire consequences for my men." He insisted looking at the Doctor.

"Sorry for shoving you earlier." the Doctor said finally. "And taking over the infirmary...and kidnapping your medical Doctor...and for the rude gestures." He said, sounding like a child.

"I'm sorry I blew up the Silurian base. If it effected the outcome of today at all then I should take partial blame." the Brigadier replied honestly.

The Doctor surged forward, capturing the Brigadier in a tight hug. "Nothing was your fault. I was just angry anyway. You don't need to take any blame." He said quietly.

"Oh, God." Liz said as the Brigadier patted the Doctor's back. "This one is a hugger as well." She continued as the Doctor maintained his hold on the Brigadier.

"Huh?" Amy looked confused.

"The ones we knew in the 70's wasn't very touchy-feely with most people." Liz told her, "Very few people got physical contact and fewer still ever got a hug. I've only met four versions of him now, but Alistair's met all of him to date." Liz laughed as the Doctor finally let the Brigadier go, "And from what I've been told the Doctor's mostly hands off. There are however two – well, now three – that seem to thrive on random hugs."

"He always hugs, or holds hands." Amy told her.

"I'm making up for lost time." the Doctor said with a mock pout, "Just wait until I locate Yates and Benton again." He insisted nearly bouncing.

"He's on a mission to hug all of us," the Brigadier shuddered with fake horror, "Now, Doctor, about today..."

The Doctor settled into one of the chairs the Brigadier kept across from his desk and began his story. By time it was over Amy was stretched out on the couch, head on Liz's thigh as she slept soundly.

* * *

><p>"Why have they got a Dalek?" Amy asked, standing up on the chair to look into the room. The door wasn't locked beyond a basic padlock through a metal ring on the door over top a metal bar that flipped over from the door frame. There was a large observation window that covered most of the wall the door didn't for people to look through.<p>

The room was fairly impressive, a bit smaller than Amy's bedroom with bright white tiles, but the walls were painted in murals. On one wall a sunset over a hill, on the other there was what looked like a sandy beach with crystal blue water, the third held a snowy mountain scape. The beach was partially covered in the centre by a flat screen TV mountain on the wall, the TV was smaller than theirs, but still large. In the centre of the room a Dalek sat, eyestalk fixed on the TV screen where a group of women sat talking.

"You got him cable?" the Doctor demanded of the Brigadier.

"He helped us in the last two Dalek invasions." the Brigadier shrugged, "It was only fair." He said simply.

"He sold out his fellow Daleks for cable?" The doctor questioned.

"HD Cable...and a new TV." the Brigadier grinned as the volume in the room was turned up.

"You let him watch 'Loose Women'? That's just insane." the Doctor shook his head.

"What worries me is that you know what that show is." the Brigadier laughed at the Doctor's expression. "It was this or CBBC. Frankly I'm missing the cartoons." He said halfheartedly.

The volume inside kept getting louder.

"Has he got a remote inside that case?" The Doctor asked over the television.

"Kate managed to get the TV settings wired to where he can control them." the Brigadier nodded. "Earl now has complete control of his TV." The Brigadier said getting louder as the volume increased again.

"His name is Earl?" Amy questioned.

"Well, no, Dalek's don't have names. We just call him that for fun." the Brigadier told her.

"Why?" Amy asked curiously.

"Well, the first five years to make him mad, the next five because it was funny and for the last twenty it's been habit." he shrugged.

"You've driven a Dalek insane." the Doctor sated plainly as he stared at the Dalek in question.

The eyestalk slowly turned to look at them as the TV reached its max volume.

"I believe we're interrupting his show." the Brigadier said with amusement. "Perhaps if we come back later you could talk to him, Amy. He has a stunning vocabulary when it comes to insults." The Brigadier said merrily.

* * *

><p>"Wait, Jack kept me alive?" Rory looked shocked when Martha told him. "Oh, God! JACK gave me CPR?" he yelled hoarsely from his hospital bed.<p>

"Yes. For several minutes until we could get to you." Grace said, cheerfully. They'd checked him out completely and declared him healthy as could be, given his situation.

"Anyone have any mouthwash?" Rory asked.

"I'm feeling so loved today." Jack said though he did laugh. "We're even now." He said teasingly.

"You ruined my life then saved it..." Rory seemed to consider it, "Fine. I'll leave you alone about my childhood now." He said evenly.

"Good!" Jack declared, sitting down on the end of Rory's bed. "So, news time! We get to relive the past month because the TARDIS missed on it's time and set us down on February 1st, 2010 and according to Martha we've been hanging around all month with 'no idea' where Tish was and no contact with her." He explained.

Rory's face fell, "I can't contact Tish for a month?" he asked sadly.

"It'll be five minutes for her." Jack told him, patting his hand that didn't hold an IV in solidarity. "And you can still talk to friends on Earth. I bet Sarah Jane would gjust love to hear your story. Might smack you for stupidity, but at least she'd listen." He said trying to help the younger man feel better.

"What am I going to tell everyone about my wounds?" Rory said worriedly.

"Car accident?" Tish suggested, exiting the TARDIS in new clothes. The Doctor had applied the dermal glue over her stitches and in the last three hours her skin had healed together as much as the stitches would have managed in about two weeks. "Incident with an electric fence?" she continued, sitting on his bedside. "The old standby 'fell down the stairs'?" she added teasingly, leaning down and kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Ugh." the Doctor looked away. Suddenly his eyes widened and he sat straight up in the chair he'd been sitting crosswise on, nearly falling off of it. "No...No!" He yelled, disgusted.

"What? What's wrong?" Tish asked him.

"He doesn't qualify." the Doctor said, eyes wide in shock. He made a face as Jack cracked up laughing, "No! That's...No." he whined, shaking his head.

"You just got that?" Jack asked, clutching his stomach.

"YES!" The Doctor yelled shaking his head as if trying to erase the mental image.

"What doesn't Rory qualify for?" Grace asked.

"Jack said we should appease whatever was in the dirt by offering a virgin sacrifice and nominated Rory." the Doctor said, slightly sick looking, "Rory doesn't qualify."

Tish groaned and leaned down, hiding her face against Rory's shoulder as he blushed crimson.

"So? He's a male in University." Martha shrugged.

"I tormented him with questioning." Jack said around wheezing breaths. "He qualified when he boarded the TARDIS!" Jack fell into a new fit of giggles at Martha's face.

"I so don't want to know." Martha said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"We should be nice," Grace said, though she was laughing as well, "Don't want to give the man a heart attack while he's recovering." She said between giggles.

* * *

><p>"Thank you," Ambrose said standing once again in the graveyard overlooking their little town, "for everything."<p>

"It's what I do." the Doctor replied easily. "Nasreen, make sure to shut down that drill!" he insisted.

"Don't worry, we'll do it." Tony and Nasreen answered then laughed at each other.

"I'll make sure they remain safe," Nasreen promised him, "Say that something's come up that'll be a danger to continue this project." She said thoughtfully.

"We'll make people prepared for them to come back." Elliot said, holding onto his Granddad's hand. "So this won't happen again." He continued.

"Good, Elliot." the Doctor smiled as they walked off towards their homes again. Jack dashed past them into the church, muttering something about 'coats' and 'dust'.

"Hey, dad!" Amy tugged his hand and pointed to the cliff, "There I am again." She said smiling.

Indeed the older Amy, Rory and Tish were back alongside Jack. This time the older Amy looked rather smug about something and was dancing around, holding something tight in her hand and waving it.

"What do I have?" Amy questioned him.

"Not sure." he admitted, digging for his binoculars again. "It looks like...no, can't be." He said grumbling.

"What?" Amy asked.

The older Jack took three steps to the side pointedly and looked towards the older Amy.

There was movement behind them and suddenly the older Amy was scooped up over someone's shoulder, her hands empty again. The Doctor, not looking much older than the one standing next to little Amy, stood with older Amy heaved over his shoulder, putting a bowtie back on as best he could with one hand.

Eventually he settled for draping it around his neck.

"You stole my bowtie." the Doctor told Amy, sending her a glare with no heat.

"Sorry." Amy giggled.

"What'd I miss?" Jack asked, coat back on.

"Older me stole Dad's bowtie and he tackled me to get it back." Amy said, waving at the cliff.

Jack turned and laughed, "Brilliant. Drop off time then, Doc?" he asked.

"Yes." the Doctor nodded. They'd left Tish with Martha, last they'd seen she'd been getting her stitches taken out since they'd worked with the glue to fix her skin and they'd been plotting going to spend a few days relaxing at Martha or Tish's home.

Rory was in the TARDIS with Yumo, having declined stepping foot on the 'evil' ground again.

"Then we get to see Sarah Jane and Luke again!" Amy told Jack excitedly.

"Oh? Very nice." Jack told her, "Maybe if I'm bored in a month today I'll go to join you." He said smiling.

"Okay." Amy giggled and hugged him.

* * *

><p>"Hello, Sarah Jane, Luke!" the Doctor exclaimed, leaving the TARDIS with Amy and finding himself in the attic. The fact he was carrying a tray with several coffee cups on it was all that kept him from tackling the two in a hug. That didn't stop Amy, however, from doing so or Yumo from dashing out after her.<p>

"Doctor, Amy." Sarah Jane said, returning Amy's hug and laughing. "Looks like this time you get to fetch the coffee." She said smiling.

"You still make it better than I do." the Doctor replied, baffling both kids when the adults laughed.

"Amy, come look!" Luke said, pulling her across the attic to look into the giant fish tank they had in the attic. "See? They're happy!" he said excitedly.

The Doctor had 'kidnapped' the tank on Christmas when they were out pretending to be Father Christmas and sneakily leaving gifts, taken it onto the TARDIS and turned it into a mini habitat like they had for the tiny pandas and the tiny tigers Tish owned. This one however was a miniature ocean complete with what looked like a dozen fish swimming around under two blue whales the size of small koi fish. Little clown fish the size of beads swam around the bottom, darting this way and that in a blur of orange.

"Where's the shark?" Amy asked curiously, recalling the miniature great white that the Doctor thought was fun to mess with.

"Rupert kept trying to eat his tank mates." Luke told her, "He's got his own little tank in my room now. Clyde wants him but he's all mine." Luke grinned.

* * *

><p>"On Christmas eve Broadfell Prison burned down." the Doctor said quietly to Sarah Jane as the kids played with Luke's new Lego set. He'd gotten quite a few on Christmas but hadn't been able to show them off to Amy yet. It seemed everyone had missed the three of them that hadn't been on Earth in the month they'd been gone.<p>

"Yes." Sarah Jane agreed just as quietly, understanding it wasn't something the kids should hear, "There were no survivors or so I've heard."

"Hmm..." he nodded slightly and shifted in his seat, crossing one leg over the other in a nervous gesture. "One of the prisoners was named Lucy Saxon." He explained simply.

"Wife of Harold Saxon?" Sarah Jane resisted the urge to go take notes. This sounded like a story that should have been covered much earlier.

"Wife of the Master." the Doctor looked at Sarah Jane and noticed she didn't look terribly surprised. "They're going to finally release the news of her death on Friday. When...When you write about it, and I know you will, and you write of her make sure to tell...Make sure you say how good a person she was." the Doctor implored her, "Tell people she just got in over her head. Make sure they know he was in control and she was not. It wasn't her fault the President was murdered." He insisted looking into her eyes as he spoke.

"'Sources close to her say'?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Yes." the Doctor nodded. "Yes. She's earned that I think." they were silent for a moment before he finally gained the nerve to speak again. "You knew he was the Master, didn't you?" he asked.

Sarah Jane looked away from him, clearly ashamed, "Yes."

"Why didn't you do anything?" he asked, no accusations in his words. He reached over and grabbed her hand and felt her fingers tighten around him. "Warn anyone? Warn me?"

"I couldn't." Sarah Jane said quietly, no small amount of guilt in her voice. "I knew him almost the moment I saw him on the news. It didn't help that about an hour later Jo was on the phone screaming in my ear that he was the Master and about massive evil plans." She explained.

"All my companions knew," He said clearly surprised. "You wouldn't have kept that to yourself and neither would have Jo." He frowned in confusion.

"Not everyone." Sarah Jane shook her head, "PERU members, certainly, Tegan knew the same way Jo did." She said quietly.

"So why not warn me? Out him as a fraud?" The Doctor asked anger growing inside of him.

"I wanted to...God knows I wanted to." Sarah Jane finally looked at him and he noticed tears in her eyes stubbornly unshed, "The day after his first press conference I received an envelope in the mail. One of those big ones, you know?" When he nodded she continued, holding his hand tight, "It was full of photos of my kids. Up close ones too. Luke at school, in the front yard playing football with Clyde, shopping with Maria...There were even photos of me in it!" She stopped, trying to compose herself. "There was a note...it was a warning basically...No, I won't tell you what it said," Sarah Jane said when she nearly heard him growl. "You'd just get more angry and you've just fully calmed down. Suffice to say it was detailed enough that I knew not to try anything, not to contact anyone. He had the phones under his control anyway, he'd have known the moment I tried something."\

The Doctor removed his hand from Sarah Jane's and instead wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her close to his side and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I should have known you knew...I saw how you acted, what you did and I never...I should have known." He said sadly.

"Time did change, didn't it?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah." the Doctor said quietly.

"We all felt it...well, not exacts of what happened," Sarah Jane said, not protesting him wrapping his arms around her protectively. "I asked everyone I could contact and not all of us felt something strong, it ranged from full on migraines to just a very unsettled feeling. It was strongest in those of us who were in the Death Zone with all of you, but we all felt it."

"You didn't retain any memories?" He demanded quickly.

"No. I had a killer migraine and was ill, but no memories stayed...I take it that it's a good thing I don't remember?" she asked, knowing the answer before he spoke.

"A very good thing." the Doctor pressed another kiss to the top of her head, "An extremely good thing."

"I'll take your word for it." Sarah Jane reached a hand up and rested it on his arm, leaning her head against his chest, listening to the comforting beats from his hearts as they watched the children put together a lego rocket.

The silence was shattered a few minutes later by a door opening and closing and an unmistakeable voice yelling out, "Honey, I'm home!"

Luke looked up and grinned then looked at Amy, "Jack makes the best lego stuff. He got me my first Lego kit." He said happily.

"In here." Sarah Jane called back with a laugh but didn't move away from the Doctor's grasp.

"Hey, thought I'd – aww, come on. Don't I get a cuddle too?" Jack whined playfully when he saw them.

"No. My Sarah." the Doctor said sounding like a possessive toddler.

"Hmph." Jack shrugged his coat off and draped it across the chair, moving to the couch. He eyed them with a grin.

"What?" the Doctor asked cautiously even as Amy and Luke giggled.

"Nothing." Jack said, smile widening as he nudged the Doctor slightly then used the man's confusion to sprawl out on the couch, chest and stomach on the Doctor's lap, head on Sarah Jane's, his left hand resting on Sarah Jane's knee and his right arm trapped between him and the Doctor. "There we go."

"Comfy?" the Doctor asked sarcastically as Jack shifted some.

"Yup." Jack said contentedly.

Sarah Jane patted Jack's head with her right hand, leaving her left hand grasping the Doctor's as she laughed, unable to form words.

"Adults are weird." Amy told Luke.

Luke nodded, adding another piece to their 'rocket'. "They really are. I think it's something you get as you get older."

"Rory says teens say they're adults though." Amy told him as the adults in question started laughing again.

"Yeah, but I'm only two and I have no belly button." Luke pointed out. "I'll be three but not until August. Maybe this year you can come to my special day I get instead of a birthday." He asked her smiling.

"Oh, can I bring gifts?" she asked happily.

"Yeah!" Luke said bouncing.

The two turned to look at the commotion as Jack tumbled off the couch, hauling the Doctor with him, the two landing in a heap with Jack on the bottom on his back, their chests pressed together.

"Well, Doc, I never knew you wanted me that -omph!" Jack grunted when an elbow impacted his stomach as the Doctor stood and Sarah Jane nudged him with her foot. "Never mind."

* * *

><p>Rory had been hurt, Sarah Jane knew that before the Doctor had told her. She'd seen him earlier in the month and he hadn't lied to her. He told her everything, in fact, from Halloween onwards, grateful for the company while he couldn't contact his girlfriend or friends.<p>

He'd almost died, almost been erased from history.

The cracks were worrisome but she knew to keep that information to herself without the Doctor's say-so for now.

What worried her was how much time was passing, Rory's age and the future knowledge she held.

"Doctor," she said before she could stop herself. "How young is the youngest you've ever seen me?" she asked.

"Huh?" he blushed slightly, "Um, two months." He said sheepishly.

"What?" she turned to look at him, disbelief on her face.

"You were in your pram alone and I didn't want that so Martha and I sat with you till your aunt drove up." he looked embarrassed, "told her not to say anything about it, used the reasoning that she'd have to explain an interracial couple in that time period, don't think she bought it but it worked." He said quietly.

"How about you, Jack?" Sarah Jane asked shaking her head.

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment, "Hmm, however old you were in 1974 when I tried to get evidence and you kneed me in front of the Brigadier?"

"Twenty-three then." She said thinking.

"Why?" Jack asked, sure she was up to something.

"No reason that's relevant to you, not yet." Sarah Jane said honestly, knowing that neither would press matters when stated that way.

"Okay." the Doctor nodded, brushing it off. As oddly wound as his timeline was it really wouldn't shock him if he had shown up in her past in his future.

Jack just knew some secrets couldn't be told and that sometimes you didn't need to know yet.

Jack looked happy after a minute, "I hear a car."

"Oh?" Sarah Jane looked towards the attic door. "Guess Rani's home then."

A thump and a happy yell from downstairs agreed with that conclusion.

"Jack, go bug the neighbours." the Doctor told him, wanting to talk to Sarah Jane alone again.

"Fine." Jack said, trying to look sulky, "but if I get them going off on sugar it's your fault."

The Doctor tried hard not to make a face when Jack paused on his way out of the attic to kiss Sarah Jane on the cheek as he passed.

He managed to wait till Jack had left and he heard his boots hit the floor downstairs before he turned to Sarah Jane. "Jack Harkness? Really?"

Sarah Jane shrugged, "He's not so bad once you get to know him."

"Yes, he's a fantastic man overall if you get past the guns and the fact he feels extremely wrong time wise." the Doctor waved his hands to brush that opinion off, "That still doesn't excuse dating him. He's a flirt, works for Torchwood, can't breathe without making innuendo, runs Torchwood, has been married at least seven times and you're married to me!" he finished with a whine.

Sarah Jane smiled at his rant but held up her hand, countering his points, "He flirts with everyone but doesn't act on it, his co-workers are entertaining, he's nice to my son, has re-done an evil institute to help aliens most times, and are you honestly bringing marriage into this?" Sarah Jane nearly laughed, "You've been married more times than anyone can count and have been married at LEAST four times since you married me, or are you not counting the 'Virgin' Queen?" the Doctor blushed and Sarah Jane did laugh, "What? You think we companions don't gossip? Barbara loves the story about you and that Aztec woman...Beyond that our marriage isn't technically legal anywhere but Poosh as it was never registered at the Universal Register." She said frowning at him.

The Doctor looked like he'd been struck by an idea, "I-" he started.

"If you go register it there now I will smack you with my Oxford dictionary." Sarah Jane threatened.

He tried to look innocent, "Wouldn't dream of it." He grumbled.

"Good. Now, why are you really sulking about Jack and I?" Sarah Jane asked looking at him.

He sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets, "Same reason I came running to interrupt your wedding. You're mine, I don't like sharing." he muttered.

"I thought you interrupted it because of the trickster?"

"Didn't know about him till I landed, just that something was going wonky in the time line and that you were getting married to someone not me." He rolled his eyes and looked the part of a lectured school boy.

"I'm...oddly both touched and irritated." She said shaking her head.

* * *

><p>Once the Doctor and Amy had left to go 'have fun' before they needed to pick up Tish and go find Rory and Jack had left in his car with Luke to go get pizza and rent a movie, Sarah Jane left the attic and went into her room. While most the house was overrun by teens most days her room remained a sanctuary that permission was needed to enter. That meant anything she didn't want Luke to find she would hide in her room.<p>

She dug into her closet, producing a small wooden box and opened it, moving to sit on the bed. Several news articles, all worn and dated were set aside in favour of one at the very bottom, covered by a small beaded bracelet made for a child.

It was old, very worn and read so many times that she didn't need to re-read it to remember what it said, just the headline was enough.

Jack had always baffled her, because he'd looked so familiar when she first met him and then as she learned more with the Doctor about time travel and paradoxes everything had started to make sense.

Then she'd met little Rory Williams, a small confused boy with a bandage on his head who just wanted his friend home and the name had struck a cord. She'd watched him grow up and realized it wasn't just the name that was the same, he was the same person she'd known before.

From the moment she realized that Rory Williams was someone she'd met before when he was an adult she'd known it was only a matter of time before everything clicked into place.

Jack would remember, he'd tell her the truth and she'd know right away afterwards; he couldn't hide something like this. Since it hadn't happened yet for him that meant Rory was still safe for now.

She couldn't stop it, she couldn't fight it, it had already happened no matter how many times she told herself time could be rewritten, she couldn't save him.

**_"Two men dead in large building fire."_**

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Woot, still out before midnight despite all of us having company!<em> We've been out before midnight for the lat few months.<em> That doesn't mean anything really. _This week is almost over, pout._ Eh, not a bad thing. This chapter was supposed to be shorter, but I made the mistake of sending her Sarah Jane's section and she cried and told me to put it in. _You could have saved it for the next chapter_...It didn't fit the theme. Enjoy.]**


	90. Torchwood Update One

**January 1st, 2010**

* * *

><p>Martha woke slowly, fighting against the annoying noises someone was making by hiding her face against her makeshift pillow. Mickey, obviously, had become her pillow once again, but they couldn't be at home since she could feel she had shoes on and Mickey was wearing some sort of shirt.<p>

She opened her eyes slowly to find Jack peering down at her. Oh, couch at work and apparently someone had draped a blanket over them. "What?" she asked sleepily.

"Was going to let you two sleep a little more but I need your help, Martha." Jack told her, face serious.

"What's wrong?" Martha sat up carefully, disentangling herself from Mickey's grasp, the blanket and trying to pull her legs out from his without falling or waking him up. She did tumble slightly but Jack caught her as Mickey woke up. "What happened?" She asked, regaining her footing and cursing the fact she'd fallen asleep with her tennies on because now her feet were partially asleep.

Mickey sat up, tossing the blanket over the back of the couch and yawning wide stretched and popped his back. "Why'd you let us sleep?" he grumbled.

"You were up all night and looked like you could use it." Jack said, dodging to the side when Martha and Mickey's puppy ran past and tackled her owner on the couch. "Oh, and we've been feeding Amidala biscuits." He said teasingly as he smiled at the puppy.

"You're an evil man." Martha said as their puppy nearly licked Mickey to death. "How many?" he asked sternly.

"Eh...A fair few. It's only noon," Jack told Martha with a smile that hid evil intent, "It could have been worse." He said shrugging.

"Did you walk her?" he asked sighing.

"Lois did." Jack's face looked serious again, "Martha, Lois has elected to leave Torchwood." He said quietly.

Martha and Mickey both froze, the latter stopping the frolicking pup with a quick motion of his hand.

"Why?" Mickey asked.

"She...She can't face what it is we do any more." Jack said simply. "It's too much and if she keeps going who knows what would come of it." He said looking at them sadly.

"So...She's going to...the old Torchwood way?" Martha asked slowly.

"Yes. That's what she wants." Jack said, turning to look across the warehouse to where his makeshift office was set up. He could see past the drywall temporary walling to where Lois and Gwen sat talking quietly. "Rhys is in the Comic shop so I need Mickey and Gwen to go sanitize her place." He explained.

"Can do." Mickey said, standing up and scratching Amidala's ears absently. "She...She wants to forget it all?"

"Yes." Jack sighed again and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Some people just can't handle what we do, Mickey." He said remembering others who didn't fare so well by staying.

"Yeah, don't I know that..."Martha bit her lip in worry then nodded. "I want to hear her say it but I'll do my job, Jack." She said evenly.

"Good. Mickey, go get the sanitation kit together please? Gwen's got other instructions for you guys." Jack frowned for a moment then shook his head.

"Wait...We're waiting for Tish." Martha said, remembering the night before.

"Oh, you caught that stunt on the TV?" Jack looked surprised. "I figured you'd slept through it and I'd show you tonight and giggle manically while mocking everyone." He continued teasingly.

"We caught it first showing. Can't believe she's been lying to us since October..." Martha shook her head, "I made her promise to show up today."

Jack checked his watch, "Well, there's still twelve hours left 'today' and we'll be here for it. We do need to start moving in everything into the new hub on Monday..."

"We'll have spoken by then, I'm sure." Martha smiled at Jack who smiled back. She didn't notice the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure about this, Lois?" Martha asked, sitting down next to her on the couch on the opposite side as Gwen. "This is not just forgetting, you'll lose three and a half months. You'll never know where they went."<p>

"I'm sure." Lois said, holding both their hands tightly. "I can't...I can't do this, Martha. I'm not as strong as you guys are. I...I have nightmares every night filled with blood and weapons and so much screaming. I wake and I can't breathe, no matter how hard I try. I can't sleep, I can't eat...I'm not strong enough for this." She said brokenly.

"You're plenty strong." Gwen said fiercely, wrapping her right arm around Lois' shoulders. "There's nothing wrong with admitting that there are things you can't handle. No shame in it at all."

"But-" Lois started.

"She's right." Martha said, voice soft. "I had to swear a statement to that effect." she spoke to distract Lois while Jack started putting together what they'd need. "It's part of the Hippocratic oath." Martha continued.

"Didn't know people still took that." Gwen said honestly.

"Only about 50% of medical students do in the UK," Martha told her, grateful Gwen was helping, "But they still make them swear it in America. Anyway, a portion of it basically boils down to 'I won't be afraid to say that I don't know' and that 'I won't be so prideful as to not let someone else do something I can't'." she paraphrased smiling at them.

"What's that mean?" Lois asked.

"That I won't be an idiot and insist on preforming brain surgery when I only know how to diagnose colds." Martha said with a smile that made Lois laugh. "Hey, I know my limits and I'll stick to them. That shouldn't just apply to Doctors." She continued smiling at them both.

"You're right..." Lois said.

"Hey, Gwen, you up to this or am I going solo?" Mickey asked, gesturing to the pack he'd set against the railing of the concrete ramp.

"Was that a crack about pregnancy?" Gwen asked, narrowing her eyes playfully and crossing her arms.

Mickey held his hands up, palms out, "Hey, I've got nothing to say about you hanging back or going. 'less you puke in my truck, then I kick you back here." She teased.

Gwen laughed at him, "I'm coming. Your truck or Torchwood?"

"Take your truck." Jack said, coming back into his office with a bottle of water and a bottle of soda. "It'll be quicker and less assuming."

"Right." Mickey patted his keys where they rested on his hip, hooked around one of his belt loops and lifted the bag again, "I'm leaving 'Dala with you, sweetheart." He called.

"No problem." Martha said as he walked off.

"I'll miss you." Gwen said, hugging Lois tight and trying not to tear up. "Really miss you."

"I'm sorry." Lois did tear up as she hugged her friend back just as tight. "I'm sorry I'll miss everything."

Gwen pulled away and stood up, absently resting her hand on her growing stomach. Technically she was on desk duty, having had to buy larger work trousers, but she wasn't going out to battle any alien creatures so it was easier to send her. "I'm sorry for bringing you into all of this."

Lois didn't say anything in return as Gwen turned quickly and walked off trying not to cry.

* * *

><p>"Jack...what...what'll happen?" Lois asked shakily, obviously afraid despite her convictions, hands clutching the water bottle she'd been given that was now half empty.<p>

Jack looked at her, he could lie, he could not say anything, she wouldn't remember, but he knew that would be wrong. "You'll take the dose and fall asleep. While you're asleep we'll sanitize any alien energy you might have remaining, any marks that can't be written off. Gwen and Mickey will go through your flat. They'll take out anything that you shouldn't have, get rid of any alien energy, they'll wipe the last few months from your computer and plant computer notes about your 'life'. You'll wake up in a hospital room with a 'head injury' – don't worry, we'll take care of you – and no memory of the last few months. When you go home you'll find out that you start a new job in two weeks; a job you've been wanting for ages you're extremely lucky to get. Your money – we'll leave a chunk of it – you'll think it came from the 456 collateral damage fund." He explained evenly.

"So this will never have happened?" Lois confirmed, holding onto Jack's hand.

"No." Jack said softly, "You'll remember the 456, but nothing after that. You'll have met Gwen, Rhys and me, but you won't know any more than our faces from those few days." he said quietly.

"I'll be normal. No more threats or anything. No more nightmares." Lois said in understanding as she drank the last of her water. "When do I take the pills?"

"You already have." Jack said sadly as she swooned in her seat on the couch, the sedative kicking in quickly.

Jack caught her easily and lifted her into his arms before carrying her across the warehouse to the makeshift hospital area they'd set up for Martha. He pushed aside the plastic curtains and laid Lois down carefully on the exam table that doubled as a morgue table.

"You didn't have to explain that to her; she wouldn't have remembered." Martha told him.

"No, but I would have." Jack replied as Martha readied the second dose of Retcon, this time in injection form. He moved to the head of the table and placed his hand on Lois' forehead as Martha injected her carefully. "I've always hated this part." He said grumpily.

"I hate it too," Martha sighed "and I've never had to do it before."

"I'll walk you through it." Jack managed a small smile for his favourite Doctor and one of his closest friends. "First off, no clothes, these guys are soaked with our stuff, including a bit of Artron from me." He ordered.

"Right." Martha nodded.

* * *

><p>Jack smiled as his phone went off and answered cheerfully as he could, "Hello, Sarah Jane." He made certain to keep his eyes on the road though even as he answered and as careful to keep his speed climbing.<p>

_"Jack, have you seen the New Years from New York on tape yet?"_ Sarah Jane sounded amused.

"You mean the Doctor getting a midnight smooch from our Miss. Jones' older sister? Yup. Was there in person too. Sadly she chose to kiss him and ignore me." he smiled at her laugh.

_"I suppose I should sulk or throw a little fit about you trying to get a kiss from Tish but I'm oddly not surprised. I figured you'd have been there on New Years, though. Who'd miss that given the chance? I assume you've shown it to Martha while laughing manically." _Sarah Jane said cheerily._  
><em>

"You're so above petty emotions, aren't you?" Jack shook his head and found no reason to hide the grin. "Nope, didn't get the chance. She'd already seen it." Jack told her honestly. "I didn't get to do anything evil." He grumbled.

_"Well, there's always hope that another relative of hers will do something embarrassing on television and you'll know first." _Sarah Jane said consolingly. _"Luke wants to know if you're coming down this weekend." _she asked._  
><em>

"Wouldn't miss it." Jack promised. "Um, I'm going to have to let you go for a few minutes. I'm about to crash a car into a tree at a high speed and I don't think you want to hear it." He said quickly.

_"Jack?" _Sarah Jane questioned concerned.

"I'll explain later, I promise. It's to protect someone." Jack assured her, "Not because I'm being stupid." He stated.

_"Isn't stupidity normally involved when protecting someone?" _she asked him._  
><em>

"True, I'll give you points for that logic. I'll talk to you later, Miss Sarah." he said, sticking to their routine and code phrases. Saying 'I love you' was always risky but it was outright dangerous when you were Jack Harkness; not to mention sappy as well. As Sarah Jane had once said, _'Does it really need saying?'_

_"Goodbye, Captain."  
><em>

He smiled happily as he shut his mobile. Thirty-five years and those names still worked better than anything. He'd love to see someone else try to call her 'Miss Sarah' and live.

He kept his thoughts happy and cheerful even as he swerved Lois' car and smashed it full speed into a tree.

* * *

><p>"Oh, Jack." Martha whispered in pity as she climbed out of the SUV, leaving Lois unconscious in the back as she hurried to his side.<p>

Jack was slumped over the steering wheel, head bloodied and obviously dead. Martha used her weight as leverage and forced the door open, thankful it wasn't obstructed. Broken glass was everywhere and she had to actively avoid cutting herself on any of it as she hauled Jack out of the car. She only got him clear of it by about a foot before she had to give up. It was one thing to help carry someone around; it was another to carry around Jack's dead weight.

She knelt patiently in the grass, Jack's head on her lap as she waited for him to come back. It only took about a minute once he was clear before he was gasping in air and his arms were flailing, hands grasping for anything to ground him.

"I'm here, Jack, I'm here." Martha said, letting him grab onto her hands. "It's okay." She said calmingly.

"Martha?" Jack breathed heavily for a minute before sitting up, "Sorry." He insisted.

"No problem, Jack." Martha told him, "It's never an issue."

"Right. Lois." Jack climbed to his feet and moved to the SUV.

It wasn't hard for Jack to get Lois situated in the front seat, strapped in with the seatbelt and still unconscious. "You're going to have to do something about the blood." Jack told Martha evenly, trying to separate emotions from actions.

"I know." Martha sounded unhappy, not succeeding as well as Jack with the separation and pulled a new and capped scalpel from her jacket pocket. "I just..." she started her voice filled with sadness.

"I know." Jack said.

She pushed Lois' head back and made a very careful and mostly superficial cut high up near her hairline so it could be easily covered and yet also could have come from the steering wheel.

"Want to call emergency now?" Martha asked. "Do we stick around and wait or disappear?" she questioned.

"Disappear." Jack said, "It's easier that way." He explained.

Martha didn't bother asking who it was easier for, she just nodded and got back into the SUV.

* * *

><p>Mickey arrived home after Martha that night, finding his wife curled up on the couch with their puppy staring mindlessly past the television that was showing a program he knew she didn't care for. "Hey." He said walking over to her.<p>

"Hi." Martha responded blankly, looking up at him as he set a cardboard box down on the coffee table and hung his coat up.

He sat down on the edge of the couch and unlaced his boots and took them off before setting them aside in case he needed them later. While combat boots worked fantastic at work they were a little annoying to wear all the time. The fact that Martha didn't even laugh at his black socks that were decorated with tiny green alien spaceships was a bad sign. "How'd everything go?" he asked wrapping his arm around her.

"Perfect." Martha said, still not adding any emotion really. "Lois is in the hospital for overnight observation after a car accident that miraculously ended only with a head injury. She's convinced its September and her mum is staying with her." She said her voice even and professional, as if describing the weather.

When Martha avoided emotions it was always a bad sign. It was something she'd learned to do during that year and Mickey hated it. Emotions were only shut off when they were too much to handle, namely a few days that they'd 'remembered' transferring over on accident. The day that she'd been 'due' had come around again and nearly sent him into a sobbing fit, but she'd been fine and completely composed most of the day till he'd finally managed to pierce the emotionless front.

"I see." Mickey nudged Amidala aside some so he could scoot closer to Martha and wrap his arm around her and pull her closer. "How are you doing?" he asked pulling her closer.

"I'm fine." Martha responded, resting her head on his shoulder. "Peachy. What's in the boxes?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"Lois asked me to pack a few things up and hold onto them." Mickey explained simply.

"Oh?" Martha said tears forming in her eyes.

"Did you know Lois knits?" he asked her curiously.

"Yeah, why?" Martha said sniffling.

Mickey nodded to the boxes, "She made some baby things for Gwen and Rhys' baby. Wanted me to hold onto them till either her birth or Gwen's baby shower."

Martha inhaled sharply, "Like what?"

"A yellow baby blanket, a pair of booties, a toy bear with the Torchwood logo done on its belly."He could feel her shake a little as she finally moved and reached up to hold onto his hand that was resting on her shoulder. "So what did Tish have to say for herself?" He asked, changing to the other topic he knew was bugging her.

"She didn't." Martha said, voice shaky, "She never showed up."

Mickey felt a little cold when he realized what that meant to Martha, "I'm sure they're just off on the time, that's all. You'll see, tomorrow she'll show up thinking its yesterday." He insisted hopefully.

"Maybe." Martha said. She gave up and closed her eyes against tears as the emotions finally flooded in like a tsunami and turned her head into Mickey's shirt as she started to cry.

He said nothing, just wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

* * *

><p><strong>January 4th<strong>

* * *

><p>"Over there...No, not there, hold on!" Gwen yelled.<p>

Jack smiled to himself as Gwen's voice rang out again in frustration. They'd already outfitted their new hub with everything but the little stuff which meant now they were trying to get all the little things situated correctly. Gwen wasn't being allowed to pick up anything above twenty pounds which meant Mickey and Rhys were doing a lot of lifting as she sulked.

The new hub wasn't as cramped as the old one by a long shot. This one was spacious and not nearly as dark or dreary.

The main section was about half the size of the warehouse and done with white floors he knew were probably a bad idea and cream coloured walls he had planned to let Clyde decorate as soon as he could convince Sarah Jane it was a good idea to let him abduct...er, borrow him for a few days.

The direct centre of the floor was sunk in about three feet and contained all the desks they needed, spread out into individual work places separated by half walls only as tall as the desks themselves. Well, the only ones that used that space were Gwen and Mickey really, Martha had a desk set up in her little 'office' and Jack had his own office that overlooked the main hub through a large window. They all ignored Lois' desk for now and hadn't done anything to it.

Directly to the right of the centre desks and up five steps was Jack's office, deliberately situated so he could watch over the main bit without much work at all. It was the same size of his old office but this one had a small couch under the window instead of a climb down bedroom.

On the opposite side from Jack was the 'just in case' room. A small set up room with a set of lockers housing several pairs of plain boots, jeans in all sizes and pale gold T-shirts with the Torchwood logo printed small over the left side of the chest, all kept on hand alongside a pile of socks just in case something happened to their clothing and they needed a quick replacement.

The room also housed three bunk beds, because bunk beds were both cool and functional, all made up with basic sheets and blankets just in case something happened and they had to stay in the hub or in case someone needed rest and wouldn't go home. It had a door that led to a bathroom that housed a nice sized shower and a medicine cabinet that they'd laughed at when Jack stocked with toothbrushes and all other dental care things.

To the front and left of the desks there was a small kitchen set up, this time with a stove and a few basic cooking utensils, and a large fridge to hold anything they'd need. Gwen was pregnant which meant takeaway wasn't always an option.

If you went to the right you'd find the glass doors that led to 'Martha's domain' and a set of stairs that headed down towards the second layer – a layer that housed holding cells, Janet's habitat, the morgue and their new gym Mickey had requested. Martha's domain consisted of a medical wing that would make UNIT envious, complete with several beds and an entire locked medicine walk in closet to house anything they might possibly ever need dosed with. A small desk was set up in the corner, complete with a brand new computer and a filing cabinet so she could keep hard copies.

A lift of sorts stood in the opposite back corner, next to the door that led to the bathroom, that descended directly down into the morgue and was large enough for a stretcher to be placed on.

There was even a small set up with couches, a TV and a bookcase covered in DVD's near the entrance so they could relax when on call with nothing to do. Jack had spent nearly all the money Torchwood had paid him since 1899 but it was worth it overall, besides, he still had his own money he'd accumulated.

The very bottom layer of Torchwood, underneath the morgue and everything else was the archives, accessed by either stairs or elevator, and the wall of cryogenic containment cells where the agents were supposedly to be kept after death.  
>One of the worst things about the explosion was that all the electronics had gone out, including those holding cryogenics. They'd taken care of everything, even if it had involved biohazard suits.<p>

A screeching noise brought Jack out of his thoughts and he looked up and smiled. Myfanwy was quite happily stretching out in her new nest Jack had built on a balcony only accessible by ladder.

That had been one of his favourite things to design, alongside the secret entrances, exits and the hiding places for if anything were to go wrong.

One way in was the invisible lift he'd had to rebuild, another was through a back door in Rhys' new store. There were several more one way exits though, just to make sure. He never wanted another incident like last time which was part of the reason they were now scanned for non-organic internal material the moment they entered the hub. Mickey kept setting it off every time he went through till Jack had laughed and set it up to ignore his knee that held several pieces of metal due to an injury a few years back.

"Jack!" Gwen yelled, "Will you tell them I'm allowed to lift things?" she frowned as she looked at him.

"I'm staying out of it." Jack laughed, arms crossed as he contentedly observed his new domain. "I'm going to go help Martha." He said running out of the room.  
>He dodged the stack of sticky notes thrown at him and typed in the passcode that opened the glass doors, let it spray him with disinfectant then made his way through the second set of doors. He was really proud of the new designs in place. While the old hub was amazing, it'd been around since around 1900 and was outdated.<p>

"Need any help?" he asked.

"I don't think I'm going to need anything ever." Martha stated, staring in surprise at the stocked closet full of medication. There was another one full of medical supplies but he'd let her fill that one. "Do I want to know why we have huge boxes of PhiCorp pain meds?" she questioned.

_'Because it's damn good idea to have them considering what's coming up and how hard it'll be to access them...'_ "Because they work with no side effects and I could easily steal several boxes." he offered out loud, trying to keep his memories at bay.

"I'm oddly not surprised." Martha said, shutting the door and listening for it to click and alert as locked. Everything medical locked with passcodes that all employee's knew, other than the one metal box locked with a key only Martha had that housed the more dangerous or higher end medication that was a bad idea to leave loose. "Let me guess, same excuse for all the antibiotics, IV kits and the blood kits?"

Jack shrugged, "Sometimes agents get shot and need blood. I'd rather have their own blood on hand to refill them with if needed." He explained.

Martha made a face, "You want me to set up blood bags full of their own blood 'just in case'?" she questioned.

"Yup." Jack said cheerfully, "I'll help you do yours, don't worry." He shivered a bit thinking what would have happened to his team if he didn't know what he knew.

"Ugh." Martha shook her head, "Good luck getting Gwen to agree." She said raising an eyebrow.

"No!" Jack said quickly, "We're not drawing blood while pregnant. She and Mickey are the same blood type so your husband can play sacrificial goat till she's not pregnant."

"You don't know their blood type." Martha said.

"O+." Jack said with a grin.

"Do I want to know how you know their blood types?" Martha asked.

"Same reason I know yours." Jack shrugged and turned around to leave and go bug Mickey with questions on the gym and electronic set ups.

"You don't know mine." Martha scoffed.

"A-." Jack singsonged.

"How do you know that?" Martha demanded, trying not to laugh as she followed him.

"I'm Torchwood leader," Jack grinned over his shoulder, "I know everything!" he said smiling cheerily.

"So does that mean I'm taking yours too?" she asked.

"No." He said, sounding harsher than he meant he realized when she nearly flinched. "I mean, no, bad idea. My blood...well, bad things happen when people get my blood and I don't need to get transfusions." He said not even wanting to think of that train of thought.

"Okay." Martha said curiously looking at her bosses sullen face.

* * *

><p><strong>January 8th<strong>

* * *

><p>Martha gave up on waiting and calling after a week of no contact from her sister. It was starting to scare her and she really was hoping that Tish had just once again decided to ignore her.<p>

That thought scared her worse, though, when coupled with memories of last time Tish had given her the silent treatment.

She knocked on the door to Tish's flat, while grabbing her keys all the same, trying to push back memories of the A&E, of Tish's heart fluttering and of words screamed in anger.

Those memories weren't helped in being hidden by who opens the door.

"Rory?" She demanded in disbelief.

"Dr...Martha." Rory said stepping backwards with a wince. He had on a robe that wasn't tied at the waist and she could see several large bruises and what looked like burn marks on his chest.

"What happened to you?" she asked worriedly.

"I got into an accident," Rory said, blushing and trying not to look as embarrassed as he felt.

"How—Where's Tish?" Martha asked, "I need to talk to her." She insisted her tone becoming frantic.

"Not here." Rory told Martha, backing up so Martha could come into the flat and walking very carefully to the couch trying to avoid exacerbating any of his wounds.

"Then why are you here?" Martha demanded.

Rory did look more embarrassed that time when Martha pinned her with her best sister glare.

"She, um, gave me permission to stay here," He said quickly, "Asked me to move in." he said sheepishly.

Martha growled and reached automatically for handcuffs before she realized she didn't have them on her. "Why didn't she tell us?" Honestly she was about one step away from arresting him without cuffs and letting Jack sort out bad press later.

"I don't know. I only just moved in right before New Year's." Rory sat up as best he could on the couch where it looked like he'd created a little nest out of blankets and pillows. "She left a letter though!" he said quickly, gesturing to the top of the TV cabinet where true enough a white envelope was resting. "Said she didn't want you or 'Mickey' arresting me for something stupid." He insisted.

Martha picked it up and opened the envelope with her name on it, pulling out the letter inside and studying it. It was Tish's handwriting, no doubt about that.

_'Martha, if you come storming over before I next speak to you then I want you to know Rory's allowed to be here. He's got a key and everything. His old flat was horrible and smaller than my living room. I'm not joking, though I wish I were. He's my boyfriend and allowed to be here. Someone has to water the plants I got to con him into moving in. Love, Tish.'  
><em>

"Have you heard from her?" Martha asked, tucking the letter back into the envelope.

"No, not since New Year's." Rory said sadly, "I know she went to New York with her boss and his kid but I don't know where after. I think maybe Amy or Iain busted her phone because normally she'd call by now." Rory shifted and winced, hissing out a breath. "Sorry." He said quietly.

"What all did you hurt?" Martha asked, professional curiosity taking over briefly.

"Broke four ribs, gained a few electric burns." Rory told her, "Car accident. My heart stopped and they had to give me CPR." He looked horribly embarrassed now, "I'm fine now, and they cleared me. I just look like someone used me for batting practice." He explained weakly.

Martha frowned, "And they know you're all alone?" she asked.

"Well, yes...sort of." Rory winced and reached towards the table where his pill bottle sat but had to stop. Martha stepped forward and handed him the bottle, receiving a smile in thanks. "They know I have no one to take care of me though, so I think it was assumed." he opened the bottle, extracted a pill and swallowed it dry.

"No one? Parents, siblings...grandparents?" Martha questioned.

"My mum and my dad are both two and a half hours away from here." Rory told her, "Siblings are children or out of contact and grandparents are just as far." He explained.

"There's no one if you need help?" she questioned in full Doctor mode.

"Well...I could call Sarah Jane if I desperately need help." Rory admitted with a hint of defeat, "she'd come help me...I'm sure I could guilt my brother into it as well, but I haven't spoken to him in years." He explained quietly.

"Maybe now would be the time to talk to him again." Martha said, trying to ignore the ice that flooded her at Rory's simple statement.

"Maybe." Rory acknowledged.

"Here," Martha dug into her wallet and withdrew a business card. It was one of Mickeys that was ambiguous about what the 'services rendered' were and she flipped it over, pulling a pen out of her pocket and scrawling her number across the back. "If Tish shows up or calls you will you call me or tell her to call me?" She asked, handing him the card.

"No problem. I'm getting worried about her." He said his voice sad.

"Me too." Martha whispered.

* * *

><p><strong>January 11th<strong>

* * *

><p>"What are you reading?" Gwen asked Martha when she entered the hub and found her relaxing on the couch surrounded by several text books with a notebook opened on the arm of the couch with a pencil laying on it.<p>

"Learning all about pregnancy and delivery." Martha replied absently, flipping the page of her book.

"Why?" Gwen looked suspicious.

"So I can deliver your baby." Martha said simply.

"What? NO! Nuh-uh, no way! I'm having this baby at a proper hospital with real nurses and doctors specifically trained." Gwen said quickly, hands protectively over her stomach.

"I'll be trained well before the end of June." Martha waved her off, making a note from her book. "So you have no excuse."

"No..I...JACK!" Gwen yelled in frustration.

"What, what's wrong?" Jack demanded, running out of his office.

"Martha's convinced she's going to deliver my baby." Gwen told him, hand over her stomach.

"She is." Jack shrugged, "As the trained Torchwood Medic she's the one responsible for all medical care barring surgical procedures on staff."

"No, I'm having this baby in a proper medical hospital where they have ways to stop pain."

Jack smiled sweetly and disappeared back into his office without saying a word.

"Why do I get the feeling that no matter how I protest someone's going to make sure you're the only Doctor around when I'm in labour?" Gwen said accusingly, looking at Martha who didn't look up from her book.

"Because this is Torchwood and we love you." Martha said with a smile as she wrote down something. "So get used to it."

"Ugh." Gwen shook her head and left Martha to go sit down at her desk, pulling up the Torchwood search.

"What are you looking for?" Martha asked, curiosity and boredom getting the best of her.

"An address or number for my brother-in-law. Rhys wants to contact him to tell him about the baby personally but Barry's under orders not to tell Rhys anything about him and if Rhys contacted Rory's mother she'd probably start World War three."

"Rory?" Martha said quickly, setting her book aside and moving to stand at the railing and look down at Gwen. "Rory Williams? The nurse?"

"Um, don't know about nurse." Gwen said, "Again, Barry's been told not to give any details out and they haven't talked in years but it is Rory Williams, why?"

"Rory...Oh, hell what was it..." Martha searched her memory trying to find the information she needed, "Middle name is something like owl-win?"

"Alwyn." Gwen said quickly, "Oh my God, you know my brother-in-law. How do you know my brother-in-law?"

"He's a paediatric nurse at Royal Hope, I've worked with him on occasion, he's also a med student," Martha let out a laugh, "and he's dating my older sister."

Gwen looked surprised for a moment then burst into laughter, "Is the universe screwing with us or something?"

"Must be!" Martha agreed. She didn't bother to walk around the railing to the stairs and instead slid through it easily to stand by Gwen. "So, computer searching for info on him?"

"Yeah, need an address or phone number."

"He's living at my sister's flat." Martha told her, "Don't know a number for him though."

Gwen's search finished on the computer and both women looked completely shocked.

A file had popped up, but it wasn't any records from police or a number, instead it was a Torchwood file. There was a picture of a small boy with short blond hair attached, a bandage across his forehead, with notes attached.

"Rory Williams, questioned in matters related to disappearance of Amelia Pond. See also Retcon file #1905." Gwen read, shock and anger in her voice. "They retconned my brother in law as a kid."

"Jack did say aliens took Amelia Pond." Martha said slowly. Jack never bothered to elaborate and said they didn't have any definitive information on her. There wasn't even a file to be found on her in their system.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Okay, so not where I wanted to stop, but I got too many words so I guess we're just adding another chapter to the 'backed up<strong>**' list. _Hey, it doesn't hurt to have a few chapters in reserve...or A extra chapter in reserve. Then we don't run into you crying cause I didn't tell you it was thursday! _Hey, not my fault, I was distracted by wanting to write 'Avengers fic'. _And who's fault is that? _Yours, because you're a terrible influence even if I did force you to watch them. _Your fault. Enjoy!]_**


	91. Torchwood Update Two

Gwen shuffled the box and drink carrier to open the door to the new shop Rhys was in charge of.

To anyone who asked it was dubbed 'Burnt Branch Sci-fi' because it was the Cardiff 'branch' of a comic store and the previous building had burnt down. To Torchwood and anyone who knew it was pointedly mocking their name.

It was a small building, rebuilt and designed by Jack, with most its space put into the front room, with a small bathroom and back room attached. The back room hid an entry to Torchwood.

She smiled as she looked around the front room. Stands full of comics in bright colours, bookshelf covered in sci-fi novels, including the 'John Smith' series, most of which were autographed by Sarah Jane who found their plan rather ingenious. The floor was plain white linoleum with tiny blue stars printed on it and the walls light blue but not much of the walls could be seen as every available inch was covered in framed posters or painting of the comics, the books, of recent movies or in a few cases paintings done by Clyde.

Gwen had to laugh when she saw that obviously Rhys had gotten bored enough to rearrange the unboxed action figures in weird poses next to their boxed counterparts. "Hey, anyone home?" she called out, setting her things on the counter.

"Thought you were working." Rhys said, dusting his hands off on his trousers as he emerged from the back room. "Got some new comics in...well, I say new." he shrugged, "They're new to anyone who hasn't seen them." He said holding the mint condition first copy of the John Smith Comic gently.

"I am working, just stopping by." Gwen handed him the coffee and tried not to sigh over the fact she was stuck with hot chocolate.

"'Just stopping by' with Coffee and donuts?" he asked, opening the box. "Either you've got a craving or bad news." He said frowning as he looked up at her.

Gwen shrugged, "Bit of both, depending." She said nervously.

"Let's hear it then." Rhys said, setting his coffee aside and waiting. "Did you locate anything on my brother?" He asked knowing before she answered he wasn't going to like what she said.

Gwen sighed and tapped her fingers on the glass counter top that displayed some of the more expensive comics, "You know your brother's story about the 'Army man'?" she questioned quietly.

"Yeah." Rhys nodded, "Why are you bringing that up?" he asked her cautiously.

"Because he wasn't lying, hallucinating or imagining things." Gwen said quickly, "Rory was retconned by Jack...Jack who wears a RAF coat." She continued calmly not looking at her husband.

"Son of a bitch!" Rhys exclaimed, fist hitting the counter and jostling the drinks. "He didn't!" he yelled angrily.

"He did." Gwen said reluctantly, wishing it wasn't true. "They thought Rory had seen something related to Amelia's disappearance and couldn't risk it getting out. I guess they didn't give him enough or it interacted badly with the medication already in his system." She said putting a hand on his shoulder.

Rhys growled and turned around, storming through the back room.

"Where are you going?" Gwen asked.

"To kill Jack!" He yelled angrily entering the secret entrance and stomping downstairs.

Gwen sighed and locked the door to the shop, set the sign to 'closed' and followed her husband.

* * *

><p>Gwen made it down to the hub a minute after her husband which gave him time to start his mission to kill Jack if the running meant anything.<p>

"I'm feeling very threatened!" Jack yelled, dashing past and sliding around the railing, "This is not good workplace etiquette!" he yelled.

"What's up with your husband?" Martha asked as Mickey tried to corral the two into one place. "Told him about Rory?" she asked watching the spectacle.

"Yup." Gwen said with a sigh. "I'll let you two wrangle them." She left them and walked up to stand on the ledge outside of Jack's office and watch. It really was entertaining. Jack was yelling and bouncing around not unlike a monkey while Rhys tried to catch him leaving Martha and Mickey to try and stop the duo.

"Now, I know this makes your Tada sound violent, but he's really nice most times. Uncle Jack deserves it." Gwen spoke softly, hand on her stomach. All the books said that by twenty weeks the baby should be able to hear and identify her voice and some others so she'd found herself talking aloud sometimes for no reason.

Thankfully no one in Torchwood thought twice on it and in fact had taken to doing the same, something that was funny to her. The 'twenty weeks' thing had thrown her. Not that it was half way through the pregnancy, but when Martha told her that women were pregnant for ten months, not nine which meant she still technically had five months to go. 'Nine months is for simplicities sake with the calendar'.

Due late June wasn't a bad thing, not really, it just mean she'd be pregnant at the beginning of summer.

"He won't really hurt him, he's just defending Uncle Rory's honour." She froze in surprise when she felt movement against her hand. So far the movements she'd felt were small enough she could only feel them inside, she'd never been able to feel them on the outside. "RHYS!" Gwen yelled, hand on her stomach, "Stop it. I'm relatively certain that Junior doesn't like Tada fighting." She said loudly causing both men to stop for a moment.

"Why's that?" Rhys asked, but he paused anyway to give her his full attention.

"Because it feels like our little one is trying to get attention." She said with a laugh.

"What?" Rhys left Jack alone to get to his wife where she was standing. "Really?" he asked in amazement.

"Yes, really." Gwen grabbed his hand and placed it where hers had been.

A giant grin spread across his face as he felt tiny flutters under his hand. So far he hadn't been able to feel anything and had been feeling a little left out. "Okay, Jack, you're safe for now. But only because our child doesn't like me trying to kill you." He grumbled.

"I'm perfectly fine with that." Jack said just as seriously.

* * *

><p>"Really, Rhys, it wasn't my fault." Jack said, arms crossed as he relaxed back in his seat. "Alex told me to retcon him so I did. Didn't know he'd remember anything." He said grumbling.<p>

"You didn't check up again?" Rhys asked loudly his anger shining through.

"No. We don't often check up on anyone we've retconned." Jack shrugged, "It's a bad idea because it can trigger memories if strong enough." He explained looking at the file that Gwen had shoved into his hands.

"Did...Did he have any information that could help you?" Rhys asked.

"No. He didn't know anything at all. Turns out he'd left the vicinity about twenty minutes before anything alien was detected." Jack said.

"So it was worthless to retcon him?" Rhys asked angrily glaring at Jack.

"Pretty much." Jack agreed, "but it was standard procedure at the time." He defended looking at his teammates.

"Brilliant." Rhys laughed darkly and covered his face with his hands for a moment. "I now have proof that he wasn't hallucinating, that his 'Army man' exists and that I didn't have anything to do with Amelia disappearing and I can't say a word of it to him because as far as he knows there's no such thing as aliens outside of Daleks or Cybermen." He grumbled defeated.

* * *

><p><strong>January 20th<strong>

* * *

><p>"So," Martha said slowly as she moved the sensor over Gwen's stomach, "want to know what the baby is?" she asked curiously.<p>

"I'm hoping human this time." Gwen said, making Martha laugh.

"Hey, no joking about that." Rhys told her, tapping her arm lightly with his free hand, right hand still holding her right hand as they watched the screen.

The hub exploded, most of their tech was lost but somehow Jack had managed to replace some of the more vital ones rather quickly. The full body scanner that had diagnosed Gwen's pregnancy and alerted them to the bomb inside Jack had been the first thing he reacquired but Martha didn't think it was necessary for just a pregnancy check so she stuck to her next favourite new medical technology which was basically a high-tech ultrasound machine. It looked like just a basic bendable piece of plastic that fit with a strap over her hand just barely covering her fingers and hooked into any screen, computer or TV, with a wireless little port, leaving Gwen and Rhys to watch their unborn baby on Martha's computer.

"I meant boy or girl." Martha laughed, moving the sensor around till they saw a tiny hand waving at them.

"No." Gwen and Rhys said as one.

"I'd rather be surprised." Gwen said, "And preferably announced by Rhys." She demanded.

Rhys nodded, "So long as I don't faint that would be amazing." He said hugging her.

Martha laughed and set the sensor to send a print through to her printer. "If he does faint, any second choice?" she asked.

"Since you're so not delivering this little one and I'm having it in hospital," Gwen stressed the word, "I'm sure you'll do." She said confidently.

Martha scoffed, "Keep telling yourself that, darling." She said shaking her head.

* * *

><p>"I don't know how you can just wait till the baby shows up to know what you're having." Jack said, shaking his head, "I never did." He said flippantly.<p>

"Do I want to know how you found out before ultrasound technology was around?" Martha asked.

Jack tapped his vortex manipulator and smiled widely, "I can know within the first three months. Couldn't bare not knowing. I'm that type of person who peeks for Christmas presents." He said smiling at them.

"So if you're so keen on knowing how come you haven't scanned me?" Gwen teased.

"Because I already know." Jack replied brightly.

"How?" she demanded angrily.

"Future person here. Three years?" he reminded her. "I could tell you gender, length, weight, birth date down to the minute, if I wasn't aware that it could be a bad thing and future knowledge could change it." He said smiling at her.

"How do you know?" Martha asked him, "You going to spy on us once off planet?" she asked.

"No, not really." Jack shrugged, "But I did get a very fantastic birth announcement with a picture of what I consider the cutest kid ever born to Torchwood. And yes, I am including my own children in this one." He laughed at them when Martha just shook her head, "What? My kids are gorgeous but that little one will be something else, just so you know." He bragged smiling at the memory of the little girl to come.

"Great, it's not even born and you're going to give it a complex." Gwen laughed, hand on her stomach.

Jack just smiled, "That's my job. Uncle Jack's always going to be around to make sure mini-Cooper never needs anything, and that's including cheering up because someone made them feel bad." He said determinedly, "That's my new job and it extends to any Jones babies as well." He demanded smiling at Martha.

"Yeah, none here." Martha said breezily, "Mickey and I have elected against anymore-Against kids." she corrected herself.

Jack smiled, doing what was best which was ignoring her slip, "I'm keeping that offer open anyway for...oh, how about twenty years? Twenty years long enough?" He stated, his mind flashing back to the overheard conversation and Gwen's voice _'Of course I'll fix it, I'm not going to let my godchild be born into a world where nobody dies.'_

"Only 'Jones' kid you get to spoil is Amidala." Martha told him.

"We'll see." Jack smiled sweetly.

* * *

><p>"Have you heard from Tish?" Jack asked Martha as he held a cotton ball in place over the crook of her arm. She could handle everyone else, but he'd declared supervision was needed for her own.<p>

"No. Nothing." Martha said after a deep breath. "Rory knows nothing, she hasn't been by her flat, she hasn't contacted Mum or me...She's not called dad either."

Jack sighed and placed medical tape over the cotton to keep it in place, absently drawing a heart on it with the pen he'd used to write on the blood bag. "Not even your dad?" he asked quietly.

"No...Last time she...He was the only one she'd talk to and now...Jack, what if something's gone wrong? Like really wrong. You know what travelling with him is like -" he said feeling guilty as he tried to calm her down.

"I'm sure nothing is wrong," Jack told Martha, wrapping his arms around her in a hug he knew she needed, "She's not ignoring you and you know how he is, I bet he aimed for the warehouse in 2010 but ended up fighting dinosaurs!" Jack said cheerily, trying to make Martha feel better, and knowing Tish was safe and would be here soon.

"What if she hates me again?" Martha asked, face hidden in Jack's shirt.

"She never hated you." Jack said, voice thick with emotion as well, "She hated me though, she hated him but never you." He mumbled calmly.

"She said-" Martha started.

"Siblings lie when they're mad or in pain." Jack rubbed Martha's back comfortingly as he spoke, "Trust me, Martha, she doesn't hate you." He said continuing to hold her in a hug.

Martha held tight to Jack for a few more minutes before composing herself again and going back to her work. Jack stuck around until he was called away around an hour later, just watching her work and wishing he could help her.

* * *

><p><strong>January 31st<strong>

* * *

><p>"It's fine." Martha told Mickey, "You stick around here and hang out with the boys. I'm just going to be a day or two for my report." Giving a report to PERU was always entertaining, the Brigadier had the best commentary, Liz could cut through UNIT talk like none other and Harry always had an interesting story or two.<p>

"It's hang out here or sit with my Mum while she's worrying." Martha stated.

"Point." Mickey nodded, "I think I'll stay here if it's all the same." He said smiling.

"It's fine." Martha laughed and kissed her husband before pulling her coat on. "Anything you need while I'm in London, Jack?" she asked smiling at him.

"No." Jack shook his head, "but if you're at PERU anyway you can tell the Brig that his Dalek has nothing on Myfanwy." He said pouting.

"Myfanwy doesn't watch trash telly." Martha pointed out, "or insult people in twenty languages." She smirked, as Jack's face fell.

"Yeah, but she does eat whole sheep." Jack tried not to look sulky or competitive.

"If we're competing for alien 'pets' it's no contest." Mickey told them, "UNIT's got nothing, we've got a weevil and a Pteranodon but Sarah Jane has a Xyloc and a metal dog." he pointed out with a smile.

"Oh, don't start." Jack rolled his eyes, "You always take her side against me."

"Yes, but you always take her side against anyone else." Martha teased Jack.

"Yeah, well I've got an excuse." Jack sniffed and crossed his arms over his chest, "Mickey doesn't and neither do you." He pouted.

"We're not getting into this now, I've got to leave if I want to be at Mums before dark. Goodbye, Jack," she hugged him and grabbed her bag.

"Be careful, Martha." Jack told her seriously.

"When am I not?" She replied with a bright smile.

* * *

><p><strong>February 3rd<strong>

* * *

><p>"Oh, my baby!" Francine exclaimed, pulling Tish into a hug the moment she was through the door.<p>

"Nice to see you too." Tish squeaked out, extremely happy her chest was already healed completely.

"Lovely greeting, I'm feeling the love." Martha said, inching past them with her bag and shutting the door behind her. "Really." She said smiling.

"Quiet, you." Francine tugged her into the hug as well. "I was worried."

"I'm fine," Tish told her, "Just an accident with timing, I told you on the phone." She said hoping they believed her.

"Yes, but I hadn't got to see you in person yet, had I?" Francine demanded, finally letting her go. "Just wait till you father gets here...Oh, and the next time I see that boy of yours I am going to hit him." She stated angrily.

"Rory couldn't help it, Mum," Tish sighed, unhappy about that, "He couldn't say anything because he knew he hadn't. It's a very bad paradox." She said trying to calm her mother down as she wrapped her arms around her.

"Don't give me any paradox talk," Francine told her, "I know enough about them to know they can be broken." She stated.

"I still don't see why you need to travel with him." Francine said, arm around Tish's shoulders as the family relaxed in the living room. Martha was heading back to Cardiff in a few hours and taking Tish with her for a 'meet up'. She had plans to stop and snag Rory on the way as well, to make him reconcile with Rhys and yell at him for not telling her anything.

"I can't describe why, honestly," Tish told him, "At first it was just fun but now it's..." Tish frowned in thought, "Help me out, Martha." She sputtered.  
>Martha held up her hands and smiled, "I'm staying out of this one, I've already had to explain myself." She said smiling a bit.<p>

"It's the adventure, that's what it is." Francine said, crossing her arms and trying to look aggravated but failing as she knew the truth deep down.

"Mum, it's not that those who travel with him need adventure – though that's fun – it's more...he needs us," Tish finished, finally realizing exactly how it was, "and he finds people that need him."

"What?" Francine asked looking at her daughter curiously.

"We keep him sane, safe, grounded and calm. Without someone he goes a little...off the rails." Tish spoke, trying to choose the right words and finding herself reaching new understanding, "With companions it's...We either need him or can grow just by doing this. Look at Martha!" Tish pointed at her sister.

"I'd rather she didn't." Martha crossed her arms and sunk a little in her seat, hoping Tish wasn't heading down the 'let's blame Martha' path again.

"She was already on her way to being a fantastic doctor but when she came back from her travels, even before all the bad stuff, she'd grown so much in knowledge and just...blossomed, so to speak. Mickey went from, in the Doctor's words, 'a shrieking little mouse' to a 'badass man he's proud to know'. Don't tell him I said that though, the Doctor would be embarrassed." She stated looking at them.

Martha sighed, "Jack said he was a coward and a conman till he met the Doctor, look at him now."

"I've seen too much of him now." Tish said with an overly dramatic wince, "Just last adventure he spent the last portion of it topless." She said shaking her head.

"What?" Martha and Francine asked in various tones of anger and curiosity.

"Long story." Tish sighed.

"We've got time before the boys get here." Francine said in her best Mom voice.

* * *

><p>"You kissed him on the screen." Leo said accusingly, "You kissed your boss on screen!" he continued as Tish tapped her fingers absently on the couch arm.<p>

"So?" she asked looking at her brother.

Martha placed her hand over Tish's to still her fingers and just shook her head when her sister pouted.

"So? So you kissed him! Is there anything...hinky going on?" Ah, she really did love her brother; manly man, a father but he still couldn't voice his exact concerns. It was rather sweet.

"Oh yeah. We're shagging like bunnies. Totally so." She stole a lollipop off of the coffee table and unwrapped it.

"Tish!" Shonara gasped, covering Keisha's ears and trying not to laugh.

"Seriously, if he's sleeping it's generally on or next to me." Tish said around the lollipop. That wasn't a lie. Really, most times she saw him sleep it was while on an adventure where they'd been stuck together, when they did a camp out in the library or when he fell asleep randomly. He seemed to think she was just a very comfy warm pillow, it was rather entertaining and quite baffling.

"Letitia...If he's coerced you in any way..." Leo said slowly, cracking his knuckles.

"Nah, well, he did sort of catch my attention and tried to convince me to work for him with bribes of sweets but that was mostly because he's a very strange man." She said trying not to laugh.

Martha shook her head and leaned closer to Tish so as not to be overheard while Leo ranted, "You're a horrible, horrible woman and I now see why you messed with my head for months." She said barely holding in her own laughter.

"Love you too." Tish said cheekily. She caught her dad's amused look and winked, she'd already promised to tell him everything later, so why not mess with Leo now?

* * *

><p>"Seriously, you both suck." Martha said as she drove. Tish sat in the passenger seat next to her, Rory in the back with their bags. "Messing with us for months? Not cool, Tish." She grumbled in mock anger.<p>

Tish grinned, "I beg to differ. It was highly hilarious, right, Rory?" she said looking back at him.

Rory hummed to himself as a hint of a smile appeared on his face, "Well, from your end it seemed to be quite the fun conversations though I didn't get to see their end so...Yes."

"No siding with her." Martha scolded him, catching his eye in the rear view mirror, "She may be your girlfriend but I'm the one overseeing your hours." She threatened smiling.

"Seriously?" Rory sat upright instantly, face showing his shock as he looked both happy and surprised. "You mean it?" he asked in disbelief.

"Why not?" Martha shrugged, "I'm in England every other weekend for PERU, so if you don't mind getting your hours then I don't mind supervising. It might take a bit longer barring vacation time for me or you working at Torchwood...which is basically handing me things for the few random autopsy's I get stuck with." She explained.

"No, I don't. I don't mind at all." He grinned, and reached forward, his grabbing Tish's as he laughed, "I've not had any luck finding anyone who would or could." Rory said quietly thankful he was getting this opportunity.

"Don't thank me yet," Martha told him teasingly, "You've still got to survive the day." She said shaking her head and seeing why her sister liked this awkward kid.

"Oh, right...Rhys." He frowned and leaned back some but kept his hand in Tish's, something Martha found secretly adorable. "I haven't talked to him in seven years but I haven't seen him in person in...Nearly nine I think." He explained sinking back into Tish's arms.

"Why?" Martha asked curiously.

"Dad only had visitation rights for every other weekend and for two weeks in the summer. He drove down to visit on his weekends when he could but for summer...Well, Brenda doesn't like me in her house and Rhys had uni so Dad would always just take me on vacation to somewhere cool. We'd end up spending a week in London just going to the cinema, amusement parks, that sort of thing...When I was nine he took me to Paris but we just...After mum got married and I got my little sisters the visits stopped and we just talked on the phone." He explained simply, years of therapy helping him disconnect his feelings from that particular situation.

"So why'd that stop you from talking to Rhys?" Martha asked, figuring she already knew the answer.

"I was in the hospital with a head injury and that ass of a boss you have retconned me so I had no idea what happened beyond being horribly sick so of course I blamed Rhys...Well, not at first because they didn't tell me but...years of living where everyone believes one thing sort of weighs down your opinion." He sighed, he should have tried once he found out, but hadn't wanted to disturb his brother's new life.

"What changed your mind?" Martha asked.

Rory caught Tish's eye and saw the tiny shake of her head. "Apparently, according to Jack, 'Aliens did it'. Rhys wasn't at fault. I just couldn't tell him I knew he didn't do it after years because Rhys didn't know about aliens. Thank my lovely girlfriend, Jack and the Doctor for finding it funny not to tell me." He said sending a mock scowl at the giggling Tish.

"It seems everyone I know seems to work under the 'is it funny' rule for information." Martha sighed and shook her head but smiled all the same as the other two occupants of the SUV laughed.

* * *

><p>"Martha!" Mickey exclaimed, grabbing his phone and flipping it on, "Thank GOD, I was about to get the bike and drive down. I was willing to leave Amidala with JACK.<p>

_"Oh, you were desperate. Sorry, couldn't contact you at all for two days there thanks to a lockdown and well...Things got complicated quickly." _Martha said, _"I'm on the way back now."  
><em>

"What happened? Are you alright?" Mickey asked worriedly, flipping the phone to speaker when Gwen, Rhys and Jack inched nearer, trying to listen and make sure their friend was okay.

_"You want a summary of my last three days?" _Martha nearly laughed on her end, _"All right, let's see...I went to give my report to PERU, got paged for a medical emergency, ended up preforming life saving measures – I'm including shots of adrenalin and the shock paddles," _Martha simplified for their sake after months of them complaining about medical phrases, "_after eight minutes or so of CPR on Rhys' brother who was not, in fact, in a car accident but rather was shot with an energy weapon wielded by a Silurian that he stupidly jumped in front of to 'save' the Doctor's life."  
><em>

"What?" Mickey asked in surprise, looking over at Rhys who had paled considerably, "You're joking..."

_"I wish I were. Let's see...I stitched up my sister who was nearly vivisected, dealt with a man who WAS vivisected, helped another man who was poisoned and then lost a bit of blood being fixed, met a renowned Cardiologist who was apparently a companion of the Doctor, met the Doctor's daughter – she's actually funny and seemingly just as sane as he is...basically the same as she was at the birthday Tish threw because apparently Tish IS acting as a nanny but it's to the Doctor's daughter and not some human child...Am I missing anything?" _Martha asked herself, _"Oh, right, Jack's the one who gave Rory CPR because apparently he's been traveling with the Doctor since Christmas in off and on bits to where he didn't miss any time on Earth and has known all of January exactly where my sister was...Oh, and apparently my sister is sleeping with Rhys' brother."  
><em>

_"Dude, did you have to tell them that!?" _Tish's voice rang out.

_"I'm traumatized so yes, yes I did." _Martha replied smartly. _"How badly did I just break Gwen and Rhys?"  
><em>

"Well," Mickey said slowly, observing his co-workers, "Gwen looks nauseous, but that might just be the baby and Rhys is looking at Jack like he's contemplating murder again."

_"Tell him not to kill Jack till we get there..Yes, I'm bringing Rory with us. The Doctor's due to pick them both up and he'll probably just snag Jack anyway."  
><em>

"He's coming here?" Rhys squeaked in shock and reached for Gwen's hand without thinking.

Gwen held onto his hand, "I'm sure you'll be fine." she whispered to Rhys, taking his other hand and putting it on her stomach to keep him grounded.

His worry faded some as he felt the baby moving under his palm and nodded, "Yeah...Fine..." he said calmly.

* * *

><p>"So, visitors entrance or employee entrance?" Martha asked as she shouldered her bag and one of Rory's.<p>

"What's the difference?" Rory asked, privately sulking a little because both girls had claimed all his bags and wouldn't let him carry anything thanks to his still smarting ribs. He was mostly healed but to Martha and Tish it had only happened two days ago. He didn't want Rhys making fun of him for letting the girls do everything the first time he saw him in nine years...

"Visitors entrance is this hidden lift in the middle of the plaza that descends to near the entrance of the hub; Employee's entrance goes through your brother's shop and winds to...well, the same places but with more stairs and a lift." Martha explained smiling at them.

"Which way's easier from here?" Tish asked, looking worriedly at Rory who was now looking a bit green at the thought of meeting his brother.

"Visitors." Martha said.

"That way then." Tish responded taking Rory's hand.

* * *

><p>Jack tapped his fingers against his thigh, relaxing on the couch next to Gwen as he waited worriedly. He hadn't seen Tish or Rory in a month, hadn't spoken to or contacted them at all even though he'd visited London several times to see Sarah Jane.<p>

He'd just got back from visiting her, actually, and now he was going to be killed by either his newest employee or his medic or her husband...

"Stop sulking." Gwen said, grabbing his hand and placing it on her stomach when he grumbled.

He smiled as he felt the weird movement on his palm after a moment. "You've just found a new way to manipulate people into being calm, haven't you?" he said grumpily feeling his godchild kick.

"Yes." Gwen smiled back, "As long as the baby doesn't mind preforming on cue." She said smiling at him.

"Rhys and Martha aren't happy with me." He said sadly.

"You were sworn to secrecy." Gwen told him, patting his hand comfortingly. "And until a few days ago we didn't know there was a connection between Tish and Rory." She said soothingly.

An alarm sounded through the hub as the lift in the centre started to descend. "Show time." Jack removed his hand from Gwen's stomach and walked over to lean against the railing around the desks and wait.

Rory looked a lot better than the last time he'd seen him, then again the last time he'd seen Rory the man had been covered in bandages and bruised beyond belief across his chest including handprints from Jack. Tish looked...well, exactly the same given that it'd only been two days for her.

"Looking good, Miss Jones. Dr. Jones." Jack whistled low and grinned, "Not bad yourself, Nurseboy."

"Oh, stop it." Rory rolled his eyes and followed Martha when she stepped off the lift, looking around in amazement. "This is...brilliant." he said looking around in amazement.

"Still say it sounds like a children's show to describe." Tish told him, "I mean, secret organization of crime fighters living in the sewers and living off of pizza..." she said smiling at them all.

"I'm not a turtle!" Jack complained, tugging Tish into a hug as Gwen left to go find her husband. "Fun day off?" he asked as he let her go.

"I've got Leo convinced that 'Iain' is a predator and my dad is laughing his arse off at the New Year's video now so...Yeah." Tish said smiling at him.

"I'm not hugging you." Rory said sulkily as Jack held his arms open towards him.

"You have before." Jack said, smile widening, "Come on..." he cajoled.

"That didn't happen." Rory told him, voice muffled slightly by Jack's shoulder as Jack enveloped him in a hug.

"It did." Jack patted Rory's back lightly, "How's the chest?" he said looking his friend over.

"Better. No pain killer beyond Tylenol now so better." Rory shrugged some and moved back from Jack to grab hold on Tish's hand again. "Though you'd know that if you'd bothered to call, text, email, write or just pop by...Yes, Tish, I'm well aware I sound like a sulking ex-girlfriend." He continued seeing her look out of the corner of his eye.

"I didn't say a word." Tish said innocently

"You were thinking it."

* * *

><p>"I don't think I'd even recognize him on the street." Rhys worried as he brushed his hair down in the mirror nervously.<p>

"You would." Mickey assured him.

"Dad doesn't even show off photos thanks to that bitch." Rhys grumbled, turning from the mirror. "Wait, if he's around I have to say 'Michelle', don't I?" he pouted.

"Yes, otherwise you might start another fight." Mickey said calmly.

"Rhys?" Gwen looked into the 'just in case' room and smiled, "Rory's here. Martha and Tish are as well." She ducked aside when Mickey ran past, puppy not far behind and smiled again at Rhys, "Come on." She said leading him out by the arm.

"What if I—what if he-?" Rhys gestured vaguely and sighed.

"He'll love you just like he did as a child. From what I've heard from Banana he idolized you." She said evenly.

"Yeah, then he thought I killed his best friend." Rhys sighed and sank into Gwen's hug.

"But now he knows you didn't. Come on, just don't hug him too hard." She said smiling.

"Very funny." Rhys let Gwen lead him out to the main room where everyone stood around waiting.

For a moment Rhys half expected to find the eleven year old boy with blond curls that hung around his ears that he'd seen last so the image of the man he'd become was a bit startling. No more blond curls, instead his hair was light brown and cut short, brushed down so it lay mostly flat against his head. No more cartoon t-shirt and ripped jeans or bright green light up tennies either, this Rory wore a long sleeve blue shirt with a brown puffy waist coat over top, new looking jeans and solid brown trainers.

He was utterly different, but exactly the same.

"Hi." Rhys said hesitantly, walking forward with Gwen still holding his hand.

"Hi." Rory looked just as awkward when Tish nudged him forward.

"Boys." Mickey said under his breath, looking down at his wife who he held close to his side.

Jack laughed quietly then sunk down a little when Rhys turned to glare at him.

"So...Army man?" Rhys asked, gesturing to Jack.

"Yes." Rory replied, "Jackass." He scoffed.

"We generally just say Jack." Gwen told him and he returned the grin.

"Want me to kill him?" Rhys offered, "I can you know..."

"Nah...I busted his nose and sort of threw him out of an air lock with the Doctor's help." Rory mumbled and rubbed the back of his head with his palm embarrassedly.

"It was cold both physically and metaphorically." Jack sniffed with fake tears but his smile belied his 'annoyance'.

"So..." Rory said slowly, hands stuck in his pockets awkwardly.

"Oh, for God's sake." Martha muttered and shot Tish a look. Tish smiled and gestured to Martha then to the boys indicating she should go ahead. Martha cleared her throat to get their attention, "You've just met each other for the first time in nine years and all you have to say is 'so'? Rhys, you've been proven to not be a murder and Rory you've got no excuse not to talk to him any more so hug already." Martha used her Doctor voice and tried to look stern but it didn't work as Gwen started laughing.

"Doctor's orders." Rhys offered, holding his arms out a bit, hesitant that Rory might not want a hug.

Rory tugged his hands from his pockets and quickly crossed to give his brother a hug for the first time in years.

"Right, there might be some manly tears shed so...Jones girls, Mickey we're heading to my office for tea and gossip. Leave the Williams to their family stuff." Jack ordered, gesturing to show Tish where his office was, leaving the boys and Gwen alone.

* * *

><p>"So, Martha said you're a med student and a paediatric nurse?" Gwen started once it appeared her husband had lost his ability to speak.<p>

"Yeah, third year..well, barely third year." Rory said as he nervously moved his hands, toying with his fingers. "Been a nurse since I qualified about a year ago, maybe two?"

"Are you going into emergency medicine like Martha, general or...?" Rhys asked curiously.

"Specializing in children." Rory said looking proud, "I'm going to be a Paediatrician one day. I mean, I shouldn't know that because I'm still a student but one of the Doctor's friends accidentally called me 'Dr. Williams' so if I work hard I know I'll do it." He continued smiling.

"That's brilliant." Rhys proclaimed, face lighting up as Rory's did nearly identically and Gwen could see just how much alike they looked in that moment. "Helping kids? That's fantastic, buddy." Rhys continued not getting the image of the seven year old brother he'd once known out of his head.

"What about you?" Rory asked shaking his head.

"Well, I worked for a trucking company for a bit but then Gwen got pulled into Torchwood and I accidentally somehow stumbled in as well and then Jack needed a cover store for their entrance and I suggested a scifi shop and...well, now I guess I own a comics shop." Rhys laughed and splayed his hands in a gesture of helplessness, "What can I say, aliens suckered us both in. How'd you start travelling with the Doctor and Tish?"

"Halloween." Rory rubbed his head again, trying to make sure he didn't out anything. "Had to help Tish save the Doctor from shades and we ran into the Doctors wife...er, other wife, not Sarah Jane." Rory clarified when Gwen laughed, "Though she was there too...Woman named River, she took off before Martha found us."

"His kid's mam?" Gwen asked.

Rory tried to think of how to put it but Tish had been using River as a reference so..."Yeah, pretty amazing if scary woman...speaking of. When are you due?" He motioned to her stomach, "Jack said but I hadn't heard...Didn't want to ask dad just in case."

"End of June. We don't know what we're having yet, though, and we sort of want it to be a surprise." Gwen told him.

"That's fun," Rory nodded. Normally he'd tease but thanks to Jack he already knew the gender and didn't feel like outing that. "God, this is awkward." Rory finally blurted out, making the other two laugh. "Well it is!"

"I understand completely." Rhys told him, "I think this is normally a reunion that takes place with several beers in between questions."

* * *

><p>"Oh, God, they'll wreck the place." Jack said blankly as the thought finally occurred when the TARDIS started materializing. "Tish, I never baby proofed the hub which means it's not Doctor proof." He whined.<p>

"I doubt it's Amy proof either." Tish laughed at Jack's expression.

"YOU!" Jack yelled loudly, vaulting over the railing around his stairs and running across the floor to the TARDIS, "No sonicing ANYTHING technological. I just replaced all of this!" the Doctor smiled, looking far to innocent for Jack's tastes. "I swear I will tie you to a triceratops if you break anything." He yelled.

The Doctor grinned at Jack, "That sounds like fun."

"Oh, God." Rory groaned, "Jack! You've given him ideas!"

"So, want to go to the Jurassic period once Amy wakes up?" the Doctor asked innocently.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Oh, dang, it's after midnight. <em>That's what happens when you keep it for eight hours to work on. _Your fault, you weren't online to get it. _Nyeh, never my fault. Okay, last piece of 'canon' for a little while, we're going off the trail completely our own. _She's finally able to implement an idea she's had for over a year. __We're getting closer to the end of the season. It's only taken 20 months...This doesn't bode well for the future._ Not at all...At least the future has new story lines due to changes we're...what a nice word for saying 'dance, puppets, DANCE!' about? _I think that works...]_**


	92. The Longest Eight Months Part One

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Tish asked, holding Amy against her chest tightly with both arms as Yumo shivered against her side.

"Not even remotely." the Doctor replied, face tight with worry as he watched Amy and Tish for a few moments. She was far too pale, too still and her breathing too ragged as she lie unconscious in his arms. "But it's our best hope." he said softly, sending a small prayer into space that it would work.

"We'll make it there," River said, "because we're just too amazing to have anything bad happen to us." River said confidently, but even her eyes showed strain. "Ready?" she asked, hands hovering over the buttons and switches on her side of the console.

"As I'll ever be." the Doctor said. "Geronimo." He said softly, pulling the leaver to his left as River hit the panic button on the keyboard, sending them whirling through space. -

* * *

><p><em><strong>Eight months earlier<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Out, out," the Doctor yelled, choking on smoke, "Everyone out!" He moved quickly, hitting switches to try and clear out the smoke but nothing was working.<p>

The smoke was too dense to see much and he could feel his bypass kicking in, which wasn't a good thing. "Jack!" He yelled.

"On it." Jack's figure moved through the smoke and there was the loud thump that accompanied his leaping either down the stairs or over the railing but suddenly light was streaming in from the now open door, illuminating some of their darkness. Jack quickly ran back through, taking the stairs two at a time and grabbing hold of Tish and Rory to lead them out as both humans choked.

The Doctor grabbed Amy in his arms and stooped to lift Yumo up as well, taking them out to the unknown place they'd landed that promised more safety than the TARDIS currently.

* * *

><p>"I was promised that that part would last at least another hundred years!" the Doctor sounded outraged as he glared into the TARDIS where smoke was still pouring out through the open doorway.<p>

They'd landed in what appeared to be a back alley somewhere cold. The dirt was frozen and the air chilly against their skin as they sat outside, backs against the walls of the buildings surrounding the alley, eyes on the TARDIS.

"Who promised you that?" Tish asked, wheezing and trying to clear her lungs, filling them with fresh air now.

"K-9 mark II." The Doctor said grumpily looking at his TARDIS.

"How long ago did he travel with you?" Rory coughed hard around his question, choosing to remain seated on the ground next to the others rather than stand or pace like the Doctor was doing.

"...Shut up." the Doctor scowled and kicked at the ground, sending dirt up onto his shoes.

He looked quite the sight, he'd left his jacket inside, one side of his braces had come unclipped, his hair was sticking up awkwardly and he even had soot marked across one cheek as he paced, ranting to himself. He paused and crouched down with concern next to Amy, "Are you okay?" he asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

Amy couldn't stop coughing long enough to speak so relied on a thumbs-up instead.

"Right, okay." the Doctor knelt down by her side and helped her sit up at the right angle to stop the coughing faster. "Yumo?" he asked concern in his voice.

Yumo sat at Amy's feet and made a noise that sounded like a cross between a bark and a sneeze.

"Yes, I know you're lower to the ground...Okay, fine, I wont' question if you were high enough to inhale toxic smoke any more." the Doctor shook his head and patted Amy's back as she finally caught her breath. "I need to flip on the extractor fans on." he coughed.

"Right, we all know who's job that is." Jack complained, rolling his eyes as he got to his feet. "Hold onto this," he told Tish, shrugging off his coat and handing it to her, "I don't want it reeking of this crap." He grumbled as he started towards the TARDIS.

Tish tucked it over her lap carefully and watched as Jack jogged back into the smoke.

* * *

><p>"What the hell exploded anyway?" Rory asked, sitting more comfortably now that he could breathe again.<p>

"Idiot version, please." Tish requested.

The Doctor sighed, "It's basically what controls movement. Like the sat-nav, where you program in coordinates...but not at all like that...Don't think of sat-nav." he babbled still staring at the TARDIS.

"Son of a bitch." Jack choked out, waving a hand in front of his face to dispel any remaining smoke as a loud whirling noise came from inside the TARDIS, followed by more smoke pouring out. "How do you break that part?" he said in between coughs.

"Years and years of use." the Doctor grumbled, clearly unhappy at the situation as he reached up nervously to mess with his bow tie. "Easily fixed once the smoke clears out. Just need my sonic, a computer to tear apart, some new couplings and about five pounds of various metals." he said thoughtfully.

"Simple?" Amy asked, stroking Yumo's ears as the Uval relaxed against her legs.

"Extremely." the Doctor nodded, "Problematic, but simple." he said absently, his mind still planning how to fix the part.

"Good." Tish nodded, looking around, "At least we landed in civilization." she said relieved.

"And there's no one around to cause problems, bar Jack." Rory said, shooting the man in question a look that ended with Jack grinning at him.

There was a shock of electricity that hit their ears seconds before the light that accompanied a vortex manipulator's transport brought through a very familiar woman who looked less than thrilled as she tripped and found herself laying flat on the alley floor.

"You spoke too soon." Tish told Rory.

"Hi, River." Amy waved happily as the scowling woman got to her feet, brushing off her trousers.

"Amy." River shot the Doctor a glare that made all of them wince backwards and stalked over to him. She drew her hand back and with a loud crack slapped him hard enough his head jerked.

"I take it that's for something I haven't done quite yet?" the Doctor asked, rubbing the side of his face.

"Yes." River said, her voice tense.

"I'm sure I deserved it then...did I?" he asked her sheepishly.

"Yes." River nodded, "And trust me, the next time I see that you I do plan to hit you harder." she promised.

"I'm sure I'll deserve it then too." the Doctor said resigned.

"Do I want to know why you're all sitting in an alleyway and why he sent me here?" River turned to talk to the others while pointing at the Doctor.

"Time sat-nav piece thing that's not sat-nav at all broke and sent us scurrying into the cold due to toxic smoke." Tish summed up their day. "As for why you're here I'm assuming it's because you just told him he sent you here and now he has to." she said shrugging and looking at her.

River closed her eyes and let out a string of words that none of the humans could understand but made the Doctor blush and Jack snicker. "Right...So, where and when are we exactly?" She asked finally, "this thing has gone dead." River tapped the wrist strap on her arm, "I'm sure he'll be fixing it." she said looking at the assembled group.

"Of course." the Doctor made a 'cross my hearts' gesture. "And...I'm not entirely sure. I suppose we should find out." he continued smiling assuredly at them.

"Might be a good idea." Rory agreed.

* * *

><p>'Where' turned out to be somewhere in America, when it appeared was 1913. That bit sent the Doctor whining about how 1913 was 'like a Sunday, only a year long!' and into muttered rants about Jones' and schools.<p>

"Oh, stop the whining." Tish told him, rolling her eyes, "We'll only be here long enough to fix the TARDIS and then we'll be on our way." she stated looking at him.

"It's still like landing on a Sunday." he muttered sulkily.

"Hey, for once I fit in better than you lot." Jack grinned as he rocked on his heels, looking around at the people that walked past.

"Only with the accent," Rory replied.

Jack shrugged, "It's better than nothing. I've already been through this time period so at least I know how to act." he smirked as she smiled at them.

"Accents aren't hard." Amy said carefully, concentrating on the words, "All it takes is practice and determination." she said clearly in an approximate English accent.

"True." the Doctor paused as what she said slowly set in, "Did you just...You did!" he said staring at her.

Amy smiled up at him, "Did what?" she asked innocently in her normal accent.

"When did you learn to mimic us?" Tish asked, trying not to laugh at the English accent Amy was able to produce, somehow sounding more like the Doctor than the others.

"I've been trying." Amy said, "Since Halloween. It's not nice to make dad pretend to be Scottish all the time. Sometimes I can be English, right?" she asked pleadingly.

"I prefer the Scottish accent." the Doctor told her, but did beam proudly, "We'll save English for emergencies or Earth." he insisted smiling at her.

"Okay." she said bouncing a bit.

River did laugh, "So what's next on 'accents to mimic', American or Welsh?" she asked smiling as she remembered a teen version of the girl in front of her who could do both.

"Isn't it a bad idea to sound like Jack?" Amy giggled.

"Hey!" Jack griped sticking his tongue out at them.

* * *

><p>"We're sealed off," Tish observed as she tried to get through a corridor, "I can only get to three rooms. Someone want to explain to me the logic in her locking off every room bar a bathroom, the wardrobe and the garden? Speaking of, Arthur's eating the roses." she said shaking her head.<p>

"Again?" the Doctor groaned, "The TARDIS is preserving energy and has shut down most things to keep focused on the console. I'm guessing those rooms required the least amount of energy from her." he explained.

"Would this explain why I found the little animal's in their cages near the entry to the garden?" Tish asked staring at him.

"Emergency codes." the Doctor agreed, "If the TARDIS has to shut down the rooms she transfers all living things to the console room to protect them." he turned back to the project at hand, "Jack, I need you to grab that cord and unplug it." the Doctor told him, pointing through the glass floor to a long cord that was hanging underneath, hooked to the centre column.

"Is it going to kill me?" Jack asked, rolling up his sleeves and moving forward.

"Just don't let your wrist strap touch anything inside." River instructed, having taken her own off earlier and stuck it in her back pocket.

"Got it. Just like operation, right?" Jack joked, pushing the swing aside to look into the column. "Is that stuck in with duct tape?" he asked as he started to climb.

"I couldn't find my couplings." the Doctor said defensively.

"Right, this might take a bit of strength." Jack observed, "Rory, come play catcher if I fall." he said looking over towards Rory and shaking his head.

"Fine." Rory left Amy's side and went down the stairs to the underside of the console, standing with his feet braced behind Jack. "Ready." he said looking up at Jack.

Jack nodded and braced himself, reaching inside with both arms, trying hard not to let his left arm touch the sides as he grabbed hold of the cord. "Paper clips, really?" he asked.

"Lost the couplings!" the Doctor repeated.

Jack didn't bother to reply, instead focusing all his strength into pulling the cord loose. He pushed one boot against the column to give himself more force and slipped as the cord came loose, knocking his wrist strap against several things inside and flinging himself backwards into Rory. Jack hit Rory, Rory hit the ground, the cord's now exposed wires fell with them and landed on Jack's wrist strap sending the two boys disappearing in the now familiar light.

"JACK!"

"RORY!"

They didn't have time to yell as the TARDIS started shaking, the lights going out completely as steam shot from the now open console.

"Amy, watch out!" the Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the way as one of the console panels was flung open.

"I told him not to let that touch the insides." River said with a sigh from her seat on the floor of the console room. "Can I kick him when we get them back?" she asked.

"Get them back from where? Where have they gone?" Tish asked franticly.

"No idea." the Doctor helped River to her feet and looked around. "Couldn't have been far though. Not with the little power she had to do that with...I'm thinking early nineties at worst." the Doctor offered helpfully, or at least helpful in his opinion.

"That just sent them through time?" Tish asked, "why would the TARDIS do that?" she asked worriedly.

"Jack aggravates time sensitive beings, even those in the form of sentient space ships." River told her, "The time strap is what sends him through time and though it's locked it still can be annoying when it touches certain parts. She didn't mean to do it, it was instinct." she explained trying to calm Tish down.

"Think of it like being bit by some bug and absently kicking the bug away...but not. Not like that..." The Doctor said trying to explain and failing.

"Jack hurt the TARDIS, so she pushed him away." River tried to explain better, "I'm sure they're fine. We can contact them if they have their phones."she explained calmly.

"They never leave them behind...Amy?" the Doctor questioned. "Mine's in my coat...which is in the kitchen. Yours?" he asked Amelia hopefully.

"In my bag in my room." Amy offered.

"Future you stole it." River said, pointing at Amy who tried to look like she didn't want to laugh.

"Great, so we can't call anyone." the Doctor groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"Says who?" Tish asked.

"You can't have yours." the Doctor pointed out his logical deduction, "One, you don't have pockets, and two, those are Rory's pyjama bottoms." he squeaked.

"The fact that you know these are his disturbs me less than it should." Tish commented. She reached down the front of her shirt and produced her mobile, the one bought almost a year ago now.

The Doctor leaned forward on the balls of his feet and peeked curiously at her, "What else do you keep in there?" he asked with a tone of curiousness that none of the women liked.

River pulled him backwards by the back of his shirt, "Have you got their numbers programmed in?" she asked.

"Rory's is speed dial #2." Tish grinned.

"Only call Rory!" the Doctor told her quickly, "No other numbers." he insisted.

"Why?" Tish asked.

"Rory's time travelled, we can pick him up because it will call him relative to your own time stream but if you call someone like...Martha you might get told you've been gone three years or something like that and then we'll have to be gone that long. Remember the hospital!" He said firmly.

"Understood." Tish nodded as she dialled Rory.

* * *

><p>Rory and Jack had, apparently, landed somewhere 'urban' and 'full of hippies' according to a very annoyed Rory who was trying to hide the fact Jack was dead.<p>

_"How long are you guys going to take to get here?" _Rory asked plaintively, _"I didn't even like learning about this time period in class." _he grumbled._  
><em>

"He's a real stick in the mud, isn't he?" River laughed as Rory complained. "Tell him to just give in to the culture."

_"Tell her to bite me." _Rory said grumpily.

"Channeling Mels today, are we?" Tish teased, not really noticing the reaction from River.

_"Sometimes Mels has good ideas. So maybe it wasn't a good idea to drive a bus through the gardens, or to super glue Jeff to his seat, it probably wasn't too smart to drive her teacher's motorcycle through the school halls and it definitely wasn't a good idea to...wait, not proving my point, am I?"_ he said trailing away from his babble._  
><em>

"Not really." Amy giggled, "Remember when she poured glue in your hair?"

_"In her defence she was four and my hair was very girly."  
><em>

"Mels was my friend," Amy told River seriously, "I'm not allowed to see her now but she's still Rory's best friend!" Amy said nearly bouncing as she remembered.

"Oh?" River asked, trying to control her emotions better.

"Yeah." Amy nodded.

"Mels is a menace," Tish disagreed with a smile, "but she loves Rory so we'll let it slide." she said resigned missing the mild look of upset on River's face.

_"You guys better hurry and get here. I'm stranded with Captain Playboy in the era of free love."_ Rory told them.

"We'll be there!" the Doctor yelled from under the console where he was sitting in his swing, examining what needed done. "If we weren't going to be there we'd already have been there complaining that we weren't going to be there." he spouted not looking up.

_"Translation?" _Rory asked._  
><em>

"If we'd have been stuck here taking the slow path he'd already have shown up complaining that we had to take the slow path." River told him. "Since we're the only ones with a sulking Time Lord then it's safe to say we'll come get you." she said reassuringly.

_"So...I'm just going to chill here with Jack until you escape in your time line to grab me from where I am according to yours?" _Rory questioned.

"Basically, yes." River agreed as Tish sighed.

"I don't like this. Can't we just get him where he is? Don't answer that," Tish shook her head, "I know the answer."

_"I'm sure I'll survive. At least if anything goes wrong Jack's here...No one ever tell him I said that." _Rory said firmly.

* * *

><p><strong>1961, Eight months earlier<br>**

* * *

><p>"Damn it, you're heavy." Rory cursed as he tried to move Jack yet again. Tish says 'stay calm', River says 'we're coming', the Doctor...well, Rory hadn't quite understood him. How long was Jack going to stay out?<p>

"Need some help?" A woman's voice called out and Rory flinched, instinctively moving to hide Jack's body.

"No, I'm just...He's just had a spill, that's all." Rory said quickly. "He'll be fine." he continued hoping he sounded convincing.

The woman had long dark hair pulled back in a bun on the back of her head, dark eyes and pale skin. She was a few inches shorter than Rory, closer to Tish in height, and clad in a pair of wide legged blue jeans, dark green and white tennies and wore a dark brown leather jacket just slightly too big over a pink jumper. She looked far too sweet and innocent which mean he was either in trouble or the 60's weren't as bad as his step-father said.

"I know he'll be fine, Jack's always fine." She said, coming closer, "I swear that man could survive anything. How long's he been dead?" She asked Rory, accent thick but understandable.

"What? What do you-" he asked staring at her.

"C'mon, Rory," she sighed, "How long has Jack been out?" she said smiling.

"Half an hour, maybe." Rory said, "How do you know my name?" he questioned.

"We've met. Well, I've met you." She considered, "Seems you haven't met me yet. I'm Jenny, Jenny Flint." She offered him her hand.

"Rory Williams." He returned without thinking, shaking her hand. "Wait...Would you be the Jenny that 'had a mean right hook'?" he asked smirking at the memory of that conversation.

"Most likely." Jenny nodded, "So...Want to help me load him into my van? We'll get you two out of harms way till the Captain comes back around." she said guesturing towards the vw van parked nearby.

"How do I know I can trust you? Jack's...hurt." Rory said, carefully placing himself between Jenny and Jack, "I can't let anything happen to him, especially now." he said more to himself than to her.

"What do you want me to say?" Jenny asked, "I mean, I do know you, I've known you for years so let me prove I know you." she said nodding.

"I...I don't know..." Rory thought about it, unsure, "Girlfriend's name?" he said cautiously.

"Mine or yours?" Jenny returned with a grin then rolled her eyes when Rory's eyebrows shot up, "Letitia Jones, older sister to Martha Jones who's friends with our dearly depraved Captain Jack." Jenny looked to be in thought for a moment,"I don't know if this counts, but you did say once tell me 'trust me, the fate of the world might depend upon you know I've got a birthmark in the shape of a bow on my arse' and hugged me..." Jenny paused, "Have you got a bow shaped birthmark-" she continued curiously.

"Yes." Rory squeaked, looking down to make sure Jack was still out of it. "Okay, I trust you. Now what?" he asked.

"Now we load this lug," Jenny nudged Jack's boot with her shoe, "into the back of the van and head back to somewhere we won't get arrested on sight and have tea while waiting for him to revive. I might even have to paint him some since he's defenceless." she said with an evil grin.

* * *

><p>"Nice house." Rory said, toying with the brim of his teacup as he looked around the kitchen.<p>

"Thanks." Jenny smiled at him, moving around the kitchen before sitting back down with him, setting out a plate of biscuits.

It really was a beautiful house, ancient almost, a perfectly preserved piece of history in Rory's eyes. "Just...A bit amazing." Rory added, looking around the cosy kitchen. They'd left Jack laying on the sofa in the living room, though Jenny had assured him that Jack would find them easily. "Family home or did you just do a lot of restoration?" he asked.

"Neither, actually. It's just been ours a really long time." Jenny answered lightly, carefully sipping hot tea.

"What?" Rory asked

"Your Jack isn't the only one who's been around a while." Jenny offered with a smile.

"I...What? No, he's not my Jack." Rory said quickly, "Really not my Jack, he's Sarah Jane's Jack." Rory insisted.

"I heard something about that a while back, but never much explanation." Jenny told him, "I'm afraid we're not completely parallel and another version of him is out running around somewhere so it'd be dangerous if he started blabbing things as his future self; I could accidentally let something slip to his parallel self." she explained to him as simply as possible.

"I hate timey-wimey time travel." Rory complained, head resting on his palm. Something was bugging him, some bit of his memory trying to catch his attention but dancing just out of reach; something about Jenny that Jack had said.

"I know. It gets better over time." Jenny consoled him, hiding her smile behind her teacup.

A door slammed shut and she lit up, looking back towards the door to the hall. "Vastra's home."

'Vastra' the word repeated in Rory's head, echoing as finally the memory was brought forth and Jack's words rang in his head as his heart raced:

_"Jenny may have had a mean right hook but Vastra had poison and claws."_ Rory froze.

Vastra.

Silurians.

He shivered getting lost in his memories.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Okay, very short chapter. <em>Sorry. <em>My fault, got writer's block. _She was so excited about these chapters too._ I know, that's why it sucks. Hopefully more soon, well, as soon as I can manage. _Yup, soon as we can! _In the meantime...Any questions RE Jenny and Vastra will be cleared up in the next few chapters, promise! _Enjoy!_]**


	93. The Longest Eight Months Part Two

Dark, dark all around. All-encompassing darkness, crushing in on him yet not touching him, leaving him floating in a void. Voices, hisses, growling, gone...Pain.

Pain beyond all pain, his insides replaced by hot coal as something pulled him backwards and out through the darkness, intangible shards of broken glass slicing at his skin, yet leaving it unmarred, as Jack jolted back to life with a gasp.

He was laying on a couch in a very familiar living room. How was that possible?

He'd been in the TARDIS...America, 1913, how the hell could he be in London?

What the hell had happened?

Jack sat up, rubbing his hands over his face and hoping he wasn't missing any time and had just been part of a really weird space coincidence even as his thoughts continued running around his head.

There was a loud scream from the kitchen and he jolted to his feet, running without thinking as he recognized that as Rory. Not much could make that man yell, so something major had to be wrong.

He barreled into the kitchen and found Rory backed into a corner, staring at the two women in the room, face pale white with one hand clutched into a fist and the other protectively over the centre of his chest.

Jack barely paid any attention to the women beyond noting the extremely baffled look on both of their faces as he passed them to stand in front of Rory.

"Hey, look at me." Jack said, his voice commanding yet gentle as he stepped in front of Rory, blocking his view. "Rory, come on, look at me. Rory." He said firmly, looking the younger man in the eye.

"She's here." Rory said in a strained whisper, voice shaking. "How can she be here?" he asked shakily, verging on panic.

"It's not her." Jack told him, placing his left hand on Rory's right bicep and using his right hand to keep Rory from looking past him. "I promise you, Rory, that's not her. That's my friend, her name is Vastra and she likes humans. Vastra's not like her." He reassured.

"Looks..." Rory trailed off lost in memories.

"I know, it gave me a start when we were underground, trust me." Jack said soothingly; hand on the side or Rory's face brushing his hair lightly to bring the man back to the present. "Vastra's a good person." Jack moved his hand away from Rory's face and used it to tug Rory's hand away from his chest. "You're safe. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, promise." Jack swore, pulling Rory into a hug.

"I must say this is a fine greeting from a friend." Vastra remarked.

"He doesn't know us yet." Jenny responded quietly.

"You back with me now?" Jack asked after Rory relaxed.

"Yes. Sorry." Rory said, clearly embarrassed.

"Not the first panic attack I've seen and I'm sure it won't be the last." Jack told him but couldn't resist embarrassing him just a little more and pressed a kiss to Rory's forehead like a child before pulling back, "Vastra, Jenny, how lovely to see you! Did we crash land in your living room?" he asked them still holding on to Rory.

"No, you landed down town." Jenny understood Jack's change of subject and sat down at the table again, absently picking up her cooling tea and gesturing for Vastra to join them. "I came to pick you up." She said smiling at him.

"How did you know where we were?" Jack sat down across from Vastra, making Rory sit to his right side across from Jenny. The younger man was still shaking slightly and a bit paler than Jack would have liked, but his breathing had calmed down. Rory still wasn't completely fine, though, as Jack could easily tell just by the fact he still had Jack's right hand clutched in his left.

"The Doctor, of course." Jenny rolled her eyes.

"That man seems to think that being trapped back in time is a perfectly reasonable excuse to make us do his bidding." Vastra sighed, but a small smile showed as she tapped her fingers on the table, making sure not to stare at Rory though she wondered what was wrong with her friend.

"Well, to be fair, he didn't exactly have anyone else to call on given the time periods." Jenny smiled as Jack hid a laugh.

"Right, Rory, have you been able to contact the Doctor?" Jack questioned.

Rory took a deep breath, willing his voice not to shake, "Um...Tish called my phone earlier. I talked to the girls and the Doctor was yelling in the background." Rory responded pulling his phone from his pocket and clutching it.

"What'd they have to say?" Jack asked looking into Rory's eyes to stave off another panic attack.

"Tish said not to call anyone but her because the others phones are stolen or trapped in different TARDIS rooms and if we call anyone from our future we run the risk of being told we were gone for years and we don't want that to happen." Jack nodded in understanding as Rory spoke which gave him a bit more confidence, "I couldn't understand the Doctor but River translated it by saying if they weren't going to pick us up then the Doctor would have already been here complaining about 'the slow path'." He explained calming down more and more as he spoke.

"Smart." Jack nodded, "I hadn't thought of that. So, since we're running parallel to them time wise I'm assuming however long it takes them to set up and fix the TARDIS is how long we'll be waiting for them here. Am I right, ladies?" he asked flirtingly looking the two ladies over.

"What makes you think that we would know?" Vastra asked, looking amused and somewhat smug.

"Because they were trapped in 1913 and we're now..." Jack started.

"1961," Jenny supplied, "March, if you want to be specific." She offered helpfully

"That's...Crap." Jack winced, "I can't be in London in 1961 because I was already here!" he grumbled not letting his mind wander to where he exactly was in this time period.

"What about Tish? Amy, River, the Doctor? They're stuck in 1913 without help." Rory said quickly.

"Don't worry about them." Jenny told him, "They've already been helped." She said reassuringly.

"How do you know that? How can you know that?" Rory said getting panicked again.

"Because I've already helped them." Jenny smiled, "I told you, Rory, Jack's not the only one who's been around for a while." She said smirking.  
>"Speaking of." Jack said, eying the two with suspicion and something akin to annoyance. "Are you ever going to explain the whole aging thing?" he asked curiously.<p>

"We've already explained it to you in your future." Vastra said, "Why should we repeat ourselves?" she said in a bored tone as if explaining to a lesser life form.

"Come on, don't be mean. Give me a hint?" Jack whined._  
><em>

"Blame your niece." Jenny said smartly, looking sideways at Vastra.

"I don't have a niece." Jack protested.

"Hmm. Yet." Vastra's grin was very near predatory.

* * *

><p><em>Seven months ago, 1961<em>

* * *

><p>"I hate the sixties." Rory said, sitting in his chair in the corner of the room and watching the sunlight as it danced on the walls. "Really, I do." He said continuing to stare at the wall.<p>

Jack had managed, with some help from his friends and borrowed money, to get them a small flat. Jack said to 'stay incognito' so they were in a tiny flat with one combined living room / kitchen, a small bathroom and one cramped bedroom that Jack had told Rory to use. It wasn't as bad as his old flat, but it wasn't near as nice as Tish's. He was trying to overlook the ghastly green and orange stripped wallpaper, the appliances that his Grandfather had probably used and the weird yellow carpet in the bedroom. At least the main floor was all light wood.

_"Trade you." _Tish said dryly, _"I'm in 1913, hun, and I'm not exactly the acceptable gender or race." _she said sounding a bit upset._  
><em>

Rory winced, "Sorry, I hadn't thought..." he said truly apologetic.

_"It's fine." _Tish brushed him off, _"The Doctor's been working as hard as he can, River's already been fired from one job and Amy seems to think this is all way too much fun." _she continued her voice sounding resigned yet hopeful._  
><em>

"Yeah? At least she-" Rory cut himself off when the door was flung open and Jack entered, laughing hard and followed by Vastra who was currently in her shimmer, both covered in some sort of green goo.

That bit had taken a bit of adjusting to. Apparently where Perception filters kept you from noticing things, shimmers changed what you looked like in something akin to a cloaking device. He'd also learned that they were very uncomfortable to use.

But while in use Vastra could walk around in public and no one would look twice because to anyone who looked she was human. A woman of average height with pale white skin, bright blue eyes and dark black hair. She honestly looked a little like Jack's sister or another close relative, much to her annoyance when Jack had pointed that one out. When Rory had freaked out she'd later offered to remain in it till he adjusted but he'd turned her down; what better way to get over a fear than to constantly expose yourself to it.

"Oi! What are you doing? You're dripping gunk all over my clean floors." Rory protested, tilting the phone so the mic was away from his mouth. "Don't you have your own house to muck up?" He made a face when Vastra flung some of the goo off her hands and pulled off the watch that projected the shimmer, turning her back to normal.

"Jenny already told us we weren't going into her clean house while like this." Jack told him, releasing his suspenders and unbuttoning his shirt, "You can take the shower, Vastra, I'll clean up at the sink." He said pointing the way to the small bathroom.

"Wait, so Jenny's scarier than I am?" Rory demanded.

"Yes." Both Jack and Vastra answered without hesitation.

"You sound like my second wife, Rory." Jack teased, heading to the sink and flipping on the water.

"I do not sound like a wife!" Rory yelled indignantly.

_"You kind of do, sweetheart." _Tish said with amusement. _"Tell Jack 'hi' from us. I've got to go, the Doctor's cursing about something and I'm relatively certain it's not good. Love you."  
><em>

"Love you too." Rory replied, ending the call and tucking his phone away. "Do I want to know what you two were up to?" He asked resigned looking at dripping man in front of him.

"Eh, just a few Slitheen." Jack told him, ducking his head under the tap to rinse off his hair, "No big deal." He insisted.

"You're getting the floor soaked." Rory complained, sitting on one of the stools at the counter so he could watch Jack and figure out what had gone on.

"We have a mop." Jack replied, "Toss me a flannel?" he said as he took his shirt off and turned the water on.

Rory hopped down and grabbed one from the basket of still unfolded laundry and chucked it to Jack, "I think we need to institute a new rule." Rory decided when Jack kicked his boots off and stripped his trousers off, leaving him in his socks and pants in the kitchen.

"What's that?" Jack asked, dunking the flannel under the running tap and using it to clean off what goo had made it under his clothes.

"Pants must be worn in the kitchen at all times. Preferably trousers of some sort as well." Rory said dully, making Jack laugh.

"Hey, next time we'll take you Slitheen hunting and we'll see how you like being covered in vinegar smelling gunk." He grumbled playfully.

"No thanks, I'd rather stay back and play gin with Jenny." Apparently Jenny had been smart enough to stay away from the Slitheen, maybe Rory would have to make a list of things she thought was better to fob off on Jack and listen to it.

"Suit yourself." Jack shrugged, rinsing the flannel and flipping off the tap. HE shook his head, sending water everywhere even as Rory squeaked in protest and covered his face. "Have we got any clean towels?" he questioned.

"You're an animal, Harkness." Rory muttered, grabbing one from the basket.

"So everyone tells me." Jack replied with a smirk when Rory made a disgusted noise.

* * *

><p><em>Six months ago, 1961<em>

* * *

><p>"No, absolutely not." Jack ordered as he sat, sprawled back on the sofa. "You're not getting a job."<p>

"We need money," Rory said, urging Jack to understand. "We can't just keep mooching off of Vastra and Jenny for however long we'll be here and you can't work because you're already in London!" he argued.

Jack growled and sat up, "You're not getting a job here." He yelled firmly.

"But I have skills, I could find a job just about anywhere that's menial-" Rory continued not seeing why he couldn't help.

"I'm not letting you waste your medical skills in some fucking **shop**!" Jack spat the word like poison, standing from his spot and storming towards the door, snagging his new coat from the hook beside it. He'd cursed up a storm when he'd realized he'd left his coat in the TARDIS and had contented himself with an older dark grey work coat like what was used by construction workers that he'd picked up for cheap.

"Where are you going?" Rory demanded, leaving the kitchen where he'd been leaning on the counter to follow.

"I'm going to find a damn job." Jack zipped up his coat and opened the door, "I won't have anyone say I can't take care of you." He grumbled angrily.

"I don't need you to take care-of me." Rory finished lamely when Jack slammed the door shut. "Brilliant. Just...brilliant." He sat down on the couch in Jack's now vacated spot and covered his face with his hands in an effort to keep from yelling. How'd asking what Jack thought about him getting a job end up with Jack yelling?

Two months alone with him and he'd still yet to figure Jack out completely. He doubted he ever would.

* * *

><p>Jack hated the lack of opportunities when stuck in the past. Normally he'd be fine, well off and everything, but another version of him was running around in London in 1961 and would be in London till 1963 when...Bad thought process, Jack decided.<p>

He didn't do well when it came to dwelling on memories, but with each day that passed he was more and more inclined to take that trip across town to go see his one year old son who'd leave his life in two years; more desire built to go find that little sweet shop his eldest surviving son ran, his son that was currently in the prime of his life and not fighting dementia. But he couldn't do any of that, all he could do was take care of Rory and he was even failing at that.

He walked down the street, hands tucked into his pockets, lost in thought. He had more than enough varied skills to find some low-key job somewhere that would support them till the Doctor could come for them.

"Stupid bloody machine!" Jack heard a man yell angrily followed by the sound of metal being kicked.

Jack looked up and saw a man furiously waving smoke away from the engine of an older looking car in front of one of the other homes. "Need some help?" Jack offered, walking over to look at the engine.

"I can't figure out what's wrong with it." the man growled in annoyance and looked like he wanted to kick the machine. "Stupid...I'm not a mechanic and taking it to one is like theft. They want £10 to diagnose and fix it!" the man continued.

"Yeah, Mechanics can..." Jack trailed off as a thought hit him. He could fix cars. Older ones, at least, the ones that had yet to be filled full of electronic pieces that just worked to confuse the owner. This had to be a sign of some sort! Jack grinned, and nodded towards the car, "I'd do it for £5." He said smiling brightly.

"You a mechanic?" the man asked, sizing Jack up.

"Home taught but I'm just as good." Jack shrugged, hands still in his pockets.

"Okay," the man nodded and held out his hand, "You've got a deal. Mr...?" the man trailed off looking at him curiously.

"Jones-Smith." Jack said with a smile, shaking the offered hand. Harkness was already in use and this way he could needle Rory, "Jack." He said smiling.

"David Collins." the man replied.

* * *

><p>Rory looked up from his work and quickly stuffed his crochet project down into the couch cushions when Jack entered the flat again, this time with paper bags full of something in his arms.<p>

"What's all that? You've been gone all day!" Rory said with annoyance.

"Supplies." Jack said happily, setting the bags on the ground and unloading them.

Rory spotted more tools than he could use and looked on with concern, "What are these 'supplies' for?" Rory questioned almost nervously.

"New job." Jack pulled out a tool belt and looked at it fondly before setting it aside and pulling out a small plastic tool box. "Just accidentally made a name for myself as a mechanic that'll work for cheap. It's off the radar, as far as jobs go and well paying too." Jack said happily, munching on a carrot.

"How did you manage that?" Rory asked, absently picking up what looked like a tiny screwdriver.

"Guy a few blocks down's car broke down. I charged half of what the mechanics wanted, he's spread the word and there's already an older lady wanting to know if I know how to fix her car in time for church." He said smirking.

"Good for you." Rory said, not in the least sarcastic.

"Thanks. Okay, done this, I've still got enough left over...Let's go out for dinner. I'm not cooking in there and you tend to leave the stove on." Jack decided, standing up from the floor.

"I hate gas stoves." Rory whined, "They're evil. I swear they're out to get me." He said quietly.

* * *

><p>The diner was a tiny place, tucked between a toy store and grocers. It would be completely unremarkable if it weren't the only eatery within walking distance, they should really have avoided it, but even they got tired of their attempts at cooking.<p>

Sure Rory had lived alone and could cook, if only by necessity, but the gas stove got to him, and his job as a nurse and school left very little money to cook anything that wasn't easy, quick, and cheap. Most of the time he had lived on ramen and sandwiches.

Jack was worse. Despite how long he'd been around, he had never really had an inclination to truly cook. Living mostly on the ease of takeout.

They ate quickly, not realizing how hungry they were until they saw the food in front of them. After ten minutes of eating they slowed, both getting and Rory looked at Jack.

"I just realized, My Dad is just a kid right now, and mum's not even born. Nana and Granddad are just barely older than Tish and raising three boys." He started hoping to start a conversation.

"Your dad was robbing the cradle there wasn't he?" Jack smirked.

"Yeah...Yeah...What about you, what're you up to at this point." Rory asked curiously.

Jack paused, thinking of his sons, the oldest of the two living happily free of the mental degeneration that would start to overtake him. The youngest barely a year, who still idolized his Papa and whose Mum was starting to plot to run away, and poison his mind against his beloved Papa. "I…I'm around. This is good food, we should do this regularly." He said trying to change the subject.

"Yes, definitely better than my attempts at cooking." Rory stole the tomatoes Jack had tossed aside off of his sandwich and stuck them on his burger, even as

Jack shook his head and muttered something about 'veggies'. "That stove is just...I hate it." He mumbled.

"Your fault. Haven't you ever used a gas stove?" Jack asked, mouth full of chips.

"Once. My Nana had one...It's not a pleasant story." Rory blushed.

"What'd you do?" Jack asked curious.

"Left the gas on by accident when I was little. I nearly killed my Grandad." Rory sunk down in his seat as Jack laughed, "We had to stand out in the snow for a little while and the fire chief gave me a lecture." He whined.

"Oh, God." Jack coughed to stop the laughter, "You're not allowed to use our stove ever again." He teased half serious.

"I was five! And there were chocolate chip biscuits to be had." Rory whined lightly.

They went silent again for a few moments before Rory tried again, "Are you going to yell at me again if I ask you why you don't want me working in a shop?" he asked tentatively looking down at his plate.

Jack sighed and took a large drink from his milkshake, just watching Rory for a moment. Finally he set it down and looked down. "This isn't the first time the Doctor has gotten trapped in the past." He replied evenly.

"I know." Rory nodded, "Tish said Martha was stuck in 1913 and 1969 before and Sarah Jane told me about World War one..." he started, still not understanding.

"Did Tish tell you what Martha did when they were stuck in the past?" Jack asked.

"Well...She said in 1913 she had to act as a maid but...no, not really." Rory shook his head in the negative. "Why?" he questioned.

"Martha spent a couple months in 1969 working in a record shop to pay their bills as the Doctor tried to find them a way home. Years of training to be a Doctor, she was a resident at the time even and yet she was stuck selling records." Jack tapped his fingers on his plate absently, "I'm not going to be like that. It's my fault we're here so I'm going to take care of it, understood?" Jack said evenly looking into Rory's eyes.

"Okay." Rory said, genuinely understanding Jack's anxiety. "You know, I have worked in a shop before." He stated understanding but not really seeing the issue.

"When?" Jack asked a little upset at the thought.

"From age fourteen till age seventeen. I worked at a Golf course shop selling golf things and snacks. Mels and I made quite the team the last year I was there. She started that last year, actually, and ended...well, ended up getting fired and getting put on probation." Rory admitted with a embarrassed smile, "She took a putter to the owners legs after he um...propositioned me." Rory looked away, red creeping up his neck again.

"Remind me to keep my hands to myself around this Mels girl." Jack laughed.

* * *

><p><em>Five months ago,1961<em>

* * *

><p>"I need the big wrench," Jack called from under the truck he was fixing. He'd given up teaching Rory the proper name for any tools about two weeks into his job and was going solely by descriptors any more. He'd even wrapped different coloured tape around some of the handles for when he absolutely needed help.<p>

"The one with the green tape or the blue tape?" Rory questioned, looking into the box.

"Green." Jack stated.

Rory dug into the box and produced the right wrench, crouching to hand it to Jack as he lay underneath,, "There." Rory said watching.

"Thank you!" Jack said continuing to work.

"How long is he going to be under there for?" came a voice from the doorway that made Rory jump.

"Vastra! Didn't hear you come up." He said surprised.

"I'm good at sneaking." Vastra said dryly. "How much longer?" she asked in her normal bored tone.

Rory yelped in response, jumping and turning around to give Jenny, who had snuck up behind him and grabbed his sides, as evil a glare as he could manage.

"I'll be about two more minutes," Jack called out through the engine, "What's up?" he asked.

"Wh-what are you wearing?" Rory asked in outrage, finally noticing Jenny's outfit.

Far from the trousers and t-shirts he normally saw her in, this time she was in a pale pink blouse and a white skirt so short it was practically indecent!

"Trust me, it's not my choice of outfit either." Jenny muttered darkly, arms crossed over her chest.

"Hold up, move, Rory." Jack called from under the truck. He slid out on the dolly and eyed Jenny before Vastra kicked the dolly and he took the point, sitting upright. "What's wrong with her outfit?" Jack questioned Rory.

"It's...It's a mini-skirt." Rory hissed, looking around to make sure no one was listening, or maybe to see if anyone else saw Jenny but no one seemed to be paying attention. "It's practically...no, it is indecent. It's..." Rory flushed red and stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets, hunching his shoulders as he trailed off.

Jack looked at Rory incredulously and wiped his oil coated hands on his jean trousers, "We live in an era of booty shorts and g-strings yet a mini-skirt is what trips you up?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Do I want to know what those are?" Vastra asked.

"No!" Rory said quickly. "And yes, Jack, they're...wrong." he said grumbling.

"I personally am a great fan of mini-skirts." Jack stood up and flipped the dolly over so he wouldn't trip. "Always have been." Jack smirked and took a step away from Rory to lean against the front of the truck, "God, you should have seen Sarah Jane in the 70's and 80's, she loved mini-skirts too." He barely dodged the smack Rory aimed his direction. "Jenny, think you could change to keep our boy from going comatose or bursting into flames from embarrassment?" he said shaking his head at his friend.

"I don't have anything here." Jenny tried hard not to laugh at Rory's obvious embarrassment.

"M-my stuff should fit you." Rory said, looking at his feet and holding out his keys. "You can grab something from those if you want." He offered avoiding his eyes.

"I'd protest how much this embarrasses him by complaining about not being attractive," Jenny said, watching Rory squirm even as she took his keys, "But I hate this outfit as much as he does." She said smiling.

"But you look so good in it!" Jack called after her when she walked away and up the steps to the building their flat was in.

Vastra's hiss, while not quite as threatening when in her shimmer, still came across quite clear.

"So, what brings you two around?" Jack asked, closing the hood of the truck, "Rory, hop in and turn the keys, would you?" he said tossing the keys to Rory who caught them and got in the car.

"We have need a distraction." Vastra stepped aside, eying the newly fixed truck with some distrust.

"Hey, only one part has exploded." Jack said, crossing his arms, "No need to be so wary." He stated calmly.

"We need someone to distract guards and guests so we can get to the information we need on the whereabouts of a not so friendly alien who seems to think he can invade without protest from locals." Vastra continued, rolling her eyes when the truck started without a hitch.

"Great!" Jack indicated for Rory to exit the truck again. "So...Where are we distracting people? Bank, police station, post office?" he questioned.

"A Gentelmen's club." Vastra corrected, unable to hide the grin that matched Jack's. "I trust you know some way to create a good distraction." She stated staring at him.

"Oh, this is going to be fun!" Jack declared, even as Rory groaned.

* * *

><p><em>Four months ago, 1961<em>

* * *

><p>"I just don't get why the neighbours give us such weird looks." Rory complained quietly as he pushed the cart through the aisle, letting Jack fill it with various food items they needed.<p>

"You haven't figured that one out yet?" Jack asked, examining a box of cereal before placing it into the cart and making a note on his list.

Rory decided not to comment on the sugar content of that particular cereal."No! You know what it is?" he asked curiously.

"Yes. I've known since the first time Mrs. James across the street shot me a nasty look." Jack absently placed his hand on Rory's lower back, moving the man so he could reach something on the other side of the aisle.

"Are you going to tell me what it is we've done wrong?" Rory moved out of the way and watched Jack.

"Nope. I'm going to let you figure that one out on your own." Jack grinned, tossing a carton of oatmeal into the cart and moving ahead, leaving Rory to follow.

* * *

><p>"Is it the accent?" Rory questioned. "Your being American, I mean." He asked, continuing one of several questions he had tried so far.<p>

"Nope." Jack replied cheerfully, grabbing several packages of bacon to add.

Rory sighed but didn't comment on the man's near addiction to the salty meat, "Okay, it can't be my heritage, they don't know the Welsh thing." He said trying to work it out.

"Not that either." Jack's smirk was growing as they played their little game. He was more than aware of the reasons that a lot of people around their flat glared at them, even at the local shops. There were others still that didn't care at all and a few that smiled at them in a 'aren't you cute' manner often reserved for small children covered in something sticky or little animals begging for treats.

"Is it the girls visiting?" Rory asked.

"Close, but no cigar, Mr. Williams." Jack teased.

* * *

><p>"Okay, it must be the hair." Rory said, coming to no better conclusion after ages of thinking it over. "I haven't cut it so it's starting to get shaggy." He said self consciously.<p>

"Sorry, but no." Jack said, placing things for the cashier to ring up and eying the impulse sweets.

"Is it the amount of junk we buy?" Rory asked, nudging the big bag of crisps.

"Nope." Jack said, still cheerful.

Rory shook his head, "I have no idea." He said befuddled.

"Do you have my wallet or do I ?" Jack asked, hands full.

Rory checked his pockets automatically then frowned, "Why would I have it? And no, I don't." he cursed.

"Wrong trousers?" Jack asked, watching the cashier and bagger out of the corner of his eye and nearly laughing when the bagger flinched. "Never mind, I've got it." He said teasingly.

* * *

><p>"Please, just tell me already." Rory gave in finally as they walked home, carrying their bags. "What's so horrible about us?" he pleaded.<p>

"You really want to know?" Jack asked, shifting his bags from both arms to one to free up his left arm.

"Yes!" Rory nearly yelled

"Well, honey bunny, it's like this," Jack said, slinging his left arm over Rory's shoulders and drawing him close as they hit their street corner. "There are two men with different last names who are unafraid of randomly showing affection living in a one room flat together...alone." Jack stressed the last word and couldn't hide the grin that started when understanding dawned on Rory and slowly a look of horror spread across his face.

"They think we...? They—We're?" Rory stuttered.

"Yup." Jack laughed, "I haven't figured out who they think is -" he started smirking when he saw his friend blush.

"I don't want to hear this!" Rory said loudly, trying to block Jack out even though he couldn't plug his ears. "This isn't good. This isn't cool, this is...wrong! So, so wrong!" he continued babbling.

"What's wrong?" Jenny asked from her spot on their steps where she sat waiting on one of the lower steps, back resting against Vastra's legs where she sat a few steps above her.

Jack waved in greeting and just waited for Rory.

"The neighbours," Rory hissed, "They think...They think we're...gay." Rory said quietly, eyes darting around the neighbourhood to make sure no one would hear him.

"What's wrong with being gay?" Jenny demanded, arms crossed over her chest as she narrowed her eyes at Rory.

"N-n-nothing!" Rory stumbled over his words due to the haste he tried to get them out with, "Nothing at all but I'm...I'm NOT. I've got Tish and and...I could do better than him." Rory said, jerking his head to indicate Jack. "So much." He pouted.

"Please, I'm perfection." Jack scoffed.

* * *

><p><em>"And then the boys were talking about war and I said that my Uncle Jack-"<em> Amy's voice trailed off and Jack felt his stomach clench. _"Um, I mean...Jack?" _she said a bit sadly.

"Yeah, kiddo?" Jack asked, not sure where she was heading. He looked towards the main part of the room where Vastra and Jenny sat pretending they weren't listening to him as Rory stocked their shopping away. Once everything was put away Jack was going to undo Rory's work to cook dinner for everyone then they were going out to some theatre thing that Vastra promised he wouldn't find himself at.

_"I didn't lie to them, not really...Could...Could I maybe call you 'Uncle Jack'?"_ Amy asked hesitantly,_ "I never have had a real uncle...not one that stayed around, I mean."_ She pleaded.

"I would be thrilled to be your 'Uncle Jack'," Jack said, a giant grin in place as he leaned back against the wall, "I've never really had a niece before-" as he said the words something that had been said before hit him and he turned to look at the now laughing women incredulously.

Jenny just smiled and waved in reply.

_"Great! That means I've got two new family members."_ Amy said eagerly, "I can't call Rory 'Uncle Rory' though, because that would make him less special than he is now and Tish can't be 'Aunt Tish' because then she wouldn't be Tish!"

"I've been around you guys too long if that sentence made sense to me." Jack said, hand over his eyes as he pointedly ignored Vastra.

* * *

><p><em>Three months ago, 1961<em>

* * *

><p>"You got a job?" Jack questioned Rory. "Doing what? Why'd you get a job? I'm providing just fine!" he yelled angrily causing Rory to wince.<p>

"I don't want to talk about it." He muttered, sitting down on the sofa and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh, God." Jack set aside the lawnmower bladed he'd been sharpening in the centre of the hardwood floors and walked over to Rory. He placed his hands on Rory's biceps, not caring about the greasy hand prints he left behind. "Rory, tell me honestly, have you become a lady of the evening?" he asked seriously.

"What? No!" Rory jolted away from Jack and made a face, "'Lady of the evening?'" he questioned making a face of disgust.

"What? It sounded better than asking if you were a-" Jack trailed off.

"I know what you substituted for." Rory said quickly, "I just meant...That's your go to scenario?" he yelled.

"Well, no...Actually my normal scenario is 'joined a strip club' but we're in the wrong time period for that to work for you." Jack admitted, "So...Why did you get a job and what are you doing?" he asked resigned.

"Long story, don't want to talk about it and..." Rory took a deep breath and averted his eyes, "I'm a nanny." He admitted.

To Jack's credit it took a full thirty seconds before he burst into laughter.

* * *

><p><em>Two months ago, 1961<em>

* * *

><p>"Sorry, Sarah, my flat is atrocious." Rory said to the little girl beside him, nudging a pile of questionable clothing aside with his foot and closing the door behind him. "See, it's Jack's turn to do the laundry and somehow he magically forgot and decided to go join the circus instead." He explained smiling at her cheerfully.<p>

Being a nanny was an odd enough job, one he knew he could do fine thanks to months with Amy and Tish, but being a nanny to Sarah Jane Smith? Now that was new.

He was constantly surprised by the ten year old with long brown hair and big eyes who questioned everything around her. Part of the reason that Ms. Smith had hired him was because he had medical training and apparently her niece was prone to 'accidents' after wandering off, as proof she offered Sarah Jane's currently broken arm in a cast and sling apparently gained when a tree climbing adventure went wrong.

"Is the circus fun?" Sarah asked, looking around curiously

"Yes and no." Rory offered, "There are animals and acrobats and lots of fun things, but there are also idiots in tight trousers throwing knives at each other." He continued half seriously.

"Which is your friend?" She looked away when Rory spotted more laundry and chucked it into the larger pile, ignoring the pair of lime green pants on top.

"He's the idiot in tight trousers chasing after a lizard he claims stole his routine." Rory said dryly to make her laugh. "So, what should we do for lunch? It has to be cold, Jack doesn't like me using the stove." He said eying the appliance distrustfully.

"Why?" little Sarah asked looking up at her nanny.

"He claims I'll burn the flat down." Rory sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes.

"I know how to use it!" Sarah proclaimed, "I can show you." She said a big grin forming on her face.

* * *

><p>Jack threw open the door to the flat and choked on the smoke that filled it, "RORY!" He yelled, looking around and spotting a little girl sitting on the window sill that led to the fire escape, all the other windows open. "What the fu—hell did you do?" he said modifying his language.<p>

"Sorry, Jack!" Rory coughed and Jack followed to find him in the kitchen, holding a smoking pan. "We tried to make cheese toasties." He said guiltily.

"Why?" Jack covered his mouth against the smoke and took the pan from Rory, moving to put it out on the fire escape. "You're not supposed to use the stove, you don't know how!" he yelled exasperated.

"Sarah said she'd show me." Rory said, well aware of how stupid that sounded.

"Oh, it's Sarah's fault, is it?" Jack looked down at the child who was trying to look contrite, "Missy Sarah, did you set cheese on fire?" he asked staring at the little girl.

"No...But I did help." She offered.

"I'm now seeing why your Aunt thinks you're accident prone." Jack said dryly.

* * *

><p>"There we are," Jack sat down two plates on the table, avoiding the mess the two had created while making things with beads and yarn. "Two proper sandwiches, not charred beyond belief." He said pushing the plates closer to them.<p>

"Mmm," Rory popped a crisp into his mouth from his plate, ignoring the far too hot cheese and bread for the moment, "Thanks!" he said his mouth full of food.

"Thank you! I'll learn to make them properly one day." Sarah told Jack. "Then I won't have to have anyone cook for me." The ten year old said cheerfully taking a big bite and smiling at Jack.

Jack somehow managed to keep from laughing out loud, nodding instead, "I'm sure you'll be a incredible chef." _'That is we're all incredulous that you haven't burnt your house down yet.'_

* * *

><p><em>One month ago, 1961<em>

* * *

><p><em>"Listen, things are getting worse."<em> Tish said urgently over the mobile, _"Amy's getting sick and we don't have what we need to make her better."_ She said worriedly.

"So what's the plan?" Jack asked concern in his voice.

_"The Doctor thinks he can get us forward, but he's not sure he can get us anywhere off planet. They're still figuring it out, but if things keep up the way they are..."_ Tish trailed off and cleared her throat before speaking again. "J_ust, keep an eye out for us. Stay close to home and be prepared to run at a moment's notice."_ Tish repeated her voice shaking a bit.

"I'll keep our bags packed." Jack promised, "I'll tell Rory too. He's been...working, but I'm sure he can do his job from home if he has to keep doing it." He said hoping to at least calm her worries.

_"Is anyone ever going to explain to me what his job is?"_ Tish asked.

"Well..." Jack peered out the window at the street where Rory was playing with Sarah, "Let's just say it's easier to explain in person. I'm going to murder your boyfriend, by the way." Jack told her evenly, hoping to lighten her mood a little.

_"Oh? Why's that?"_ Tish asked.

"He keeps trying to use the stove, despite knowing that it's dangerous and a bad idea – I think he does it to annoy me, really, –, leaves wet things over the heater to dry and leaves candles going when he leaves the flat!" Jack sounded as outraged as he could. None of those things had been bad so far, bar a few incidents with the stove and the heater thing had only been once, but if it cheered Tish up. "That boy is a walking fire hazard." Jack grumbled.

_"Keep a fire extinguisher on hand."_ Tish laughed,_ "Can't be worse than the Doctor. You don't want to know what he did to our last flat."_ She said her voice a little lighter.

* * *

><p><em>Now, 1961<em>

* * *

><p>Hot...It was hot, too hot and stifling. Something thick and heavy pressing all around and he couldn't breathe. Rory opened his eyes and found nothing but smoke enveloping his room. He rolled out of bed, hitting the floor with a thump and tried to remember his fire training as a little kid.<p>

Stay low to the ground, avoid the smoke...Well, that was nearly impossible with the smoke as thick as it was.

He choked on it as he made his way slowly to the door, reaching up and pressing the back of his hand against the door to feel for heat.

It wasn't as hot as he figured it would have to be to be horribly dangerous but he still grabbed a shirt off of the floor to use to turn the handle and open the door.

More smoke poured in when he did so and he lost the ability to see as his eyes started watering in defense. Too hot out in the main room.

"Jack!" he yelled, but it came out as more of a harsh croak. "Jack!" he tried again.

Rory choked as he crawled across the floor, eyes searching for Jack. The door was on fire, there were flames licking at the floor all around the entry way and they were already consuming most of the kitchen.

His vision was starting to fail him, his lungs were burning beyond belief and he found himself collapsing in the middle of the main room.

* * *

><p>Jack whistled cheerfully as he walked down the street. The night air was cooling, yet brisk. Halloween! God, he loved Halloween. Apparently the girls and aliens agreed because tonight had been spectacular!<p>

Three shape shifting aliens, two miniature-invasions and one hell of a slap for being 'lewd'...Overall, not a bad night.

Rory had elected to stay behind and hang out with Sarah – that still tripped him up, even after three months to get used to it – and consume massive amounts of chocolate while playing board games until Lavinia picked her up, leaving Jack to go with Vastra and Jenny. So he'd stayed out just a little late, well, till one am, but Rory was probably sleeping anyway so there was no harm in that!

They were two blocks away when the scent of smoke hit them hard.

"Must be hooligans having a laugh." Jenny offered, looking around in the darkness.

"Must be." Vastra agreed, but stepped closer to Jenny protectively all the same.

It was when they were a block away that they spotted the smoke and the flames.

"Rory!" Jack yelled. He tried to run forward but Vastra held him back, "What are you doing, I have to help him!" he yelled panicking.

"You get Rory," Vastra told him simply, "We'll alert the others. Stay safe." She insisted putting her hand on his.

"Right." Jack nodded, moving out of her grasp and running to the building, leaving them behind.

The front door was out, too much risk give the flames so he elected instead to go the 'express route'. He jogged along to the side of the building and leapt up to grab the fire ladder, pulling himself up and climbing onto the platform. "Second floor." He muttered to himself as he scaled the next ladder, "We couldn't live on ground floor." He mumbled as he climbed.

The window was shut and Jack couldn't make out anything through it beyond dark thick smoke. It was also stuck tight.

"Fuck!" Jack screamed in frustration. He reached towards his holster and pulled out his revolver. It was simpler than using his fists or boot, all he had to do was angle right so as not to hit anything in the room.

He pulled his coat off and moved it in front to shield himself and took aim. A loud crack shook the still night air and a hole appeared in the window, cracks reaching out from it and shards flying.

He ignored the shards that struck his hand and instead covered his shoulder with his coat and shoved it into the window repeatedly, busting it open.

Jack tried to ignore the jagged glass that bit at his skin as he climbed through the broken window but it was hard to do so. He could feel the blood running through his clothing from all the various wounds and was well aware he'd probably hit something nearing 'bad', but that wasn't his main concern. The main pressing thought was to find Rory.

Jack dropped to the ground to avoid the smoke and cursed when the glass bit in to his palm. "RORY!" he roared, trying to catch his friend's attention. "RORY WILLIAMS!" He coughed back smoke and crawled forward across the hot floor, willing his slowly unfocusing eyes to find the man.

With luck he managed to spot him through the thick smoke, lying on the ground in the centre of the room.

"Rory!" Jack choked as he made his way to Rory's side, "Hey, Rory." He reached out and touched the side of Rory's neck, feeling for a pulse with hands he knew were far too wet to be just sweat.

A pulse, faint, but there!

"Hey, buddy, we've got...we've got to get out of here." Jack said, head falling as his eyes started drooping. Blood loss...Not a good time for that stupidity, but at least it was something he'd come back from quickly if experience was right.

"The girls...They're help..helpin-." Jack groaned, he knew he was fading too quickly.

He'd never burned alive before and he didn't want that to happen. More than that he didn't want Rory to get hurt.

The building was groaning around him and a loud noise like a tree falling came echoing through the flat.

Jack reached out and grabbed Rory's hand in his just as he lost his own battle with consciousness. 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: One, HOLY CRAP WE'RE LATE! And two, we are horrible and mean. <em>We really are. It is the 'end of the world' supposedly. <em>My only regret is not blasting 'It's the final countdown' to the neighbors. _ I'm now off for two weeks and it's almost CHRISTMAS! _She thinks that means she's relaxing. In reality it means I'm going to be pestering her to write more and finished the one-shots she's in charge of. _Yeah, yeah, I know._ For any who didn't notice - because I've been reminded I didn't AN it - we posted a one-shot on Jack and Sarah Jane, as promised. _I'd say 'enjoy' but somehow that doesn't seem right for this chapter..._]**


	94. The Longest Eight Months Part Three

****_1913, 8 months earlier_**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Amy's feet pounded the dirt and stone of the walkways as she ran, wind blowing the hair that hadn't been caught by her cap and the chill of the air nipping at her skin.<p>

They'd already been here a day and nothing had happened bar Jack and Rory being sent back so while the Doctor took Tish to go scrounge up food and parts for the TARDIS – much to the woman's annoyance – River had volunteered to 'keep Amy busy'. Frankly, Amy thought it was just an excuse for River to run around like a child as well, but playing chase was fun.

River won more than Amy though and Amy was beginning to suspect that she might be cheating.

With thoughts of finding a hiding place in mind she rounded the corner, ducking around a building and ran straight into someone, sending them both to the ground.

"Oh, sorry!" Amy quickly disentangled herself from the woman, rolling to the side and onto the dirt before climbing to her feet.

"It's alright, love." the woman sat up easily, trying not to laugh at Amy's horrified expression.

She was obviously from this time period, Amy decided, dressed perfectly in a way that signified she was of the upper-class, but a 'local'. Her accent, however, did not match the locals.

"Hah, Amy, I—" River's voice trailed off as she spotted Amy and the woman. "J-Jenny?" she stuttered trailing off.

"Ah, River." Jenny held a hand up and laughed when River quickly pulled her to her feet. "High energy day?" Jenny asked, indicating Amy as she dusted her clothing off.

"No." River said quickly then shook her head, "No energy, I mean, just...Keeping occupied...Why...Why are you in America?" River's voice was far too tentative for Amy's liking; River was a lot of things, but tentative was NOT one of them.

"River?" Amy's voice was questioning and quiet as she slipped her right hand into River's left and stepped close to her side.

"'River'?" Jenny questioned, looking surprised.

"Yes." River bit her lip and nodded once, jerkily. Jenny smiled lightly in reply, hands clasped in front of her, holding her newly recovered bag.

Amy was certain something significant had just passed between the two, but couldn't begin to fathom what it might have been. "River, who is she?" she asked quietly.

"Amy," River said softly, tugging the little girl to stand in front of her, one hand resting on Amy's shoulder, "This is Jenny Flint. She's a very old and very good friend of mine." River's voice held emotion that Amy couldn't understand, "Jenny, this is Amy Pond." River stated hearing Amy gasp at the sound of her real name.

"River." Amy hissed quietly, eyes wide at the prospect that River might get in trouble because of her name, "I'm not supposed to be 'Pond'." She insisted tugging on River's arm.

"That's okay, dear," Jenny told her quickly, "I already knew that." She responded calmly smiling down at the young girl.

"How?" Amy looked back towards Jenny in surprise, "How could you know my name?" Amelia continued looking cautiously at the new person.

"Same way I know that your Dad has the strangest taste imaginable and that your nanny thinks coffee needs to be far too strong." Jenny's eyes nearly twinkled as she smiled at Amy.

"Stalking?" Amy suggested, hand holding onto Rivers.

"Not hardly," Jenny laughed and Amy could feel River laugh behind her, "It's just a bit timey-wimey wibbly-wobly." She smirked as she remembered the oldest code words and just hoped they worked.

Amy's eyes went wide again, "You know us and we don't know you?" she said smiling.

"Precisely!" Jenny agreed.

"That brings us back to my question." River said, absently fixing Amy's cap, "Why are you in America?" she said curiously.

"To help you, of course." Jenny said brightly.

* * *

><p>"It's not my fault we crash landed in a time without computers," the Doctor told Tish as he stepped aside to let her enter the TARDIS first, holding the bag of shopping in his left arm so he could shut the door behind him, "It's a backwards time that-" he stopped talking when he noticed there was a new person by the console that he didn't recognize, "I said watch the locals," the Doctor eyed Amy and then looked at River, trying to determine the guilty party, "Not kidnap one of them and let them on my TARDIS." He grumbled.<p>

"She's not a local!" Amy proclaimed, easing away from River and moving to the Doctor's side instead, slipping her hand into his and watching them, "Well, she's a local to this time, but not here and she's River's friend!" Amy continued bouncing happily.

"Not one we've met." Tish commented, placing her bag on the floor, "I didn't know you had friends in other time periods." She said examining the newcomer cautiously.

"Yes, I have quite a few." River replied, "Tish, this is Jenny Flint. She's a good friend of my mother's, a frequent sparring partner of my father and a good friend of yours as well, sweetie." She added, looking at the Doctor this time.

"Is she back to front as well?" the Doctor placed his bag down and kept Amy's hand in his as he examined the new woman.

"Not often," Jenny offered, "Just on the odd occasions that you decide my life isn't chaotic enough, and think it'd be fun to 'shake it up' as you say." She smiled as River laughed and the Doctor looked confused.

"I take it I decided your life wasn't chaotic enough then?" the Doctor may have trusted River's judgement most times, but at the moment someone who knew him that he didn't know was inside his TARDIS in close proximity to his daughter and he wasn't going to let his guard down yet. "What did I send you to do?" he asked cautiously.

"To save you." Jenny said simply, "You're stuck in a time where you have no way to pay for anything, nowhere to stay and no idea what to do because this time you're not human and you haven't got access to everything." Jenny gestured around the quiet and dim console room, "You needed help, so you sent someone who could help." She explained leaning against the console and staring at the glowing center.

The Doctor looked at River, "You trust her?" he asked.

"Absolutely." River nodded, stepping closer to the woman in a protective show of trust.

"She's not just some insane human bent on making my life difficult?" the Doctor added.

River looked sideways at Jenny then back to the Doctor, "I absolutely trust her." She said evenly trying not to smirk.

"Excuse me?" Jenny nudged River, "I'm completely sane – or at least the sanest member of our group of friends – and it's him who makes my life difficult." She said indignantly.

"Not helping." River told her.

"I wasn't trying to help your case, I was trying to help mine." Jenny said.

* * *

><p>Amy sat pensively on the captain's chair as her dad had dubbed it after watching one too many pilot movies and watched the 'adults' talk. They were discussing where they were staying in 1913 and how they were going to live while the new woman gave them what information they could, but that wasn't what concerned Amy.<p>

What was deeply confusing and worrying her was an offhand comment made by River that said Jenny lived with a Silurian! Silurians were bad though, and they hated humans!

She'd been trying to get that point across for several minutes but they weren't listening.

"I mean, Silurians think we're apes." Amy complained in exasperation, hands tapping against her knees.

"I'm not sure, I think that there's some way we could make do on our own though." River said as once again the adults ignored her with practiced ease.

"I'm sure as hell not getting a job, want to or not." Tish scoffed.

"I could find one, but I need to fix the TARDIS." the Doctor said.

"And that we're awesome science study creatures." Amy added in annoyance.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out," River sighed.

"You sent some funds to keep you going until you figure it out." Jenny told the Doctor, "It seems you like to 'think ahead'." She said handing the Doctor a money purse.

"They think sucking people through floors are fun and suffocating is just a 'side effect'." Amy crossed her arms, hating that particular memory.

"Okay, next step then is where are we going to live? People will eventually notice a Police box in an alleyway." she said looking at the TARDIS.

"I've got a flat arranged for you, by you, actually." Jenny told them, "It's in the building you're behind." She said smiling.

"They think we're fun to dissect because we 'don't feel pain'." Amy mimicked Malohkeh's voice, her own rising as she started winding up in anger at the memories.

"Just a matter of getting the TARDIS up stairs?" Tish asked. "Is that even possible?" she questioned.

"It'll be simple enough if we can get a dolly to help move it." the Doctor said.

"They SHOT my Rory and killed him. My Jack too." Amy growled, feeling the rage and fear again. "There was blood everywhere." She whined.

"Settled then. Any other complaints?" Jenny asked.

"And they EAT Humans." Amy grumbled, arms crossed and hands clenched.

"How long will we be here?" Tish asked.

"That I don't know and even if I did I couldn't tell you." Jenny responded apologetically.

"And bones are bubble wrap for Lizard People!" Amy finished loudly.

There was silence in the console for a moment as four adults turned to look at Amy finally.

"What are you going on about?" Tish asked, having a faint idea why Amy was complaining.

Amy sighed in exasperation, finally having got their attention. "Bones are bubble wrap for Lizard people." She said again, "They think we're apes, they killed my Jack, they killed my Rory they sliced up Tish and dissected Elliot's dad. They poisoned Tony, they kidnapped all of us, they tried to kill me...twice! They sucked us through the dirt and suffocated us all in dirt and did it to Tish twice and then they like cutting people and say we're just stupid apes and don't feel pain and they even poisoned Jack till he made himself better and, and, and...They EAT humans!" Amy ended with a flourish, arms flung out to the sides as she made her point.

"I'm flashing back to 1883." Jenny said as River laughed quietly, hand over her mouth.

"Amy, half of those were Targans, not Silurians." the Doctor told her, walking over to stand by her side, arm around her shoulders. "Not all Silurians are bad, you liked Malohkeh." He said calmly, trying not to think of the xenophobic rage that 'the Executioner' must have built up and trying not to wonder if this was the start of it.

"Yes, but he still cut up Mo and tried to cut up Tish." Amy muttered.

"Vastra is a nice Silurian." Jenny tried to reason with Amy, "Trust me, you like her...will like her" Jenny changed the tense knowing that they hadn't actually met yet, "She's not evil." She said reassuringly.

"She doesn't eat humans?" Amy asked.

River's laughter intensified even as Jenny shot her an annoyed look. "She doesn't...She only feeds on evil criminals. No good humans." Jenny offered up the compromise that had been long standing. "Really bad guys who can't be saved. She works as a detective to help solve crimes and make the world a nicer place." She continued looking at the concerned girl

"She could be pretending." Amy said, leaning against her Dad.

"She isn't. She's very nice." Jenny said defensively.

"Are you SURE she's not gonna eat you?" Amy asked doubtfully.

Jenny scowled at River and nudged her again when River said laughing hysterically before clapping her hand over her mouth. "Shush you. Yes, I'm sure, Amy." Jenny said shaking her head.

"Fine." Amy grumbled, "But don't expect me to avenge you if she does." She pouted and the Doctor felt his hearts unclench.

"No, please do!" River said breathlessly, little giggles escaping, "You have to avenge her!" she said still trying to control her laughter.

Jenny smacked River across the arm, "Don't make me tell your father what you've been up to."

If anything River laughed harder.

"But-" Amy started.

"Tell you what," Jenny said quickly, "Why don't you write down a list of all the questions you want answers to and ask me the very next time you meet me, okay?" a feeling of dread came over her as a memory of the first time she met the little girl came to her mind.

Amy sighed but nodded.

* * *

><p>Amy lay stretched out on one of the sofas in the wardrobe, dressed in borrowed pyjamas once again since her clothes were still in her now locked room. Jenny had left to go home using the 'cheater method' as River had called it and catching a ride with her dad from the future who was refusing to come too near to them or bring the TARDIS nearer than it had to be.<p>

When she'd asked why Jenny traveled via TARDIS and not boat or another method she'd gotten a laugh in reply and a comment that since her wife was out of the country she had to return quickly to keep 'the butler' from declaring war on the neighbour's cat again.

Yumo was tucked in at her feet, snoring already inside his little nest under the blankets and the Doctor sat next to the couch, back against it as he read from _'Dark Universe'_, the book River had given her for her birthday.

"And so the gathering of all the species took the trickster and locked him up inside the Pandorica, hoping that it would never be opened again, lest the destruction and terror that followed him be unleashed upon the universe once more." the Doctor finished, turning to look at Amy and finding her mostly asleep. "Goodnight, Amelia." He whispered.

"Night." Amy whispered the reply as he pressed a kiss to her forehead and set the book aside in favour of locating the two women who seemed to be missing.

He found them on the floor above, almost directly overlooking the couch where Amy slept. They looked to be in the process of constructing some sort of bed, or maybe it was a nest, out of blankets and pillows. "What's this?" he asked looking at the mess.

"My bed." Tish commented. "River's taking the couch that's decorated with those weird question marks so I'm here." She sighed.

"Ah...Amy's asleep. Or close enough to it." the Doctor told them, "I'm not sure if 'the Pandorica' is supposed to be a bedtime story, but it sure put her out." He explained.

"The trickster locked inside his cage; the universe no longer fears his rage," River said in singsong, reciting an old poem she'd heard, "A prison sealed with locks and lines, a monster inside for all of time." She continued the rhyme.

"What?" Tish asked in confusion.

"The Pandorica is a fairy tale about this goblin or trickster being, some sort of warrior that's been soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies." the Doctor told her. "Just this nameless, terrible thing that would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world. Nothing could stop it, hold it or even reason with it. It was the most feared being in all the cosmos until they locked it away inside this magic box."

"Great fairy tale." Tish said dryly, "Perfect for traumatizing children." She said shaking her head.

"Haven't you ever seen the Grimm brother's book?" River asked her, "Besides, all fairy tales hold a grain of truth."

"So there really is some nameless being out there locked in a prison?" Tish questioned.

"No," the Doctor laughed, "It's just a children's story." He said dismissively. "It's no more real than those talking ponies Francine had her watching…ok bad example, or the superheroes Elliot was…ok you know what forget it, it's just a story nothing more…" he babbled.

River just smiled.

* * *

><p><em>1913, seven months ago<em>

* * *

><p>"It's not my fault!" River complained, "Anyone would protest that asshat as a boss." River had lasted three whole days working as an assistant at a shop before she'd been fired for 'insubordination'. "I mean, honestly, did he have to call into question my 'family role' and hit on me in the same breath? Not to mention that dig at my 'parent's' and 'sister'!" River growled.<p>

"You know, I'm not really your sister." Tish said, rolling her eyes.

"It's the point of the matter!" she yelled.

Figuring out roles and lies had been something that the Doctor was baffled by. He knew they had to pretend to be family to fit in, but he'd been genuinely confused as to why Tish couldn't pretend to be his wife and Amy's mother.

_"But you're already mother like," the Doctor pointed out, "You help take care of her, feed her, make sure she's healthy and know bedtime routines!" he said insistently.  
><em>

_"Yes, but no one would believe I was Amy's mother and secondly my being married to you is illegal so we can't even start that lie." Tish said, somehow keeping the annoyance out of her tone, "It'd be easier to say River's her mother." she said exasperated having had this conversation several times already.  
><em>

_"What? Why?" the Doctor asked, "Illegal?" he questioned again.  
><em>

_"1913 America." Tish said simply, "There are shops I can't go in, restaurants that would refuse me service and you could go to prison just for attempting to marry me so...Just say River's your wife and it'll be simpler. I'll say...I'm your nanny." She insisted.  
><em>

_"No." the Doctor said strongly, "I won't let that lie happen again and won't let you be thought a servant." he tapped his fingers on his trousers. "You're River's half-sister." He declared then refused to speak on the matter again.  
><em>

Their apartment consisted of two bedrooms, a tiny bathroom and a minuscule kitchen that even the Doctor had laughed at. River had taken one look at the stove and declared that the Doctor and Amy weren't allowed anywhere near it. Most of the time they spent hanging out in the TARDIS inside the bedroom the Doctor had claimed that had Amy's bed in it.

"You need to fit in though," Tish said, "And you'll have to get used to people making disparaging about me." She said shaking her head at them.

"Never!" River and the Doctor both looked angry at the idea.

* * *

><p>Amy scraped her shoes lightly on the street as she walked, wandering around the streets again. As long as she wore her bracelet and stayed within a certain radius the adults didn't mind if she went out. There was less trouble to get into here than anywhere else they'd been really so what could go wrong?<p>

She hated the clothes they'd tried to make her wear though, all skirts or dresses and buttons. River had given up without much fight and let her wear trousers or shorts under her dresses or skirts at least whereas the Doctor had just told her to wear boys clothes and be done with it.

Tish laughed either way and stayed inside the TARDIS lounging around in modern clothes and helping the Doctor out.

They needed money and River'd been fired. Tish couldn't work anywhere of worth, the Doctor was busy working on the TARDIS which put a bit of a spanner in the works.

She was too little to help most places but she'd been in the library once with Rory studying her school work and he'd said something about how kids used to work, but now they didn't which meant she could work somewhere, right?

How hard could it be?

* * *

><p>"Hey, sweetheart." Tish looked up in surprise when Amy walked in, whistling happily. "Have fun exploring?" she asked looking at the girl.<p>

"Yup." Amy said holding her hand out.

Tish held her own out automatically, palm up and looked surprised when Amy dropped several pennies into her hand. "Where'd you get these?" she asked concerned.

"The man who runs the store that River got our stuff from? He had a sign in his window that was spelled wrong and I told him it was done wrong," Amy said, sitting down on the couch as Tish counted the few pennies. "He saw it was and then had me prove I could read and write and let me redo the sign for him then said he needed someone who had time to help his son who's younger than me with learning it himself and I said I'd do it and he said he'd pay me in some money and shopping." Amy said, "Plus I think he feels bad for me." Amy admitted with some amusement.

"What? Why would he feel bad for you?" Tish asked, "Wait...me?" she questioned with a sigh.

"My father is an insane recluse, my mother got fired and my aunt stays indoors all the time." Amy said and tried not to laugh, "Obviously I need help." She giggled.

Tish laughed too, "God, there are three adults in this household and the CHILD gets the job." She said laughing harder.

"I'm good like that." Amy preened.

* * *

><p><em>1913, 6 months ago<em>

* * *

><p>"C'mon, Robert, it's not that hard." Amy groaned, rewriting the simple sentence on top of the small chalkboard the younger boy had. "It's just a matter of practice." She said shaking her head.<p>

The seven year old sulked, eyes locked onto the board as he tried not to glare at it. "It is to!" he whined.

Robert, like Amy, wasn't exactly one of those that 'fit in' around their few block space and yet another that didn't go to school. It wasn't that he couldn't afford to, but that he was sick often enough he'd miss most classes anyway.

He was tiny overall, short and thin with blond hair and blue eyes and freckles all across his face but was quite happy most of the time.

"It is not." his voice carried an Irish accent but it was nowhere near as thick as his parents was. "It's hard." He whined.

"Yes, that's why a girl is so much better at it." Amy smirked, knowing the challenge would get to him. "Come on, you going to let me win?" she asked teasingly.

"Shut up." Robert muttered, taking the chalk from her again to try and copy the words.

"That's what I thought." Amy giggled.

* * *

><p>The screaming was the first thing she heard as she walked down the street to her apartment. There were several people standing out on the street, all watching the building.<p>

She hurried her pace when it sounded familiar and found the Doctor sitting on the steps outside the door, handkerchief pressed against his temple.

"Dad!" She exclaimed, hurrying up the steps, "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." He said, catching her hand in his and smiling reassuringly. "Just a bit of an accident, I'm afraid." He said quietly looking down at her.

"Who...Why's River screaming?" Amy asked worriedly, looking at the door. "Is she hurt?"

"She's fine." the Doctor tugged Amy down onto his lap and wrapped his left arm around her, right hand still holding the handkerchief against his head, "I don't know what's wrong with her but I suspect she'll tell us once she's calmed down. Tish is with her and gave her some of her medication to help that process along and she's much better than she was." He said quietly as not to disturb the people inside.

"Will you be okay?" Amy asked, gesturing to his head.

The Doctor pulled back the handkerchief and revealed a gash that on a human would require about six stitches. "I'll be fine. By tomorrow you'll never know I was injured at all, promise." He said hugging her close.

"Okay." Amy rested her head against the Doctor's shoulder, allowing him to shelter her from the screams inside.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry." River said embarrassedly, hunkered down on the floor of the wardrobe, back against one of the sofas, "Really sorry, it's just...My brain doesn't like me some days." River admitted, well aware of how stupid it sounded.<p>

"Like Ashton?" Amy questioned.

"What?" River looked surprised.

"Ashton?" Tish asked curiously.

"He's this boy in Leadworth," Amy said, "Most days he was all normal and just like everybody else but other days he'd get upset and scream and scream and fight people to make everyone go away. Henry said some days his brain just didn't want to process scentory stuff anymore and he needed quiet and dark to get better. Do you need quiet like that?" Amy asked worriedly, wondering if it was something they'd done.

"Sensory." Tish corrected Amy's pronunciation quietly as River watched them.

"Something like that, like him." River said finally, "It's very complicated...my family...my biology doesn't quite get along some days and other days I'm fine. Most days I'm fine." She explained.

Tish could tell River was hiding something deeper, but didn't want to press, "As long as you're fine now."

"I am." She said, even as the Doctor sat down on the floor next to her. "I'm sorry about your head." she apologized, glancing over the spot that a day earlier had been damaged rather badly.

"It's hardly the first time someone has hit me with something." he brushed it off, "And far from the first time someone's done so while not quite themselves." the Doctor smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders in a show of affection and to show he wasn't upset any more. "Though I'm interested to hear about this biology of yours. I thought you were just plain human. Not that being human is plain," he corrected when Tish made a noise and Amy frowned.

"Oh, far from." River laughed, the spark back in her eyes. "I'm afraid I'm a bit of a genetic throwback as it is and so very complicated." She said a bit of amusement creeping into her voice.

"That so?" Tish looked contemplative, "any other medical things we need to know?"

"At this time? None I'm willing to tell you." River said with a smile, relaxing to where her head was resting on the Doctor's shoulder, his hand resting on her shoulders holding her close.

* * *

><p><em>1913, five months ago<em>

* * *

><p>"Happy birthday, Rory." Tish said into her mobile as happily as she could manage. "How's Jack treating you?" she asked clutching the phone.<p>

_"Jack is an evil self-centered idiot who thinks my pain and suffering is funny."_ Rory said dully, _"But he did wish me a happy birthday and got me a cake."_ He said in a mixture of annoyance and happiness.

"What's funny this time?" Tish asked glad to hear he was ok.

_"We had to infiltrate a gentlemen's club to shut down an evil alien scheme."_ Rory said quietly embarrassment in his voice.

"And?" Tish asked a smirk on her face.

_"And it meant Jenny was running around in a mini-skirt and he partnered me with her and mocked me every time I blushed."_ Rory complained, "_He got me drunk and had one of the girls make advances on me!"_ he said indignantly.

Tish laughed, "And? Did you hit on either girl?" she smiled, knowing his answer before he even said it.

_"NO!"_ Rory yelped,_ "I'm not that kind of person."_ He said sulkily.

"Then what's your issue?" Tish smirked.

_"Mini-skirts are indecent and Jack is an ass."_ Rory muttered, _"Where's everyone at?"_ he asked trying to change the subject.

"Aww, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you when we're all together again and you can have a proper birthday. "Tish made a mental note to go through the wardrobe and find a mini-skirt to wear when they finally got to find Rory. "Amy's outside playing baseball in the street with some of the neighbour kids –it's the stupidest game I've ever seen and I've watched cricket! – and River and the Doctor are in the TARDIS but I'm honestly not sure I WANT to know what they're up to." She said a slight tone of disgust in her voice.

_"What do you mean?"_ Rory asked curiously.

"Let's just say Amy and Luke's marriage hypothesis might be correct and both tend to forget there's such a thing as personal space and other people in the room." Tish commented.

The two had been getting fairly close ever since River had her 'incident', as the woman called it, and Tish had just that morning awoke to find the two kissing in the kitchen. Something she'd ignored and promptly walked into the TARDIS and away from them, leaving the Doctor yelling about 'not what it looks like!' while River laughed yelling 'yes it is!'

_"Gross."_ Rory said childishly, making her laugh again. _"Send Amy my love and I'll talk to you later. I love you."_ He said.

"Love you too. Take care of yourself and stop hitting on strippers." She teased.

* * *

><p>Baseball had to be one of the most dull sports Amy had ever seen but the American's didn't know how to play proper Football, or at least thought it was 'stupid', and River had yelled the last time she'd come home with her dress all dirty from playing their version of Football, and since they didn't know Jikarinku -and it was probably a very bad idea to even attempt to teach them the basics – so she was stuck playing this.<p>

Even Cricket would have been preferable.

"Come on, Amy, you can do it!" Robert cheered as she lifted the bat with a look of distaste.

"Yeah, sure she can." the pitcher, David, commented as he motioned for the other boys to move in closer, "Because everyone knows girls are just soooo good at sports." he laughed.

Amy kept all remarks internal as she prepared for the ball.

She missed the first one, swinging far too late and making them all laugh as she tried to regain her footing.

"Oh, this is too easy." David laughed again once he had the ball back in his hands.

Amy growled and shifted her grip on the bat in accordance with the gestures Robert was making from the sidelines.

"Watch this one, bet she doesn't even get contact." the catcher, a boy twice Amy's age called Frank, laughed as he settled back on his heels, mitt in front of him.

Amy watched the ball carefully; aware she was being watched by both the boys playing and the adults who were watching the children.

David moved and let the ball fly and Amy brought the bat forth as hard as she could, laughing as it connected with the ball with a loud crack. Her glee was short lived, however, when it was followed by a yell of pain.

The bat hit the ball, the ball hit David and David hit the ground, arms around his stomach.

"I'm still saying that counts." Amy said bluntly to Robert as several other boys ran to check on David. 

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Yeah, another late chapter...oops. Next week I'll try and do better. <em>We'll try...I make no promises...wait, actually it's not my fault! It's not for a change. <em>Yeah, yeah, my fault. Blame me. Ooops. Last update of the year! We've got to finish before April and the 2nd anniversary..._Oh, and sorry we're mean! _Never appologize for cliffhangers, woman! Moffat never does. _We're not that mean, are we? _Probably. Hope you enjoy anyway!]  
><strong>


	95. The Longest Eight Months Part Four

"Hey, it wasn't my fault." Amy protested even as Robert re-enacted the ball game from the day before, complete with pantomiming David hitting the ground.

"I'd never really had to play before. We play football..er, soccer." Amy amended, "or in Dad's case, Cricket." She said frowning at her friend.

"It was brilliant!" Robert giggled, bouncing in place. "You took down DAVID." He continued his laughter dissolving into coughs.

Amy sighed and rolled her eyes, slowing her pace slightly so Robert could keep up. "You feeling sick again?" she asked worriedly.

"Little." Robert shrugged, "I'll be fine, weather's warm enough." He coughed again and wheezed as he tried to gulp in air.

"Yeah? Well warn me if you start feeling worse." Amy told him with some concern, "I don't want you getting all sick on me and then me getting in trouble cause I let you get sick. I'm supposed to be responsible, you know." She told him rubbing his back as the wheezing calmed down

Robert laughed, "Only cause you're older." He said sucking in a few more breaths.

"Yeah, and I work for your Dad." Amy teased, nudging him slightly and making him sway. "I'm so your boss." She said smugly.

"Are not!" Robert complained, shoving her back. "You...you're MY employee!" he complained.

"Oh, is that so?" Amy laughed again, "Think you're a bit young to own a store." She teased.

"Am not." Robert crossed his arms. "I'm just in training." He grumbled.

"Well, call me when you're the big boss man and I'll let you boss me around." Amy promised, making a 'cross my heart' motion.

"Deal." Robert agreed cheerfully.

* * *

><p>"Oh no...He looks mad." Robert observed worriedly, words slurred slightly around the candy stick he sucked on, as he saw David heading towards them, his own best friend beside him.<p>

"He can be as mad as he wants," Amy replied, watching David anyway to be safe. Her dad, Tish and River were all upstairs so if anything happened they'd know but she doubted he'd do anything. "I'm not leaving my own neighbourhood. We're hanging out here." She said stubbornly.

Robert nodded, brow furrowed as he held onto his candy looking like an infant with a pacifier in Amy's opinion, "I'll protect you." He said boastfully.

"I think that's my job." Amy said. "Hello, David." She greeted the slightly older boy with a smile and half-wave, "Sam." She continued putting on her best cheerful face.

"Song." David sneered her assumed last name as if it were a curse. "Surprised you're showing your face after what you did." He continued angrily.

"Are we talking about me beating you at baseball?" Amy asked facetiously, "Oh, wait, that'd require you hiding." She smiled innocently as she talked.

"Think you're so tough?" David took a step forward.

"Yes." Amy said simply, not backing away but lightly pushing Robert back with her right hand till he was standing behind her and nearest to the stairs. "Tougher than you, at least."

"Funny." David's eyes were narrowed, his fists clenched, "Don't know why we let you hang around here. Just another filthy immigrant." he sneered.

Amy shrugged, not offended but a little irked on behalf of those living here that actually WERE immigrants. "I'd like to think I'm more unique than 'just another' allows for." She said backing away.

Amy would have been willing to let it go there, to walk away or go upstairs with Robert and ignore those on the street till they finished his work and she walked him home.

She really would have left it there, but he made the most fundamental mistake anyone could make at that time; he brought her family into it.

* * *

><p>River paced in the main room of their flat in annoyance. The Doctor was being crabby, more so than usual, and muttering threats to the pieces of the TARDIS he was trying to fix. His sonic was in his coat which was locked in the kitchen which meant he was stuck trying to work with Amy's.<p>

The major issue was that Amy's was still locked, allowing only for very few abilities, none of which helped him much at all and the only way to unlock it was to use another sonic on it. His sonic was locked up and Sarah Jane's was ninety years away nearly.

Tish was relaxing in the wardrobe reading one of the books she'd found in someone's jacket pocket and ignoring the world once again. River passed by Yumo on her third trip back and forth, sidestepping him with practised ease.

Yumo loved hanging around the garden most days, which was good because he couldn't leave the flat without a lot of issues stemming from his colouring because the Doctor hadn't worked a perception filter into his bracelet, but would often find his way into the flat where he'd wiggle his way across the floor following the path of the sun's rays.

"Lucky," River said quietly, looking down at him as he absorbed the heat. Yumo didn't have to worry about family, didn't have to worry about spoilers or about people not being who they were yet._  
><em>

She knew everyone in this flat so well, yet they barely knew her in comparison.

Yumo let out a content sigh, wiggling onto his back to soak up as much warmth as the floorboards and sun would allow. She stopped and scratched his chest mainly because she could. He was starting to look like the Uval she knew best, losing the downy puppy fur and gaining a soft coat in a slightly deeper shade of neon blue, something that always entertained her. He could now rival cats for size and climb stairs on his own, despite how much he seemed to despise that idea.

"Soon we'll be back where we should be," River said, unsure if she was trying to cheer herself up or if she was talking to Yumo, "And everything will be okay again." She told the Uval calmly.

Her words didn't effect Yumo in the least but apparently the Universe took that as a challenge as suddenly yelling erupted from outside.

"Amy." River said in realization, racing to the door and looking outside.

* * *

><p>Amy was yelling something unintelligible through anger, as was the boy she was currently hitting repeatedly, but the meaning behind both was quite clear.<p>

"Amy!" River yelled, hurrying down the steps the best she could in her dress and the shoes that 'fit in'. She couldn't wait till she could run around in her boots or tennies again. "What the hell are you doing?" she yelled getting to where Amy was currently straddling the older boy, David or so River thought, and hitting him repeatedly as he yelled and tried to get away. "Amy!" River grabbed her by the back of her dress and wrapped one arm under Amy's arms, pulling her backwards and off of the boy. "Amelia, stop!" She ordered when Amy tried to get loose. "Inside, now." She ordered.

"But-" Amy looked angry as she started the protest, trying to get back towards the boy.

"NOW!" River yelled angrily, pointing up the stairs with one hand and lightly shoving her with the other.

River waited as Amy watched her, looking quite murderous, awaiting whatever actions she'd take but Amy instead turned, let out an annoyed scream and stormed up the stairs, purposefully slamming the door behind her.

River ignored the door slamming and turned back to the boy on the ground. Bloody, battered, but definitely David. She reached down, grabbing his forearm and helped him to his feet.

"She's crazy!" David howled, hand covering his mouth as he tried hard not to cry. "I'm-" he started.

"Look, here's what's going to happen." River said, voice calm and low, "You're going to go home now, you're going to tell your mum you fell, you had an accident or you picked a fight with someone you shouldn't have; I really don't care which excuse you use." She said calmly glaring at him.

"But-" the boy started.

"Do you really want to go around admitting an eight year old girl could do this to you?" River questioned and David shook his head, "Good."

"Why should he listen to you?" the other boy who was now helping support David asked, clearly feeling bolder than his friend.

"You live around here?" she asked him with a hint of amusement.

"Yes." He said, arm tightening around his buddy's chest as David tried to keep himself stood up straight.

"So you've heard the stories about me? About my family?" When the boy nodded River smiled viciously and said quietly, "They're all true. Go. Now!" she yelled commandingly.

She watched them hurry off, trying not to find any amusement at all in how quickly they jumped to obey her command, before turning to Robert.

He always looked tiny and pale, but currently he was trying to make himself look smaller if possible and looked like a scared little mouse.

"Robert, I'm not going to yell at you." River assured him, "I just want you to tell me what happened, please?" she added softening her voice and smiling at him.

"Um...Me an' Amy were just talking and then David and Sam came and they were being mean and called us names and Amy laughed but..." he stuttered his breath stuttering with him.

"But what, Robert?" she asked firmly.

"They...They said bad things 'bout you and about Mr. Song and...they said a word that Amy didn't like for your sister...Do...Do I have to say it?" Robert asked worriedly.

"No, I can take a guess." River sighed and resisted the urge to bite her nails or fidget. "Thank you. Do you need me to walk you home?" she asked worriedly.

"No, ma'am, I can go myself." Robert shook his head but still looked worried, "Is Amy in lots of trouble?" he wheezed.

"Enough." River answered, "You can come by tomorrow, if you'd like or wait till she goes to your home."

"Okay." Robert nodded and with a careful look around he started back towards his own home.

Brilliant, River decided as she slowly climbed the stairs to their 'home'. Now, did she talk to Amy herself quietly and alone or did she mention this incident to the overzealous and overprotective Time Lord who became twitchy at any mention of violence in connection with his precious baby girl.

* * *

><p>River entered the TARDIS, not bothering to shut the door behind her and immediately knew she couldn't hide what had happened. The Doctor was standing stock still, staring at a few little droplets of blood that had landed on the glass flooring, cast off from Amy's hand.<p>

"River." He said, tearing his eyes away from the blood to look at her, "What...How'd she get hurt?" he asked concerned.

"I don't think it's hers." River admitted, feeling guilty because it had to be said.

Instantly his face changed and became blank, "Oh."

"I don't think it's as bad as you think it is. Where did she go?" River asked calmly.

"Gardens. Yumo followed her." he gestured.

River nodded and climbed the stairs, standing next to him with her hand on his arm, "Give me a few minutes to talk to her before you come find us? Trust me, please? It wasn't unprovoked, I promise." She said reassuringly.

The Doctor obviously struggled with what to do before trusting River, "Ten minutes." He said grumpily.

"I can work with that." River agreed. On impulse and to distract him, she leaned over and kissed his cheek before walking off to the gardens leaving the now bright red man behind.

* * *

><p>River easily located Amy once in the gardens. She always hid in the same spot near one of the little streams under a tree that was perfect for climbing...or maybe that was 'would always hide'.<p>

Tenses were confusing for the few adventures they were on, they got even worse the times they were together for more than a few days at a time.

Amy was sitting under the tree, sans her shoes by now with Yumo lying across her lap trying to clean Amy without moving too much. She was keeping her right hand away from him which meant he was stuck with trying to clean her left even as she pet him.

"Amy?" River called out, slowly walking towards her.

Amy looked over and River tried not to wince at the tears on her face. "What?" Amy asked, voice thick, "Going to yell at me more?" Amy asked petulantly.

"I didn't yell at you," River replied. "Can I sit and talk to you?" she asked sitting beside the little girl.

Amy nodded and went back to petting Yumo. Even the Uval sent her an annoyed look, obviously unhappy at her upsetting Amy.

River settled herself on the grass, making sure her dress fell right, "I didn't yell at you. There wasn't any lecture, I was separating you from the situation." She said calmly.

"You didn't yell at David." Amy said, obviously hurt.

"I did, you didn't see it. Beyond that? You were landing more blows than he was." River told her, "Which made you a more imminent threat to deal with. Er, bigger threat," She corrected when Amy looked at her. "I already yelled at David and sent him home. Robert told me what happened." River added and watched as Amy winced. "While I appreciate you defending our honour, you didn't need to do it with your fists." She said sternly.

"He wouldn't shut up!" Amy yelled, tears still falling, "I told him to shut up and yelled back but he wouldn't so I had to stop him somehow! He said you were insane and that my Dad was...He said something very bad about my Tish." Amy licked her lips, trying to calm herself with deep breaths, "I couldn't let him." She said sobbing losing her battle.

"Oh, sweetie," River sighed, "It's far from the worst thing anyone has ever said about me and they do have cause-"

"I don't care!" Amy looked angry now, not just hurt, "I don't care what anyone else called you I wasn't there to make them stop but now I was here and I had to make him stop. It wasn't your fault you yelled, Dad said so, and you shouldn't make fun of someone just because they're different!" Amy's voice was verging on lecture mode, "You couldn't help it and your brain is different which means it works different and you shouldn't call people who just work differently names." Amy sniffled and wiped at her eyes with her left hand, "It's mean and has to be stopped. You can't let people get away with it. If you let them get away with it then they start thinking its okay and it's NOT okay." She said her tears continuing to run down her face as she yelled.

"No, it's not." River nodded, feeling both proud that Amy would defend her and annoyed that this is how she chose to do it. "You're right, but you can't just hit people when you disagree with them."

"Why not? Jack does and so do you." Amy said quietly.

"I hit people?" River asked.

"You threaten them," Amy amended, "and make them scared enough that they do what you want when you glare. Dad does it too, but I'm not big enough or scary enough to do that yet." She said whimpering.

"What would Jack say if he knew you were fighting?" River asked.

"That I should have hit him with a flat fist instead of a closed one 'cause it would hurt less and next time to kick him." Amy said, not really thinking about it.

"Rory'd be mad though...Tish too..." Her eyes went wide, "Please don't tell my Dad I was fighting. He'll get mad and then I won't be allowed to go out again and it'll be just like Demanshi again and I won't get to see Robert or talk to him ever again." She said the tears coming again.

"What do you mean, 'like Demanshi'?" River questioned, several memories coming to mind.

"I got hurt and upset on Demanshi and I fought against the Chief Warrior and that's why I got hurt," Amy lifted her right arm from her side, making River blanch at the blood on it, and showed her the two scars she still held now smooth and white from time, "and now he won't let us go back there or even talk about them without getting mad." Amy cried, "I can't talk to Kali or Tybre; I can't even talk about hem without Dad getting really mad and changing the topic." She said hanging her head and sobbing into Yumo's fur.

"Oh, sweetheart," River sighed and moved closer, reaching out and holding Amy's left hand in hers, "I think you and your Dad really need to talk. Did you mention this to him before?" she asked.

"No."Amy choked, crying harder, "I don't want to make him mad again." She said between sobs.

River sighed and stood up, moving to sit at Amy's side, letting the girl cling to her, "I'm not mad at you for fighting, just a little upset, and I'm sure if you explain it he won't be mad either. You need to talk to him about Demanshi, I think it'll do you both good." River said as she held Amy, and ignored the grumpy noises from Yumo as he was shifted. "He won't yell." River said, looking over Amy's shoulder and seeing the Doctor standing there looking helpless.

"Promise?" Amy asked, voice muffled slightly.

"I swear." River agreed and shifted to gesture to the Doctor and then the grass next to them.

"Amelia?" the Doctor said softly, sitting on her other side. He frowned and lifted her hand carefully, looking at the blood with concern and distaste, "Yours?" he asked.

"Not mostly." Amy said, looking back at him while still holding onto River.

He sighed but nodded and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wiping away what blood he could and making a face when he discovered a few cuts on her hand. "Well, you obviously hit your intended target." He offered, wrapping the handkerchief around her hand and tying it to keep it on when more blood welled up. "Do you want to tell me why you felt the need to hit someone?" he asked looking at her sadly.

"Not really." she mumbled.

"Do you want me to tell him?" River asked and felt Amy nod hesitantly against her. "There's a neighbourhood boy, older and bigger," River made sure to clarify that, "Who was making fun of her and then called you, Tish and I very bad names and wouldn't stop it. Amy took it upon herself to defend her honour like Jack would." She said rubbing the still crying girl's back.

"Ah." He obviously wasn't sure what to say about that and looked so adorably awkward River had to resist a smile.

"She's afraid that now you'll get mad because she fought and got hurt and she won't be allowed to go outside any more or play with Robert just like on Demanshi." River added cautiously.

He visibly winced, "Oh, Amelia..." he sighed

"I think you two need to talk." River told him plainly.

* * *

><p>"It's not your fault." the Doctor said quietly as he ran water from the tap over his handkerchief so he could wash Amy's hand off. She sat perched on the counter in the bathroom as River talked with Tish, probably telling her everything that had gone on.<p>

"What's not?" Amy sniffled, wiping at her eyes again.

"Demanshi." he took a deep breath, "It's my fault we can't go back; that we can't go see any of them again." He admitted

"What?" Amy looked confused and stunned, "Why?" she asked looking at him with sadness.

"The Queen thinks I'm going to let something happen, something that hurt their planet very bad in my future and she won't let me come back. They threatened something very important to me so I can't risk letting you visit your friends. I'm sorry." he said quietly, wiping away the blood that had dried onto her hand and frowning at the cuts. None were over half an inch, if that, or horribly deep, but how she got them disturbed him.

He had to make sure she didn't resort to violence. He'd been petrified when she had ranted about Silurians, only feeling relieved when she stated plainly she had no plans to avenge Jenny.

The only reason he let Jack teach her martial arts was in self-defence. Most of Jack's lessons involved how to get out of danger or fights, very few if any taught her how to fight. It was hard to keep watch, however, when only three people knew the secret. The Doctor figured he should let Tish in on it, but he couldn't chance Rory or Jack knowing.

"They're mad at you?" Amy clarified, "You're not mad at me?" she asked scooting towards him.

"Never." the Doctor said, moving aside to dig through the few medical supplies that had been transferred in the cabinet for bandages of some sort, "I'd never be mad at you like that and if you ever did make me mad I would tell you right away, okay?" he said coming back and sitting beside her.

"Okay." Amy nodded, sitting still so he could fix her hand. "Are you mad I was fighting?" she asked leaning into him.

"I'm...disappointed," He said, "and upset, but no I'm not mad." he told her, leaning forward and pressing a kiss against her forehead, "Though I do believe normally for this sort of thing a punishment is being 'grounded' from favourite things. Given our current circumstances we'll ignore that." the Doctor smiled at Amy, making her smile back.

* * *

><p><em>Four months ago, 1913<em>

* * *

><p>"Come on, guys," River laughed, looking back to where the Doctor was following Amy and herself, arm linked with Tish, "We'll be late." She said cheerily.<p>

"I'm never late for anything." the Doctor protested.

"Liar." Tish laughed.

"Is this something you've celebrated before?" Amy asked, hand in River's.

It was the 4th of July which apparently meant something to the Americans. The Doctor wasn't completely sure but River and Tish had both laughed and Tish had protested going to a picnic for it. But there was going to be fireworks and free food – that meant the Doctor was on board – and plenty of things to do.

"Oh, several times," River nodded, "Mostly in University. One of my friends was a history major and he found it hilarious to celebrate an antiquated holiday that was dedicated to blowing things up to end a war." River smiled and Amy laughed, "What can I say? My friends are weird." She laughed.

"We're all mad here." Amy quoted, giggling when River laughed.

"Brilliant story from a brilliant man. Have you met him?" River asked.

"No. But I met H.G. Wells. She was cool!" Amy said bouncing.

* * *

><p>"Ugh. First thing I'm doing once we're back in the right time is burning these stupid clothes." Tish said darkly to the Doctor as they sat back to wait for the fireworks. It was oddly reminiscent of the first big adventure they'd had, where it had been just the three of them watching the sky on Junbar.<p>

"Hmm." the Doctor nodded, "I want fish custard." he said plaintively, obviously upset by the loss of it.

"I'll even make it for you so long as you promise we never come back to this era." Tish said.

"Deal!" he agreed, shaking her hand. "See where Amy's got to?" he asked looking around.

"She's with River by the bonfire." Tish pointed them out, "Speaking of River and hot things...What is with you two?" she asked with a smirk.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." the Doctor sputtered, turning pink.

"Uh huh..." Tish grinned, "How do you go from flirting to angry at each other to 'let's secretly snog in the TARDIS' that quickly? Well, strike secretly, I don't think either of you get the concept of secret." She said laughing.

"I...We...We're not..." the Doctor stuttered.

"Tiny flat, minimal TARDIS." Tish pointed out.

"I...I don't know." the Doctor admitted finally, sounding confused himself. "She's annoying, she can make me angrier than anyone else, she flirts constantly and holds secrets but..." he trailed off.

"She's also charming, funny, good with Amy, protective and intriguing?" Tish offered.

"and very pretty." the Doctor added, sounding like a love struck teenager.

Tish laughed, "Good on you. I guess it must be something if you can't exactly define it."

"Keep teasing me and I'll...I'll find some way to make you suffer once we've got Rory back." He threatened playfully.

"Oh, I'm shaking in my horrible boots." Tish laughed. "So, I think Amy's got something in mind."

"Oh? Should I be worried?" the Doctor asked, well aware that with Rory gone Tish had become Amy's confidant.

"Well," Tish tilted her head from side to side, considering it. "I think she'll talk to you first but...I think she's thinking that she might ask if River could be her mum." She said, watching him carefully.

"River's already masquerading as her mother." the Doctor said in confusion.

"I mean in reality." Tish corrected with a smile, "The two are thick as thieves, haven't you noticed?"

"Well, yes but...I didn't realize, I guess." the Doctor looked stunned, "Why not ask you?"

"Because I'm her Tish!" Tish declared with a bigger smile, "And if I were to be anything other than her Tish than the idea of being her Tish wouldn't be near as special as it is. Make sense?" she said shaking her head.

"Complete." the Doctor agreed. "Wait...Does this mean I have to marry River?" he asked nervously.

"Please," Tish scoffed, "My parents aren't married. At most you'll have to put up with the occasion adventure that ends with River painting Amy's nails and asking you if you've been feeding her veggies. Plus it could be nice to have a female to fob off any girly questions on that isn't Martha, my Mum, Sarah Jane or me." Tish added.

The Doctor looked thoughtful, "That could come in handy."

* * *

><p>"How do you get a fire going this good?" Amy asked as she watched the wood burning. "Isn't it hard? Dave made one explode -" Amy winced a she accidentally let that information slip.<p>

River looked down and caught Amy's expression, "Sweetie, that's not a spoiler, Dave makes things explode regularly." She said smiling reassuringly.

"Oh...okay." Amy smiled, "He says you're the master at making fires, some are even intentional." She continued.

"Hey, most of my fires are intentional." River protested as Amy giggled, "They truly are. It's just on occasion something happens and well...fire." River gestured to the bon fire. "You have to admit though; there are worse bad side effects." she moved them closer to the fire.

"Dad makes things explode." Amy offered.

"Exactly!" River nodded, "You're dad is the king of exploding things." She laughed.

"What's your dad like?" Amy asked curiously. "Wait, that's probably a spoiler." She said quietly.

"Yes, a big one." River agreed but looked around before lowering her voice, "My father is the most amazing man anyone could ever meet. That's all you're getting from me." River winked and spoke louder.

"Aww, do I at least get to meet him?" Amy asked.

"Spoilers!" River laughed.

"That means yes." Amy said

"You said it, I didn't."

* * *

><p>"Amy?" the Doctor leaned over and tugged on Amy's jumper sleeve to grab her attention away from watching the people who were setting fireworks off.<p>

"Yeah?" Amy looked away from the fireworks.

"Tish told me you had a thing you might want to ask someone that you once asked someone before in a different gender." the Doctor said slowly and quietly, eyes on hers but watching to make sure Tish didn't say anything and River didn't notice.

Amy blushed, "Yes...Do you not want me to?" she asked quietly.

The Doctor shook his head, "I think it's brilliant." he gave her a thumbs up and returned to watching the fireworks.

* * *

><p>"River?" Amy asked quietly as she settled down in her bed. Tish was in the bath in the TARDIS and the Doctor had already said goodnight, letting River read her a bedtime story tonight instead.<p>

"Yes?" River closed the book and placed it on the table by Amy's bed.

"Um...I was...Do you have a mum?" Amy asked suddenly.

"What?" River said, clearly flustered.

"Well, I guess everyone has to have a mum but, I mean...Do you see her?" she asked curiously.

"I...not as often as I'd like, but yes I do get to see her. Why do you ask?" River asked.

"I don't." Amy said, "Tish does, Rory does, Luke does, but I don't." Amy bit her lip worriedly and sat up on the bed and watched River, "I guess I did but I never really did. I didn't have a dad either." She babbled.

"No, you didn't." River sat down on the edge of Amy's bed. "But you do now. You're lucky, you got to choose your dad. Not many people get to do that."

"No...I got to choose my family...I—I called Jack my uncle earlier, when Robert and I were talking to those other boys about armies. I said my Uncle Jack was an army captain." Amy looked worried, "Do you think he'd care that I called him my Uncle without asking him first?" she asked worriedly

"I think...that he'd be more than pleased to have you as his 'niece' and might even wonder why it took you so long to ask." River said.

"Um...R-River?" Amy took a deep breath, "Doyouwannabemymum?" she blurted out quickly in one breath.

"What?" River looked at Amy in surprise.

"Do you...do you want to be my mum?" Amy asked nervously, "I mean, you don't but you could be I haven't called you it before and you never said anything about me not calling you it so you could be being nice or maybe you're not but I-" she took a breath to continue her rambling.

"Yes." River said simply.

"I-what?" Amy stuttered.

"Yes, I'd love to be your mum, Amy." River hugged the now stunned girl. "What took you so long to ask?" She asked teasingly.

Amy laughed and held tight to River.

* * *

><p><em>Three months ago, 1913<em>

* * *

><p>A loud explosion tore Tish from her sleep and she jolted to her feet as smoke started pouring under the door to her room. She quickly hurried across the room and opened the door.<p>

"I didn't do it," the Doctor yelled as he threw open windows to air out the now smoke filled kitchen.

If the windows didn't help matters the newly input skylight certainly did.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Tish yelled taking in his singed and smoke covered pyjama bottoms.

"I…I was making a cake for your birthday!" the Doctor said sheepishly, sidestepping debris from the new hole in the ceiling.

"Birthday cake doesn't equal explosions."River commented in shock ,as she looked over the room for her spot standing in the doorway to the other room in a long pyjama top and her pants.

"My birthday was last month!" Tish just stared at the now disfigured stove.

"He was playing with the fireworks" Amy said coming out from under a table where she was hiding, Yumo in arms.

"Tattletale!" the Doctor said sulkily, arms crossed.

* * *

><p>Tish yawned, leaning backwards against the railing on the console, trying hard not to fall asleep. She'd barely gotten any sleep and had finally fallen into a deep sleep when the stove had exploded.<p>

"Tired?" Amy asked sympathetically, offering Tish what was left of her overly sweetened tea.

"Mhmm. Blame the other adults." Tish smiled in thanks.

"What? Why us?" River questioned.

"Yeah, what'd we do?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"How many pieces of 'future tech' are in this TARDIS?" Tish asked.

"Hundreds. Main control room and removable? Maybe fifty. Why?" the doctor asked again.

"Hmm. How many functions on that vortex manipulator?" Tish asked River.

"Dozens." River answered, "Again, why?" she asked repeating the question.

"And not a single piece of tech or any functions can work to put up a silencing barrier?" Tish demanded. "Amy may sleep like the dead but I do not!"

Amy looked greatly confused at why Tish was laughing and the Doctor and River both looked mortified.

_'Must be some weird adult thing.'_ she decided.

* * *

><p><em>Two months ago, 1913<em>

* * *

><p>"You feeling okay?" Robert asked Amy as she paused once again, coughing. He was getting over his own bout of being sick, he didn't want her to be getting bad too. Especially now that it was getting cold out.<p>

"Yeah, 'm fine." Amy said, catching her breath and taking up a piece of chalk. "Think we can do maths today?" she asked.

"Ugh...Can I claim to be sick?" he grumbled.

"Only if you want back in your bed where your mum gives you lots of horrid tonics and your sister bugs you." She said looking at him.

"I'll do maths." Robert sighed.

* * *

><p>"I'll be fine." Amy protested even as River bundled her up in a coat. "It's not that cold out." She whined.<p>

"No, but you're getting a bit of a cold and we can't let you get worse." River stated, tugging a knit cap down over Amy's ears. "No being outside for longer than you have to be, come straight back from Robert's, okay?" she said concerned.

"Okay, mum." Amy still smiled when she said the word.

"And be safe!" the Doctor yelled from inside the TARDIS where he lay working under the main console.

"I'm always safe." She yelled back, only to regret it when it started her coughing again.

* * *

><p><em>One month ago, 1913<em>

* * *

><p>"So then Harry looks at me and goes 'I don't know why we're doing this, isn't it horrible for the fish?' and Sarah looks back at him with this look, you know the one, and goes 'Yes, you dolt, but it's worse for the humans!'. Poor Harry actually got knocked overboard. It took him five showers to stop smelling like tea and salt water." the Doctor embellished the tale as tried to entertain Amy.<p>

Amy was getting worse. What had started out as an annoying cold had turned into something more persistent and worse sounding. Now she was breathing heavier, coughing much harder and burning a fever that was just high enough to worry him.

Amy laughed and he instantly regretted telling that story when it sent her into a coughing fit that ended with her becoming bright red from force.

"Doctor?" River said his name quietly from the doorway, catching his attention.

"Right." he nodded, "Amy, River's going to come sit with you for a bit while I go work, okay?" he said quietly.

"'m fine." Amy said hoarsely, throat hurting from how hard she'd been coughing. "I'll be okay." She rasped.

"Of course you will." River said, taking the Doctor's spot at her bedside and smiling at her. "But until then I'm going to keep you company."

* * *

><p>"Look, I don't care if she hates me for it later, I'm doing it." the Doctor said in annoyance as he worked at opening Amy's sonic with a normal screwdriver. "I need electronics that won't exist for a few decades. If I can get this open I can bastardize what's inside to jury rig a rudimentary version that should...SHOULD get us at least far enough ahead to get decent help." he hissed as he finally managed to pop off a section of the casing.<p>

"It'll get us to Rory and Jack too, right?" Tish asked.

"Yes." the Doctor nodded. "Call them and make sure they're ready to leave the moment we show up. If I get this thing moving we need the momentum. Stopping for any period of time could kill it again." he looked triumphant as another section of the casing came flying off, revealing a few more wires inside.

"Hello there, beautiful." the Doctor smiled at the little wires.

* * *

><p>"Hold on, sweetheart, just a bit longer." River said as she wiped off Amy's face with a cool wet flannel, trying to calm her fever as they sat on the grass in the garden. The sunlight and 'fresh' air was good for her and it was far too cold outside to chance that air.<p>

Pneumonia, it had to be. River shouldn't have been shocked by what the medical doctor had told them, nor should she have been shocked when he said there wasn't much beyond pain medication he could do to fix her. There wasn't actually a treatment till the 20's and even then it wasn't really...He'd used the word 'lethal' and the Doctor had punched him.

"Just a little longer. Your daddy's fixing it all up and we'll get you somewhere safe where they can get you all better." River tried to assure the girl and herself that this was the truth.

She might know the future, but the future always could change.

* * *

><p><em>Now<em>

* * *

><p>"Are you sure this is going to work?" Tish asked, holding Amy against her chest tightly with both arms as Yumo shivered against her side.<p>

"Not even remotely." the Doctor replied, face tight with worry as he watched Amy and Tish for a few moments. She was far too pale, too still and her breathing too ragged as she lie unconscious in his arms. "But it's our best hope." he said softly, sending a small prayer into space that it would work.

"We'll make it there," River said, "because we're just too amazing to have anything bad happen to us." River said confidently, but even her eyes showed strain. "Ready?" she asked, hands hovering over the buttons and switches on her side of the console.

"As I'll ever be." the Doctor said. "Geronimo." He said softly, pulling the leaver to his left as River hit the panic button on the keyboard, sending them whirling through space.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: And the ending is the beginning. I love doing that, I really do. It's sort of poetic...then again I'm a horrible poet. I'd like to point out that it's still before midnight in Alaska so this doesn't count against me. Also, my partner is sound asleep after muttering in annoyance about me keeping her up betaing till 3am. Oops? Oh well, could be worse. Next week we get to see how everything turns out finally so yay!]<strong>


	96. Rescues, Prince Charming and UNIT

Pain, dragging and burning pain covering everything. Glass shards dragging deep into his skin and hot coals bubbling beneath the surface.

Jack gasped back into life, back to reality and landed in the centre of chaos.

There wasn't fire, no smoke, no broken beams falling and no fire alarms wailing.

There was still screams however and alarms of some sort and Rory's hand was still in his.

"Wha-?" Jack took a deep breath, filling his lungs once again and took in his surroundings. The TARDIS console room, the Doctor and River were frantically trying to fly the TARDIS and were yelling back and forth, both rushing between several points on the console as sparks flew and lights flashed. Tish held onto Amy and Yumo, both keeping from sliding somehow and Rory...

"Rory!" Jack pulled on Rory's hand, scrambling to his knees and leaning down to check on the young man. Pulse...There was a pulse! Jack rested his hand on

Rory's chest, feeling his heart beating and his chest rising and falling as he breathed and laughed in relief.

He looked around again, "Doctor, what's going on?" he asked frantically.

"Jack!" the Doctor responded, voice commanding, "I need you to give Amy some of your energy." He demanded sparing a brief but sad look at Jack.

"What? But I...I've never tried it with someone this young. Why-" Jack looked confused as he tried to figure out why he'd need to transfer any energy to Amy. He never did that unless someone was injured horribly or...

"Do it, Jack!" the Doctor cut him off.

Jack looked at Amy and finally took in her condition, "Doctor, is she-" he said seeing her pale skin and blue tinged lips and fingers.

"JUST DO IT!" the Doctor roared and the TARDIS tilted, making him grab onto the console to keep from falling.

"Right then." Jack climbed to his feet but found his boots sliding underneath him when he tried to stand. He looked down and realized his boots were slick with what was most likely his own blood and ash. In a weird half crawl half walk Jack made it to Amy's side. "How are you not sliding?" he asked Tish as he brushed his hands off on his trousers, trying to clear any blood or ash that might be on them away.

Tish nodded in gesture and he noticed she was attached to the railing with what looked like a cloth seatbelt. "Couldn't risk my falling and Amy getting hurt." Tish told him. "Are you going to help her, Jack?" she asked him looking pleadingly.

"I'm going to try." He brushed the hair back from Amy's forehead, nearly drawing his hand away at how warm she was. His temperature tended to run a little warmer than most humans thanks to all the Artron energy that was in his body, which meant he had to wear more layers to keep out the cold, and if she felt warm to him... "Okay, kiddo, here goes nothing." he leaned forward and lightly touched his lips to hers, pushing as much of his life force as he could through to her.

He was rewarded by a gasp and pulled back quickly in time to see Amy arch in Tish's arms and draw in a deep breath that was followed by a massive coughing fit.

"Jack?" the Doctor yelled as more sparks flew.

"Hey, I did it, don't yell." Jack yelled back as the Tardis lurched knocking them all to the ground.

"GRAB SOMETHING!" River screamed, holding tight to a piece of the console that was now vibrating and changing colours.

The Doctor's eyes went wide and he grabbed hold as well, apparently aware of something Jack wasn't.

Tish had Amy and Yumo under control so when the whole console room started to tilt Jack launched himself across the glass floor, boots skidding on the slick patches of blood that came from his clothing and grabbed Rory under his arms and around his ribs with his left arm while looping his right arm through the railing to hold them tight.

The whole TARDIS shuddered just moments later and would have sent them all to the floor had they not been holding on as it tumbled in what felt like a head over heels motion that left Jack feeling just a little dizzy. There was a loud noise and the TARDIS stopped, shaking them all as it quieted down and everything faded.

"Is everyone okay?" the Doctor called out, getting to his feet and brushing his hair back from his face. "Tish, Jack?" he asked looking around.

"Ow?" Rory groaned softly, finally starting to wake up. "What hit me?" he mumbled sitting up slowly.

"I think the TARDIS just did a barrel roll." Jack told him, releasing Rory and sitting upright. "Doctor?"

The Doctor nodded, "I think this is as far as my makeshift wiring is getting us." He knelt down and placed his hand on Amy's forehead, "Amelia?" he asked lifting her up into his arms.

She made a groaning noise but didn't respond otherwise.

"Right...Mission time." He avoided the blood smears from Jack and leapt down the steps, hurrying to the door and throwing it open. "Earth...London...Hah! 1980...no...'83. Oh, good year." He said after inhaling and closing his eyes to analyse what he found. "Closer than we were and close enough to fix the TARDIS enough to send us forward to where we should be." He said excitement growing despite the worry over Amelia.

"You sure?" Tish asked.

"Yes. I'm also relatively certain that the moment we hit where we want to be the TARDIS is going to need major repairs." the Doctor answered Jack's question. "For now, it's time to go to work." He said seriously, before a cringe came over him as he realized what he had to do.

"Right, I'll help you get her to a hospital." Jack said.

"No, you won't. A normal hospital would ask questions." the Doctor told him sighing.

"So what is your plan then?" Jack asked picking up a random piece of the now broken TARDIS.

"Me? Oh, I'm going to storm UNIT." the Doctor said with a smile that frankly scared Jack.

"What?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"We are." River said as she knelt next to Tish and Amy. "The Doctor and I, that is." She said standing to stand beside him.

"It's too dangerous for you three to be spotted by UNIT." the Doctor said, "Tish has a list of what you need to fix the TARDIS for now and you know how to work on it. Just don't let your wrist strap touch anything." He said glaring, reminding Jack of how this started in the first place.

"I need your gun." River told Jack.

"It's only got five bullets." Jack warned her.

"Oh, I won't be needing to shoot anything." River said quickly before the Doctor could say anything, "But looking intimidating is something that could be useful when storming UNIT." She said with a smirk.

The Doctor looked at River, something unidentifiable in his gaze, "No shooting anyone who doesn't shoot you first." He grumbled, not even trying to fight.

"Deal." River said, accepting the gun Jack offered and tucking it into the waistband of her trousers where it could be covered by the mid-thigh length red jacket that Jack didn't recognize.

The Doctor bent down and lifted Amy into his arms, cradling her like an infant. "Hurry, Jack. UNIT can get her stabilized, but we need 2010 to fix her without question." He said holding the little girl closer.

"Of course." Jack said, standing up and helping Rory to his feet. "We'll be ready the moment you return." He affirmed.

"Give him my phone." Rory said, his voice hoarse from smoke.

"Right!" Jack dug into his coat and produced Rory's mobile, handing it to River. "Contact us with whatever you need." he said looking around and picking a place to start.

"We will. Thank you." River said, standing by the Doctor.

The Doctor looked strange to Jack's eyes as he stood in what was obviously supposed to be a suit, only without the jacket or waist coat and with a very out of place blue bowtie.

The little girl in his arms was in a coat far too big for her and what he knew to be a nightshirt made for someone much older.

River stood next to him in the only 'appropriate' attire in Jack's mind; she'd gone with boots that laced up her shins, tight fitting jeans, a black shirt and the coat he'd admired with curly red hair pulled back in a low ponytail.

They looked awkward, out of place and like a force to be reckoned with, Jack decided.

"Good luck." He said seriously.

"To you too." the Doctor said, heading towards the door with River and Amy.

"Okay, first up." Tish said, climbing to her feet, "Jack, go change out of the bloody and ripped clothes I'll ask about later and Rory..." She crossed the floor and pulled Rory into a tight hug that Jack was envious of. "God, I've missed you." She said burying her face in his shoulder.

"Missed you too." Rory said, holding her tight.

"Okay, this might not be the time to ask but...What's with the hair?" Jack said, breaking the mood. "Since when does River have curls or red hair and your hair..." Jack made a gesture to show that despite the braid holding Tish's hair it'd gone more curly than before.

"Jack," Tish laughed, "we were living in a time before hair straighteners and hair dye. What'd you expect?" she sighed before kissing Rory lightly, then standing up ready to help.

"I don't know but I definitely wasn't expecting River to be ginger." he said, running his hand over his chin contemplatively.

* * *

><p>"We're completely across town from UNIT, aren't we?" River asked, looking around for street signs.<p>

"Yes." the Doctor agreed with a frown. "The TARDIS was back, just for a minute and if she couldn't get us to where we wanted to go..." he trailed off looking around.

"She could still try and get us where we needed to go." River finished his thought and looked closer at their surrounds. "There's something close enough that we could use to get there then?" she asked him curiously.

"Well, I'm not taking a bus." the Doctor replied sarcastically, walking down the pavement and keeping his eyes searching for anything out of place.

"Of course not." River agreed, ignoring the sarcasm for now. "Okay, I see a mail office, a bus stop, two coffee shops and a bank. Anything you can think of?" she asked.

"No..." the Doctor said slowly, a smile starting to spread across his face, "But in front of the bank." He nodded to indicate the car that was still running, a young female sitting in the front seat looking bored. "I don't know if you'd recognize her from here...or at all." the Doctor said smiling as an idea formed in his head.

"No, I don't." River frowned, following him when he crossed the street, unsure of what he was up to. "Though I suppose you do?" she asked looking at him.

"Oh, I do. I don't think she knows me yet though so get the psychic ready." the Doctor said, "And try not to mention guns." He said smiling and running towards the girl.

"Oh, this isn't going to end well." River muttered as he adjusted Amy and threw open the back door, sliding into the car.

"Hello, Kate!" he greeted the now alarmed looking teenager cheerfully.

"Good lord." River schooled her expression and opened the passenger door, causing Kate to scoot over in front of the wheel. "Hello, we need your help." The girl was young, early to mid-teens with long blond hair and familiar eyes.

"What? Who the hell are you?" She asked in fear, reaching for the door handle.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." River said, leaning across her to lock it.

"I'm a friend of your dad's!" the Doctor told her. "River, paper?" he said holding one hand out to her.

River dug into her coat and produced it, handing it to him so he could show what he wanted to.

"I'm the Doctor and the Brigadier is my oldest friend, I'll have you know." the Doctor flipped the paper open and River caught a glimpse of what looked like work papers. "Sir Alistair and I worked for the same organization." He said looking at her innocently hoping to gain her trust.

"What do you want? Did dad send you?" Kate asked. River had to commend her, while the girl was clearly terrified she hadn't screamed or hit the horn to alert anyone they were there.

"No, but we're on our way to find him. At his work, actually." the Doctor said, "Well, would be but I'm not letting my daughter go – she's quite sick, you see – and River's not licensed to drive a car. Are you?" he asked turning to look at his companion.

"I've got a permit..." Kate said, turning to look through the car window at the bank where obviously whoever she was waiting for was. "I can't drive without a licensed and responsible adult." She said looking at them both.

"I'm sure you'll see I'm regarded as a licensed and legally responsible adult in the eyes of UNIT." He flashed the psychic again and to River's amazement it didn't short out.

"What's UNIT?" She questioned shakily.

River glanced at Amy and saw she was rapidly returning to what she'd looked like before Jack had tried to help. "Okay, this is too slow." She reached behind her and pulled out the gun Jack had given her and rested it on her lap, barrel pointed in Kate's direction. "Put on your seatbelt and start driving. We'll explain and give you directions on the way."

"River." the Doctor admonished.

"I said I'd 'try'." River told him as Kate quickly did as told. "I didn't say I'd manage it."

* * *

><p>"So, you're saying my dad works for, and helped found, a military organization that fights off aliens that are hostile and helps aliens that are good along with my step-mother, several Uncles and my Aunt." Kate repeated, clearly in shock as she drove.<p>

"Yup." the Doctor agreed, watching the road and trying to remember the best path to UNIT. "Don't forget I'm a face changing alien who you've met. I think I had white curls at the time. You were little and at your dad's wedding." He said smiling at her.

"In velvet...With Aunt Jo?" Kate glanced in the rear view mirror. "That was you?" she asked remembering the strange man she used to giggle at as a child.

"Yes." He smiled at her even as he kept an eye on their surroundings. "Turn left next time it's possible." He said checking on Amelia.

Kate glanced down and to her left, realizing that while River did have a gun pointed in her direction, the woman's finger wasn't even on the trigger but instead resting across the guard.

Her siblings had talked about aliens before with all the enthusiasm of children with a new game, which considering the eldest was six years younger than her wasn't strange. What was strange, now that she thought about it, was that whenever the younger three tried to talk to her about them they were quickly distracted by her dad or step-mother. Same for their 'cousins'.

Aliens were real...aliens were real and her entire family, babies included, knew about it bar her.

Why?

"Kate, left turn." River prompted her.

"Yeah, sorry." Kate nodded and did as told.

"The guard at the gate is going to ask you to prove who you are," the Doctor said seriously from the backseat, adjusting his posture so it looked like Amy was just sleeping against him. "River, use the psychic to make sure we get through. I'd have Kate do it but..." He said looking at their…guide.

"I know." River said, shifting so she could hide the gun from sight again.

Kate pulled to a stop just before the barrier, next to a small hut. "What do I-" she asked looking at them.

"Just tell them your name and that you need to see the Brigadier for a very important matter." River instructed quietly, changing position to rest on her hip, facing Kate. "Something he has to know in person." She explained smiling at the young girl.

"Can I help you, miss?" a younger looking man in UNIT uniform asked, ducking to look through the window.

"Yeah...yes." Kate cleared her throat. She had two choices right now, she could believe the Doctor and follow her instincts about what was right or she could scream down the rooftops and get men with guns running to find them and if the Doctor's story was true do nothing more than delay medical help. "I'm Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. I need to talk with my father urgently. The Brigadier." She said demanding.

The soldier's eyes went wide, "Have you got any proof?" he stuttered

River leaned across Kate and held up the psychic, "Of course she does." She said as the guard's eyes widened.

"O-o-of course!" the stepped back and saluted the occupants of the car, "Your father's running training today so you'll need to take the first left and drive on through till you reach the second right. Ask whoever's around and they can take you to him."

Kate tapped her fingers nervously on the wheel until he opened the gate for them to enter. "Easier than I thought." she admitted.

"Yes, well your father and step-mother are very important people here." River handed the psychic back to the Doctor, "that and the paper tends to lie very well." She explained.

"Turn right." the Doctor instructed Kate, putting the paper back in his pocket. "Right after the green sign there." He directed his voice strained as Amelia's breathing worsened again.

Kate gave up her will to her instincts. Everything she knew was telling her that this man, the Doctor, was telling the truth. After all she'd heard that name quite often when at parties and gatherings but always in reference to a 'Dr. John Smith' and had brushed it off as it being another quirk like everyone calling her father 'The Brigadier' instead of 'Alistair'.

Her siblings mentioned aliens, cousins too and it explained far more than anything else ever had about her honorary Aunts and Uncles.  
>Something was also telling her that the woman holding a gun on her had no real intention of shooting her at any time. Then again, people who said they'd shoot you often didn't according to her father.<p>

The worst that could happen if she were wrong is that she'd be shot after helping someone receive medical care in a building full of medical supplies where her Uncle worked. Fair trade, if it worked, she decided.

"Right, stay in front of me, just a little." River instructed Kate, holding her lightly in place by the back of her jacket, the other hand hand holding the gun and keeping it hidden between the two of them. "You're important here, remember that." She whispered.

"Got it." Kate didn't feel near the fear she should. _'Maybe this is what dad feels like before a mission'_ she wondered to herself.

"Tell us where, sweetie." River said over her shoulder to the Doctor who was following closely, Amy in arms.

"Keep going down this hallway." he told them, "We need the second turn which gets us the elevator." He whispered back looking around.

"Elevators during storming is a bad idea." River told him, following his directions anyway.

"Yes, but they're better than stairs that have alarms rigged on them and are often used by soldiers who want a smoke." he pointed out.

"Point." River allowed. She held Kate back to stop her and peeked around the corner first to make sure it was clear before going through. Before she had time to press the button on the elevator it dinged and the doors opened. She took several steps back, pulling Kate with her and Kate could feel her grip on the gun changing behind her back.

The elevator opened to reveal a man in a light brown overcoat holding a briefcase looking thoroughly confused.

"Kate?" Harry demanded in surprise. "What on earth are you doing here?" he asked worriedly.

"Hi Uncle Harry." Kate said weakly, giving a half wave with her left hand.

"Sullivan?" River asked.

"That'd be him." the Doctor agreed.

"Good." River smiled and moved the gun from its hidden place to where it was visible to Harry, muzzle pressed against Kate's side. "We need access to your offices, Dr. Sullivan, and to your stores." She demanded cocking the gun menacingly.

Harry's eyes went wide and he muttered an oath that seemed entirely surreal coming from his mouth.

"If it's drugs you're after -" he started, ready to give the answer the UNIT brass had told him.

"Not even." River pulled Kate into the elevator and nudged Harry aside to make room for the Doctor to come in.

"Sort of true, but we're not after anything for any reason other than to save my daughter, Harry." the Doctor told him, "She's sick and needs help." He said showing him the small pale girl in his arms.

"Then why not go through normal means?" Harry demanded, watching them with concern and anger, "Why not take her to a normal hospital or request help." He said worriedly looking at the girl in the Doctor's arms.

"It would take too long." he answered simply, "and UNIT owes me. Third floor, dear." The Doctor said putting on a cheerful front to hide his worry.

River nodded and pressed the button, carefully keeping watch over Harry, just in case it seemed.

Kate could feel the way she was moving and realized that she had no intent towards Harry either. If she did the gun would probably be angled forward, not backwards. As it were if something were to happen and the gun bumped enough it went off it would shoot towards River, not either other people.

"How do you know enough about UNIT to navigate?" Harry clenched his fist around his briefcase handle and was turning red. "How did you know who to take to get in here?" he demanded.

"Same reason I know where everything is located, know all the codes and think that 'buffalo' is a rubbish passcode." he looked sideways at Harry and smiled in a way that nearly made Kate laugh, "Hello, Harry, I'm the Doctor."

Harry's eyes, if possible, went wider. "You can't be." He said quietly.

"Haven't you heard, I regenerate?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, but...The Doctor wouldn't kidnap someone that's very important to his friends and sneak into UNIT." Harry countered.

"Technically Kate volunteered to help us and River's the gun wielder so at worst we've stolen a very ugly car and no, mostly I was sneaking out of UNIT. Paperwork was horrible and in triplicate. Triplicate, Harry!" he yelled jostling the girl in his arms that moaned causing him to stop.

"Tell me something only the Doctor would know." Harry said, resorting to the most clichéd but working method he could remember.

"When I got married on Poosh you couldn't stop laughing despite the threat of being burned alive or otherwise sacrificed because you thought Sarah and I looked like drowned rats that had been singed first and Sarah couldn't move without that stupid shirt riding up." the Doctor offered, smiling lightly at the memory, "You blushed." He whispered.

"I did not!" Harry protested glaring at the doctor.

"Like a tomato." the Doctor teased.

"It really is you." Harry said, "What's wrong with your daughter? Oh, God, you have a child." Harry looked disturbed by that thought.

"Yes, I do. She's got pneumonia, advanced. Where we were...it couldn't be treated. We're on a stop over." the Doctor said once the elevator opened and River motioned for them to follow her. "Second left, dear." the Doctor told her then turned back to addressing Harry, "The TARDIS isn't working so well and until we can make the hop back to where we came from we need to get her stable." He explained.

"Dr. Sullivan?" They all turned to see a man in uniform walking down the hall towards them. "I thought you'd left early?" the sudden voice made River flinch, and hold her gun to Kate's back.

"I, um..." Harry stuttered.

"Is everything alright?" the soldier asked, hand slowly reaching to rest on his gun as he observed the newcomers.

"River." the Doctor said softly, inching towards the locked door, "What you have to. Harry, open the door." He insisted seeing the look on River's face.

Harry reached for his keys, "Everything's fine, Jordan. Just helping out a friend." He tried to say calmly.

"Civilians in UNIT? Does Colonel Crichton know?" Jordan asked.

"No, He's not been notified." Harry managed to unlock the door and motioned the Doctor inside quickly.

"Dr. Sullivan, is there-" Jordan cut himself off, eyes going wide as River moved and the silver of the gun was seen.

"Hold it," River yelled as he reached for his own gun, "This here is Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and I'm already able to fire; do you really want to risk that?" she said losing her patience.

"I-" the recruit started staring in fear.

"Into the office, please, Dr. Sullivan." River said politely, slowly moving backwards and pulling Kate with her.

Once she was through the door she slammed it shut and let Kate go, "Doctor, how do I lock it down?" she asked looking at the door.

"There's an alarm system by the door with a keypad." the Doctor said, laying Amy down on the hospital bed. "Type in 7-2-6-4-2." He explained as he checked on his daughter.

"What's that?" River asked as she typed.

"It's panic on a phone." Harry said absently, moving to Amy's side, "How long has she been like this?" he asked quietly, using his knowledge to assess the little girl's state.

"Two days, but sick for around two months nearly...Harry, what's that?" the Doctor asked, voice dangerously low as he looked at Harry's desk where a small vial of blue goo sat undisturbed.

"Huh? I'm not sure. It was here earlier but my wife called and asked me to come home early so I thought I'd research where it came from tomorrow." He explained, not looking as he continued to examine the girl.

River spotted the look in the Doctor's eyes and motioned to Kate, "Help me draw the blinds, please." She'd placed the gun back in her waist band, well aware of how dangerous an idea that was but unable to find a better place that was still on her person.

"So you just left it here?" the Doctor demanded in annoyance.

"Well, yes." Harry said, "What else was I supposed to do with it?" he said turning to look at him.

"What the note said!" the Doctor growled in aggravation and stalked towards the cabinets to gather what he needed, "Set her up on oxygen and then we'll deal with why you're an imbecile." He grumbled angrily.

* * *

><p>"Steady, don't let anything shake you!" the Brigadier ordered as several of the new soldiers jumped in surprise when alarms started blaring. "This is UNIT, nothing scares you."<p>

There were always alarms going off, normally for foolish reasons but on occasion they proved to have something behind them.

This time the alarms were accompanied by red flashing lights, which was rather ludicrous if the Doctor was to be listened to; universally the distress signal was mauve and red wasn't a colour taken seriously.

"Brigadier, sir," an older soldier jogged into the room looking worried, "You've got a call." He said handing the phone to the older man.

"About the alarm?" the Brigadier asked, maybe this time it wasn't something stupid.

"Yes, sir." He said sternly.

The Brigadier nodded and traced back the steps to the office the man had came from, grabbing the phone from where it sat next to the cradle. "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart." he answered curtly.

_"Brigadier, there's an issue in the infirmary." _he heard the voice on the other side say, recognizing it as one of the newer recruits._  
><em>

"Sullivan?" he asked.

_"Has been taken hostage by two unknown armed assailants." _the rookie said._  
><em>

"How did they get into the compound?" the Brigadier demanded, clenching his fists.

_"From what I've been told they used someone they knew they could manipulate access from and drove in." _he said stuttering a bit over the words._  
><em>

"What soldier was stupid enough to allow that?" the Brigadier resisted hitting the desk in anger. One of his good friends was now in danger.

_"It, er, it wasn't a soldier, sir. A civilian. One with a last name no one at the gate questioned." _He said regaining some composure._  
><em>

"What last name?" the Brigadier asked, voice dangerously quiet as he hoped that it wasn't what he was thinking.

_"Lethbridge-Stewart, sir. The paper said, and the girl introduced herself as, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart." _He said quietly._  
><em>

The Brigadier's heart sunk and his stomach went cold. "Call my wife and my Ex. I'm on my way." He said sighing as he thought of the mess that was about to happen, and he wasn't talking about the intruder, no…he had something worse to deal with now.

_"Yes, sir."_the soldier said timidly._  
><em>

* * *

><p>"Why's he so angry about blue stuff?" Kate asked quietly, watching as the Doctor paced back and forth. Harry had set up an IV into Amy and had it steadily dripping something down and into her veins. He'd already given her something in injection form and set an oxygen mask over her face.<p>

"That blue stuff is an alien medication." River told her, "From the consistency I'm going to bet it's highly concentrated. In that form and with that much of it you could fix whatever was wrong inside you." She insisted.

"So...He meant for Uncle Harry to drink it?" Kate looked worried, what could be wrong with him.

"I think so, yes." River said.

"You're an imbecile!" the Doctor finally blurted out, "I stave off regeneration to go through and help everyone and you don't even follow directions! Do you know how painful that was? I swear..." the Doctor fisted his hands in his hair and looked torn between yelling more and laughing. "Sit down on the other bed." the Doctor directed.

"Doctor, I-" Harry protested.

"Sit!" the Doctor ordered. Once Harry had sat down he started talking again. "I knew the timelines were weird around you last time we met but I didn't realize the reason they were still in flux was that you were an idiot and needed me to make you do something." He rambled, forcing the medicine into Harry's hands.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, looking at the vial again.

"Have you been having chest pain lately? Shoulder hurting, just a backache you can't place?" the Doctor asked, voice concerned.

"Yes...I've just been overworked or playing too many games with my boys. They're young and like being picked up and tossed around." Harry said, brushing it off.

"No." The Doctor stated

"No?" Harry questioned looking at him.

"No." the Doctor shook his head, "Heart problems, undiagnosed. Today on your way home you were going to have a massive heart attack, crash your car and not survive. The last me fixed that...or so I thought." the Doctor grabbed the vial and held it out to the now pale Harry. "Drink that. All of it."

Harry opened the top and frowned, "I hate this stuff."

"Oh, just do it and stop complaining." the Doctor muttered and crossed to Amy's bedside where he pulled the receiver to her bracelet from his pocket and set it on her bedside, making sure to turn it up so they could hear the beeping from it.

Harry made a face but tipped the vial into his mouth, swallowing hard to get around the fact thati it held the consistency of cold shampoo. "Ugh," he gagged, "Tastes like soap."

"Yes, well it saves your life." the Doctor said, more content now that the timeline around Harry was solid. "Now...how do I contact the Brigadier and tell him that I didn't technically kidnap his child?"

"I have a better question." Kate spoke up from her seat at Harry's desk, "Who's going to tell my mum why I disappeared from in front of a bank she was inside?"

"Um..." River and the Doctor shared a look that Harry found far too entertaining.

"Let's let your dad do that, Kate." Harry said evenly, hand over the centre of his chest to cover the weird tingling sensation, "There's less chance of him being shot."

"Speaking of her dad." the Doctor looked at Harry even as he sat at Amy's bedside, "You said Crichton is in charge?" he asked.

"Yes." Harry said still getting the taste out of his mouth.

"So why is he here?" The Doctor asked looking at Harry.

"He may be retired from the military but he still leads some of the main training exercises. Same for Liz." Harry added, "She's playing stay-at-home mum till her youngest reaches pre-school but overall..." Harry lowered his voice, "We're getting out of UNIT and going towards..."

"PERU." the Doctor said, smiling slowly, "Good on you."

"Yes, PERU. I'm retiring next month and going into the civilian sector." Harry smiled, "At least according to official records."

"Did it have to be Crichton though?" the Doctor whined, "I prefer Bambera so much more..."

The phone on Harry's desk started ringing even as River glanced out the windows and noted how many soldiers seemed to be converging on their location.

"Doctor, I do believe we might get shot." River moved her hand and let the blinds fall again.

"Doubtful, UNIT isn't well known for its marksmanship." the Doctor scoffed and picked up the receiver, "Yes, what do you want?" the Doctor's face contracted into a scowl, "I'm not planning on shooting Harry! He may be an imbecile but that doesn't mean I want to shoot him and I'm not letting anyone else do it. My intentions towards Kate?" the Doctor blinked and looked over to the teenager, "Do I have intentions towards you?" the Doctor asked, tilting the phone away to muffle his voice.

"I hope not." River said, sitting on the other side of Amy's bed and brushing her hair away from her face affectionately while also checking her temperature, "I may have to get violent."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Oooh, back to civilization! Not by much, but hey! <em>Yay, we got it out really early today. It's amazing what a very badly made bet and bribery of avengers fanfic will do. <em>I know, right! Might either, a) Post early next week or b) post a one-shot in celebration of my birth! I'll finally be a legal adult in every sense of the law. _She says that now, then she'll call me and go "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME IT WAS WEDNESDAY!?" and realize she has to write a lot still. _Oh, shut it you. Enjoy!]**


	97. Identities, Conversations and Going Home

"I swear to God I'm going to skin the moron who let them in alive!" the Brigadier yelled, loud enough that the soldiers nearby flinched back. "What've you got?" he demanded.

"Just a phone for now." the soldier who seemed to be in charge motioned towards where they had indeed pulled a phone into the centre of the room. "We haven't tried anything yet, not without you or Colonel Crichton..." he said nervously.

"Well, I'm here so let's get a move on!" the Brigadier flexed his hands, trying not to throttle anyone.

"I'm here as well; make that call." they turned to see a tall man in uniform striding towards them with purpose. "I'll speak to him." The man said loftily.

"Charles..." the Brigadier growled warningly.

"I am in charge here, Sir Alistair. I will handle this phone call." Crichton told him, using his name and not title in a subtle attempt to show who was in charge.

The Brigadier stepped back and waited, reclining with his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest in annoyance. His wife would be arriving soon, hopefully and his ex-wife was probably plotting his murder even as they tried to figure the situation out. It had been her car outside as well which just added another layer of annoyance.

Harry knew how to conduct himself in any given hostage situation thanks to years of training and experience in dealing with hostile environments. Until he knew exactly what was going on he wasn't going to call Jean Sullivan either, she already had two small children to care for and being heavily pregnant she didn't need to deal with this when there was nothing she could do.

"Brigadier." one of the older soldiers motioned him over discretely.

"Yes, Jordan?" The Brigadier said quietly looking at the soldier.

Jordan shifted side to side in his boots, "The people who did this...I'm the one who encountered them." He stuttered nervously.

"Go on." the Brigadier said, stepping to the side of the room and lowering his voice, "What did you see?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Well, sir, the woman was armed and she had the gun against...Against your daughter's side but the man..." Jordan frowned, "I didn't see a gun on him, but he held a little girl in his arms. Like you'd hold a baby? She didn't look very well. Dr. Sullivan tried to send me away, sir. Like he didn't want me caught up in it." The man explained a bit calmer.

"Can you tell me anything more? What did they look like?" the Brigadier urged, noticing when his wife entered across the room and motioning her over.

"They...they didn't fit." Jordan said, the words obviously giving him great pause as he puzzled over how to articulate his thoughts.

"Didn't fit how?" the Brigadier coaxed him to continue as Liz reached his side, slipping her hand into his without saying a word.

"The man was...I haven't seen anyone dressed like him outside of movies that take place in like the 20's." Jordan said, aware of how stupid it sounded, "The woman...She fit better with the current fashion and what I saw of the girl...Look, I know how stupid this sounds, Brigadier, but UNIT has dealt with time travelers before, right? So if it were possible...could they have been brought forward on accident?" he asked unsure.

"It's unlikely but not impossible." Liz said, speaking finally. "The Doctor isn't the only one with that capability." she said quietly.

"Thank you, Jordan. Keep this between us, please? We don't want to start something unless we're sure." The Brigadier stated.

"Of course, sir." Jordan gave a salute and walked back to where he had been.

"Time travel." Liz mused, "Not a bad theory but it still begs the question of how they knew that Kate could get them in when Kate doesn't even know about aliens, time travel or UNIT." She said worriedly

"That's the problem. Who's got the others?" the Brigadier asked worriedly, thinking of his youngest kids.

"Abigail's got the younger three, John went to get Julia and Al from school." Liz told him, quite happy the Benton's were always ready to step in. "We haven't told Jean yet." She answered a frown on her face.

"Good." He said simply, well aware that worrying her would do no good.

"Sarah's calling in favours to keep Fiona from getting the news involved and Mike is working his magic with law enforcement." Liz said trying to calm him.

"You know, it's a damn good thing we use our powers for good." the Brigadier said with more flippancy than he felt.

"Brigadier!" Crichton called, waving him over with a distinct look of annoyance.

"Yes?" he asked, moving close but keeping Liz's hand in his for the moment.

"He's refusing to speak to anyone but you." Crichton bit out as he held the receiver out to the Brigadier.

The Brigadier grabbed the receiver, took a steadying breath and put it to his head. "Hello?" he stated firmly.

_"It's about bloody time! Crichton may be a competent military man but he's still an idiot." _a male's voice rang out with annoyance, _"Honestly, 'intentions towards Kate'? Please...He might just be a bigger imbecile than Harry."_the man's voice continued whining.

"Why did you take my daughter?" The Brigadier demanded.

_"It was convenient. Were you nearer I would have begged your help, as much as it pains me to admit that. I needed Harry's help, just for now then you can have him back." _The man stated.

"What's your name? Who am I speaking with?" The Brigadier continued, trying to keep his voice level.

_"If I tell you will it stay under Communication blackout level A? I'd try to add S or F but Liz is already here, I'm sure, and most of your friends have probably heard."_The man's tone was serious but mixed with humour.

The Brigadier felt his heart jump as he tried to hide his surprise at the statement. "John?" he asked quietly.

_"Well, most recently they've been using 'Iain'. Does it count as breaking and entering if you've never been taken off the payroll?"_ the Doctor asked laughingly.

"I think it still does." the Brigadier glanced sideways and saw the recognition in Liz's eyes that he was sure appeared the moment he said 'John'. "What do you want? What are your 'demands'?" he asked with a sigh.

_"I'd love some Jammie dodgers and a fez, but in this case I'll settle for Harry's help and no military idiots getting ready to shoot me." _the Doctor answered smartly.

"I'll see what I can do." the Brigadier promised, "If I can do that will you let me in?" he asked.

_"'Course. No reason to keep you out beyond the death glare Kate's sending me."_he said in a serious tone.

The Brigadier checked his watch, "Give me five minutes."

_"Just make sure it's not twelve years." _the Doctor joked, his voice lighter than either felt.

"What?" The brigadier looked at the phone, maybe the doctor had gone senile, or whatever the time lord equivalent was.

_"Don't be late." _the Doctor insisted.

The Brigadier hung up the phone and turned to Crichton, a light in his eyes that Liz knew meant her husband was back in full military leader mode. "Crichton, we need to talk."

* * *

><p><em>Everything hurt, moving, breathing, and even thinking hurt. She wasn't where she had been, though; the floor was harder than she remembered.<em>

_Amy forced her eyes open and looked around, finding herself lying on a smooth, cold wood floor in a room she didn't recognize._

_"You shouldn't be here." She heard someone say as she jolted, wincing in pain and looked up, forcing her eyes to focus on who had spoken.  
>An old woman sat with a book in her hands in a rocking chair by a small fireplace that was roaring with flames. <em>

_"Who are you? Where am I?" Amy said raspingly, her voice hoarse and her throat hurting with the effort. _

_"You're nowhere, but somewhere." the woman told her cryptically. "You're dreaming." She clarified after a moment when Amy just watched her._

_She wasn't a woman Amy had ever seen before – awake or dreaming. She had soft brown eyes, grey curls and a sweet smile that masked what Amy thought was either concern or fear. _

_"Why are you in my dreams?" Amy queried. She didn't get an answer though as her body spasmed in a coughing fit that hurt her chest and head so much she about doubled over even from her spot on the floor._

_The woman vacated the chair and was at Amy's side in a heartbeat, arms around her. One hand rubbed circles on Amy's back as she whispered to her soft calming words. _

_"I think that's why." The woman shook her head sadly as Amy's coughing subsided. _

_Amy gasped in a deep breath as she felt like something was trying to electrocute her and warmth spread from her lips to the rest of her body, calming the fit._

_She didn't see the way the woman flinched and forced herself to be steady once more, "You're doing poorly, aren't you?" she asked looking at the young girl sadly._

_"Uh huh." Amy got her breath back. "I thought you were better in dreams?" she whispered her voice scratchy from the coughs._

_"Sometimes." the woman acknowledged. "Most times. Sometimes bad things follow you. Come here." The woman said and with strength that contradicted her age the woman lifted Amy up and into her lap as she sat back down in the rocking chair. "You can rest here for a while until you feel better. I'll watch you." She said soothingly._

_Rocking back and forth gently with only a few coughing fits to make them pause the woman read Amy stories out loud that she didn't quite understand in a language she wasn't sure she knew. But the words soothed her mind and body and she found herself floating blissfully without much pain before long._

* * *

><p>"Son of a bitch!" Jack yelled in pain as he jerked his arm back through the hole in the console flooring.<p>

"Darling, I love you but if you electrocute me one more time I will do something drastic." he threatened the TARDIS, knowing that she wasn't quite fully aware and it was possibly his fault.

"Be nice," Tish told Jack, moving to hand him a new wire to use. They'd raided a local electronics store with what Jack had in cash and might have 'liberated' a few items as well. As Rory sat deconstructing several machines with a screwdriver and a knife she sat playing aid to Jack. "If she's even partially aware enough to zap you for using the wrong wire it's a good thing. She's been...dead the last few months. Nothing, no humming, no feeling, no air." Tish frowned, "It's...Be nice." She warned him.

"I'm being as nice as I can be." Jack said, pulling up another panel and ducking down into it till most of his chest was inside, "but being shocked sucks." he complained, voice muffled in the hole.

"It's an improvement." Tish told him, placing a spanner in his hand when he reached up.

"Not that I'm complaining," Rory said as he steadily hacked at the cover of a toaster, "But how are we going to fix a sophisticated time machine with a toaster and a lamp?" he asked, motioning to one of the other things he'd taken apart.

"We're not." Tish said, sorting through the wires for the next one Jack wanted. "We're basically trying to fix an engine with duct tape and glue; it doesn't have to hold together permanently, just long enough to get where we're going." She said pulling on another wire.

"Uh, someone want to grab that?" Jack asked from inside the TARDIS floor as his phone jingled happily in his pocket some Christmas tune that Tish couldn't quite hear all of.

"Ugh, where's it at?" Tish looked at Jack's trouser pockets.

"Front right." Jack said. Tish leaned over and looked down to see why his voice had changed and realized he was holding a screwdriver with his teeth. "'s Rory's phone." He mumbled going back to work.

Tish pulled on the edge of Jack's pocket and pulled the phone back, sitting calmly back on the floor. "Hello?" she answered timidly.

_"Tish, we've got a bit of a problem." _River said, voice amusingly uncaring.

"Did you get caught storming the gates?" Tish asked.

_"Storming the medical area, yes. We've been surrounded on the outside by armed men as we've locked down the room we're in."_ River explained, sounding more amused than worried.

"What is it with that man and locking down hospitals?" Tish said to herself.

"That River? Ask her if the copper wire touches the red paperclip or the green one!" Jack called out.

_"Red one, dear."_River said to Tish.

"Red one," Tish relayed, "So what's the plan?" she asked again.

_"If we can't come to the TARDIS, you bring the TARDIS to us. One side jump that requires space, not time travel shouldn't hurt anything much. It'll hold together that long, I'm sure. The Doctor's sure too. He would have called but he's currently trying not to freak out over the fact that his oldest friends are here and he's kidnapped the Brigadier's daughter." _She continued and Tish could hear the mix of amusement and worry in her voice.  
><em><br>_"Oh...Speaking of daughters, how's Amy?" Tish asked worrying for her little ward.

_"Breathing easier. The Doctor and Harry have her resting on oxygen. She's stabilized for now and I'm sure Martha can fix her up the rest of the way."River said calmingly._

"Good. Why'd they call Sarah Jane?" Tish asked.

"_Well, I'm not entirely sure but I someone did comment 'do you want to be the one on the receiving end when she finds out he was here and we didn't call'."River said and Tish could hear the tone of irritation._

"Ooh, point. Jack, how close are we?" Tish asked, handing him the heat coils Rory had liberated.

"Seventy percent there." Jack told her, "Next up's the column so...An hour on the outside." Jack told her, reaching upwards, palm extended. "Got anything metal I can use as a conductor yet?" he asked her.

Tish looked around and handed him one of the larger screws that had gone into the electric keyboard they'd already torn apart. "Give us the coordinates and we'll be there." Tish promised River.

_"Aim for earlier than an hour; I believe the Lethbridge-Stewart's are going to war soon. Kate is glaring in a way I haven't seen since Jack set fire to Dave's boyfriend."she continued._

"When did that happen?" she giggled.

_"Spoilers."_

* * *

><p>"Just tell me one thing," Kate said, voice wavering with anger and hurt, "If none of this had ever happened would either of you have ever told me the truth?" Kate demanded, hands clenched at her sides.<p>

The Brigadier glanced towards his wife then back to Kate but neither said a word.

"That's what I thought. I'm going to sit with the people in this room that haven't lied to me my whole life." Kate crossed the room and sat back down next to River who sat at Amy's bedside holding her hand.

"Kate, she threatened to shoot you." Liz pointed out.

"No, she didn't." Kate snapped, "I'm a willing accomplice in the crime of helping the Doctor's daughter live. Arrest me for it." She offered, holding her arms out, wrists up.

"You've done something to her." the Brigadier said, glaring at River who shrugged innocently.

The Doctor looked up from the receiver where he'd been monitoring Amy's process and scowled, "Oi! Don't accuse my girlf—River...River! Don't accuse River of things." the Doctor finished lamely, "She didn't do anything." He said stuttering a bit.

"She held a gun to my daughter." The Brigadier said in a deathly calm voice that promised pain if she had.

"Well, she did do that." the Doctor muttered, blushing and turning away when River smiled at him.

"You are a great human shield." River said teasingly to Kate to make her smile.

Kate laughed, "Don't push your luck or I'll go sit with Uncle Harry." She replied just as teasingly.

"I'm wounded." River said dryly. "So easily abandoned for someone else."

The Doctor snorted then coughed to cover it.

"Keep laughing, sweetie," River said sweetly, "I know where Yumo hid your bowtie." She said mock glaring at him even as she carefully stroked the back of Amy's hand comfortingly.

* * *

><p>"Jack? Jack, you back buddy?" Tish asked, patting the side of Jack's face.<p>

"Ow." Jack groaned, sitting upright and shaking his head, "What's that?" he mumbled.

"Death two still, that was just a knock out due to electricity." Tish said as Rory helped Jack to his feet.

"You've got to eat and soon." She continued.

"Yeah, I really don't want to starve to death again." Jack admitted, biting the edge of his nail in worry absently then making a face at the grease that was on it from the machine parts. "I'll raid the Torchwood fridge and order takeaway later though." He insisted standing up to start working again.

"How quick can you starve to death?" Rory questioned.

"If I die multiple times in a short span with no fuel in between? A few hours." Jack told him, "My body needs a lot of fuel and currently there is none in it, not eve reserves. I'm so hungry I could eat Arthur." He said pulling on some more wires.

"Just leave Yumo alone and you'll be fine." Tish laughed at him. "What are we at?" she asked.

"We are-" Jack reached back into the column and pressed something. Suddenly the humming was back. The lights flipped on fully and the room felt so much more...alive. "Back on the air. Get River on the phone and get me coordinates!" Jack said, dashing from under the console and taking the stairs two at a time, pressing his hands against the console, fingers spread with a look of delight on his face, "Hey, lovely, miss me?" he flirted.

* * *

><p>"You called her? What do you mean you called her!" the Doctor demanded, looking up sharply at the Brigadier's words.<p>

"I'm not going to be on the wrong end of things when Sarah finds out you were here." the Brigadier told him seriously, "Or be found out to have known and not told her." He said honestly, trying not to look smug at the Doctor's worry.

"But she...she can't be here!" the Doctor exclaimed, tossing down the receiver without thinking and barely noting that River had caught it while still on the phone with Jack. "She can't be here because there wasn't recognition—there wouldn't have been because I was me but not me but the me before I was me." He said, hands grabbing at his own hair in frustration, "She remembers when I was the fifth me but never suggested otherwise but...She asked how long, which one...I can't...Maybe...She doesn't remember this?" he babbled.

"Or maybe she knows enough of time travel to know not to mention it?" River suggested cheekily before turning back to the phone.

"Good point but not helping." the Doctor said, pointing at River.

"They're on their way." River said, ending the call and stuffing the phone into her jean pocket and standing up, grabbing the gun from the night stand and returning it to her waistband. "You might want to shield yourself." River said, moving to try and shield both Amy and Kate.

Harry grabbed the curtain that was pressed against the wall, mainly used for preserving patient modesty and pulled it forward to cover himself, the Brigadier and Liz.

Sure enough a whooshing noise filled the room quickly, but it didn't sound quite right. It was too loud and too...off beat.

Lights flickered, wind whirled and the TARDIS landed with a thump against the wall, crushing a few boxes in the process.

"Are they staying inside?" the Doctor asked quickly.

"Yes, they've been warned." River replied, reaching up to unhook the IV bag that Amy was attached to.

"Here," the Doctor switched River sides, "I'll get her in if you'll bring the air." He stated rubbing his hand over Amy's forehead.

"Of course." River said. She looked in annoyance at the oxygen tank and waited until the Doctor had Amy lifted into his arms before she removed the mask from Amy's face.

He crossed the room quickly, nudging the door to the TARDIS open with his foot and making sure it wouldn't be open enough for anyone to see inside. The Doctor winced at the appearance of the TARDIS but his hearts leapt with joy when he felt some sort of connection. Primitive, tentative but the TARDIS was bringing back their connection which meant Jack had done something right. Speaking of Jack...

"Over here!" Jack waved him over from the other side of the console. "Rory and Tish are in the wardrobe with Yumo until you call. I don't want to interrupt so..." he babbled sticking his head out.

"No problems, Jack. Here, can you hold her until I get everything settled?" the Doctor asked, indicating Amy.

"Of course." Jack held out his arms and accepted Amy into them, sitting quickly on the floor, back against the railing to keep from falling. "Whoa, forgot, fuel. Sorry." He said weakly.

"You're fine." the Doctor said, setting the IV bag on Jack's shoulder, "We'll get you fixed once we're righted again." the Doctor smiled and patted Jack's other shoulder companionably.

"Doctor, I'd get out of the TARDIS and say your goodbyes now if I were you." River said as she quickly made it to Jack's side and fixed the oxygen mask onto Amy's face. "There's a very annoyed reporter out there." She said in irritation.

The Doctor swallowed hard, "That's incentive to leave?" he asked.

"Yes." Jack said, eyeing the door, "I can't...can I?" he asked sadly.

"No." the Doctor said firmly.

* * *

><p>The Doctor edged his way out of the TARDIS and slammed the door quickly behind him to make sure that no one could possibly have seen in. Jack was weird enough with time lines, he couldn't have him being seen here. The Brigadier was still talking with Harry, Kate was glaring daggers at him while Liz tried to talk to her but there was one new person in the room.<p>

"Sarah." he said softly, noticing the eyes that were dark with anger and sadness.

She was younger than the last time he'd seen her and older than the last time she'd seen him, but he could recognize her anywhere.

What struck him wasn't the long curly dark hair or even the pink cloth jacket, but the fact she was wearing a skirt. In the entire time he'd known her since he found her again at the school full of Krillitaines she hadn't worn a skirt. Hell, ever since the Death Zone.

"Doctor?" she asked, voice curious and confusion evident. "Who was that?" she continued, motioning towards the TARDIS where River had disappeared into.

The Doctor looked around, noted his other friends intently 'not' listening and made a face. "Not having this here...Oh, look, a storage closet." he said brightly, grabbing Sarah Jane's wrist and tugging her into it, shutting the door behind them as he pointedly ignored the Brigadier's laugh.

"Right, so we're out of sorts, me and you." he said pointedly, reaching up and pulling the cord to turn the light on. They were in a small space four foot by three foot space used to keep medical supplies that Harry didn't need at the time. "And I don't mean all cross and bickery either." he continued, looking annoyed when he realized he couldn't make any hand gestures when they were this close, "I mean time wise." He babbled.

"You've regenerated." Sarah Jane observed.

He deflated and just looked at her, "Not since I last saw you but five times since you'll next see me." the Doctor said seriously.

"What?" Sarah asked confused.

"We're out of sorts." he repeated. "When did you last see me?" he asked honestly.

"When you left me in Aberdeen." Sarah Jane said in irritation. "Six years ago." She added for his benefit.

He winced, "Oh." He said quietly.

"When did you last see me?" she countered, crossing her arms.

"Eight months ago or about...Oh, a week. It really depends on your point of view but we had doughnuts and coffee and made fun of Torchwood. And we watched TV on your couch! Good couch, comfy couch. I commend you for picking it." he said, babbling from nerves, "You don't appreciate a good couch till you have to sleep on one for a while." He continued without taking a breath.

"You've been visiting since you abandoned me?" she asked angrily.

"I didn't..." the Doctor sighed and reached out, putting his hand on Sarah Jane's arm as he realized how hurt she really was. When he'd met her as his tenth self she'd had long enough to get over the pain and resentment, she'd been able to see things differently, but now? Now she was just a scared and upset woman who didn't know he'd return. "Time went wrong, I came back for you but not when I intended to." he said, carefully wording it. That was true, he'd been intending to come back for her five minutes after he'd left her once he reached his last regeneration. That way he'd be able to live the rest of his life with his best friend. "I was late. Very late," he amended at her look and took a step closer, "A few regenerations went past and...I found you again. I will find you again and we'll adventure like we used to." he promised, noticing the way she was avoiding his eyes. "I promise you, Sarah, I will come back because I did." He insisted.

"How long?" she demanded.

"For you or me?" the Doctor asked, "Because I have plans to meet you within the next few hours and beg you on my knees to help me fix whatever I broke inside the TARDIS." He explained.

"How long until I see you again?" she asked sadness overwhelming the anger.

"That I can't tell you." he said with a frown that matched hers. He felt his hearts breaking when he realized how near tears she was. "If I could I would but the first time we met after...well, the next time we met when I was a new me you didn't know you'd meet me. You didn't know any of this which means either you didn't remember -" he babbled nervously.

"Or I can bloody well keep a secret." Sarah Jane snapped.

"I know you can." he winced at her anger, knowing he deserved it but unable to comfort her any more than he already had.

"So who was she? Your newest companion?" Sarah Jane asked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, fruitlessly trying to keep back tears.  
>"No...Not...River's not a companion." the Doctor said honestly, "She's...She's...It's complicated. Really, it is. If it helps you'll know everything about it in about three hours my time." he offered weakly. "I'm sorry, Sarah, I can't-"<p>

The door was pulled open and they pulled apart immediately, him looking towards who was there and Sarah Jane turning her back to him.

"Doctor, we have to go now." River said urgently, "He's not holding up and she-"

"I know." the Doctor sighed, exiting the small space right behind Sarah Jane. "I'll be right in."

"Right." River nodded, looking between the two with something akin to sympathy in her eyes before she turned and walked away, back into the TARDIS.

"Sarah." he said, catching her with his hand on her shoulder. "I will come back, you just have to wait."

"How long do you expect me to sit around waiting for a call that for all I know won't come for another twenty years?" she asked angrily.

He winced, not wanting to acknowledge how close she was on that statement, that in fact it was closer to twenty-three more years. "I didn't expect you to. Please, I have to go. I have to save my friends but..." he held his arms out slightly to the side, "Please, Sarah?"

She watched him for a moment then turned and walked away, leaving him behind.

The Doctor did flinch that time, lowering his arms and swallowing the lump in his throat. He turned, not saying a word to any of his other friends and walked into the TARDIS, slamming the door behind him hard.

He froze at the console, hands entwined in his hair tightly and his eyes closed as he tried to control both his emotions and his breathing.

"What's wrong?" Tish asked, reaching out and touching his side lightly to get his attention.

The Doctor remove his hands from their position and looked at Tish. His face was utterly heartbroken and his eyes wet. "I didn't get my hug." he said, the words stated so simply but bearing such sorrow that it nearly broke her own heart.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Short chapter. We're blaming it on my birthday and a one-shot, sorry. My partner has already passed out so that's a bad sign. Hope you like the chapter, next week's should be more and on time. Hopefully.]<strong>


	98. Crash landings, Records and Reunions

The hub was silent, well as silent as it ever got. The machines, computers, and various alien electronics rumbled and hummed as they did their jobs. The only other sounds were those of Amidala chewing sleepily on a blue stuffed pig toy, and him rolling the rolling office chair across the floor.

Mickey was so bored, usually this wasn't the case, usually there was someone else with him, there was supposed to be, but Jack was currently missing again and not due back for another twenty minutes. Gwen and Rhys had taken off about three hours ago when 'shift' ended though they were quiet about something and Gwen looked a little troubled. When he'd asked Rhys had assured him nothing was wrong, just a 'family issue'.

Martha had spent the day reporting to PERU and had only returned home a few hours ago so he'd told her to hang back at home and he'd just meet up with her then. She promised food and a new video game when he returned so it wasn't a bad trade for letting her get rest instead of boring her with hub guarding duty.

If it were possible Mickey would have been watching TV or playing his video games but he'd forgotten his newest one at home and someone – they definitely were not blaming the six months pregnant woman – had broken the tv by accident.

For a while it'd gone okay. Amidala was a good dog and he had had lots of fun training her to bring him things, or sniff out things in Torchwood. Then she'd got tired and he was left alone with his thoughts.

"Ugh," Mickey kicked off of his desk and let the chair roll till it hit Gwen's desk all the way across their 'office area'. "Dala, baby, I'm bored enough I'm going to start prank calling people." He checked his watch yet again. Only 9:40, damn it.

Maybe when the Doctor dropped Jack off he'd visit for a little bit before going home...maybe. Oh, maybe he'd get a chance to go raid his old room and see what he'd left what felt like an eternity ago.

Amidala stood up quickly from her spot, dropping her toy and growling low in her throat.

"What's wrong?" Mickey asked, standing up as well and pushing his chair in.

A loud electrical noise echoed through the hub and Mickey threw himself forward as wind kicked up, wrapping himself around Amidala protectively as papers flew and the noise got louder. With a sound like thunder and a very familiar wooshing noise – much louder than normal – the TARDIS appeared, spinning and landed hard on its side in the middle of the floor.

"Shit. Amidala stay." Mickey ordered the frightened puppy. Leaving her side he ran quickly up the stairs, praying that there had just been some stupid mistake and nothing was wrong. He reached the side of the TARDIS and was trying to figure out the best way to climb it and get inside, if the gravity would work inside correctly or if he'd end up falling clear down into some unknown room, when both doors flew open, landing with a solid crack against the sides of the TARDIS.

"Hey, you all okay in there?" Mickey yelled down, grabbing hold of the bottom of the TARDIS and pulling himself up to look over the edge and down into the console room.

"No." Jack yelled back, "We need some help." His voice echoing from inside the TARDIS.

Mickey pushed down with his hands and lifted himself up till he was straddling the edge of the TARDIS. "What do you need?" he yelled.

"Mainly a hand out." Tish replied as her arm appeared in front of him, the rest of her hard to see through the thick white smoke.

"How'd you crash it this horribly?" Mickey asked as he grabbed hold of Tish's arm and helped pull her out. She looked so much different than when he'd seen her last weekend it was unreal.

"TARDIS has gone boom." Tish said, hopping down and brushing off her trousers. "Very boom."

Mickey reached back down into the TARDIS and grabbed Rory by his forearm, hoisting him out and onto the edge as well. "How so?" he asked.

"I think just about everything broke in some way and the console caught fire." Rory told Mickey, voice hoarse for some reason.

"I see." Mickey blinked to clear his eyes, "Did the Doctor's kid grow like...a lot in one night or did you guys kidnap another woman?" he asked as the smoke cleared a bit and he saw River.

"That's Amy's mum." Tish volunteered, helping Rory brush all the new rubble off of him.

Mickey shrugged and leaned over again, balancing himself with his left arm on the TARDIS door and reaching with his right, "Hello, Amy's mum." He said looking her over.

"Call me 'River'." River said with a smile as she grabbed Mickey's offered hand climbed out. "You're up, Jack." She said smiling at him.

"Hold on, playing trade off." Jack said. A moment later he appeared on the edge, hauling himself out to sit like Mickey was. "Right, so now we get to haul out the Doctor and Sleeping Beauty." Jack told Mickey.

Jack steadied himself and reached down into the depths of the TARDIS and with effort lifted out Amy onto his lap. "Not so hard." He said breathlessly, well aware that his failing strength was a sign he really needed to eat something and soon. It shouldn't be this hard to lift her!

"Hold on, be back." the Doctor said, letting himself fall back into the TARDIS.

Moments later he reappeared with a squirming blue animal in his arms.

Mickey hopped down off the edge to let the Doctor finish climbing out and then looked at the bedraggled group, "What happened?" he sighed as he looked at the assembled time travellers.

"House fire." Rory offered.

"Horrible time period." Tish leaned against Rory as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Bad timing and a rigged vortex manipulator." River said.

"Really bad timing." Jack agreed, "Mickey, please can you fetch me one of the drinks from the fridge?" he said weakly looking pleadingly at the other man.

"Die?" Mickey asked recognizing the look on his face.

"Three times." Jack nodded, "In a few hours." He admitted.

"On it." Mickey said, jogging off.

"Where's your med wing?" the Doctor asked once he had set Yumo down and had Amy back in his arms.

"This way." River said, moving past the back of the TARDIS and towards a set of glass sliding doors.

"Why do you know the way around my hub?" Jack complained.

"Spoilers." She smirked.

Jack shook his head, "Right...You two can go with them or use the JIC room to clean up and change." He explained staring at the door where Mickey had disappeared.

"Is there a question there?" Rory asked. He looked towards Tish who nodded then followed after the Doctor and River.

"Need help?" Tish asked Jack worriedly. She'd seen the effects of multiple deaths and no fuel before and it wasn't fun in any way. She picked up Yumo as he pawed at her feet and snuggled him against her chest.

"I'll be fine." Jack said as Mickey returned and handed him a meal replacement shake. "Thanks." Jack popped the top on it and, to Tish and Mickey's amazement, drank near half of it in one go. "I'll get real fuel soon," he promised, "But first..." he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to start sending out messages.

* * *

><p>Martha laid on the couch, nearly asleep only half listening to the movie on the TV as she awaited the call from Mickey saying he was on the way home.<p>

Takeaway and a 'new' video game might seem weird to most people, in fact Gwen and Rhys often laughed at them, but it was the best 'date' they'd ever found, easiest way to apologize as well.

Neither had to work the next morning so after a brief nap she had plans to stay up most of the night playing the new Guitar Hero with Mickey and then...who knew?

She'd almost fallen asleep completely when her phone started blaring out an alarm. She jolted upright, almost falling off the couch as she fumbled to grab her phone on the table.

Certain tones for certain callers, but only one thing sent out an alarm blaring like that: A mass text from Jack. It'd been a joke at first, something Gwen said they should do since Jack had discovered his phone's camera had a timer but it'd turned into a fairly good idea and a warning system. They only used the mass texts for emergencies.

Emergencies and Mickey was at work...

She opened the message and felt her stomach turn to ice:

_'All available agents to the hub now. Medical emergency level 2'  
><em>

Level 2, lives at stake...

Martha bypassed the shoes she had sitting at the edge of the couch and hurried to her room to grab the pair of pull on boots she had. They were quicker than dealing with laces and knots and if there were blood they'd wash easier.

She pushed all thoughts that it could be her husband or their pet injured out of her brain, tried hard not to think that maybe something had happened to Gwen and grabbed the keys for their bike.

Mickey might have the SUV, but there was always the sport bike.

Hoping the helmets were still down with the bike Martha left the flat, locking it behind her as she ran.

* * *

><p>Rhys sat silently in the car, trying to figure out what to do. Logically they knew that Jack was coming back to Earth, hell, he already had, but emotionally...They'd just watched a broken hearted Jack disappear off the Earth for what they knew would be about three years.<p>

If that wasn't enough to make Rhys what to hit Jack, the fact that Jack hadn't warned them when this would happen would be. They'd just talked to him at lunch! That man was only gone for a few hours any given Tuesday, so why did it hurt so much to watch him leave?  
>Gwen crying he could understand, but why did he feel so...sad?<p>

"I'll be fine," Gwen said, catching her breath and wiping at her tears, head leaning against Rhys' shoulder.

Rhys didn't say anything, just hummed comfortingly and rested his arm around her shoulders.

It wasn't long after they started back towards Cardiff that Gwen and Rhys' phones both started blasting out the same alarm tone.

"Shit. Who's working tonight?" Rhys cursed, arching off the seat so he could get his phone from her back pocket.

"Just Mickey." Gwen said, breath catching in her throat as she opened her own phone.

"Level 2, that's lives in danger, right?" Rhys kept one hand on the wheel as he checked his phone.

"Yes. Go, fast." Gwen urged him.

"On it." Rhys said, handing her his phone and pressing harder on the gas pedal.

* * *

><p>"That's attractive." Mickey said, wrinkling his nose as Jack finished off his second drink and let out a very loud belch.<p>

"Hey, dead several times!" Jack protested, "I don't want to starve. Plus, you're worse." He grumbled before stuffing half of a granola bar into his mouth.

"So what's wrong with the Doctor's kid?" Mickey asked.

Tish had disappeared into the medical wing as well, leaving behind the weird blue animal that was following Jack's footsteps, unable to enter without anyone's help.

"Pneumonia." Jack told him, "We got stuck back in time." He said finally slowing in his eating.

"You've only been gone a few hours." Mickey said shaking his head.

"Really? Good. I've been gone eight months." Jack ran his hand over his face and let out a sigh of relief. "Rory and I got trapped in the 60's, where I just died in a house fire, thanks, and the Doctor got trapped in 1913 with the girls. The TARDIS is broke and...It wasn't fun. BUT we're relying on your wife to save her." Jack said as he climbed the stairs to his office, Mickey and the little animal behind him.

"What the hell is this thing?" Mickey asked, looking at the blue creature that was hiding next to Jack as Jack dug through his desk drawers.

"You've met him before." Jack said, slamming one and opening another, "That's 'His Majesty Prince Yumo_'." _Yumo looked up at Jack hopefully and nuzzled against his trouser leg. "I'll let you in there in a moment; give me a second, Yumo." Jack continued batting away the small blue animal.

Mickey's mind swirled at that name. Now that he looked closer he could see the dog he'd known in the dream, ignoring the blue that was. There weren't any fairy wings on the harness though but that look... "Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed, "That's my corgi!" he stared at Jack, not quite believing it.

Jack nodded, "And his owner is the Doctor's daughter." He said ignoring the look on Mickey's face.

"Amy is my Amy, isn't she?" Mickey rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, trying hard to process that. "The Amy from my dream." He whispered remembering.

"Yes...Ha!" Jack produced a bank card and a set of car keys with a triumphant yell. "Mickey, I promise we'll sit down and talk about this once I'm not worried about Rory coughing every five minutes and I'm not terrified for Amy but right now I've got to go talk to them, get it sorted and get on the way to pick up Sarah Jane and Luke so she can help fix the TARDIS and we can access HIS medical supplies." Jack outlined their basic plan.

"Right." Mickey nodded and looked down curiously at the worried looking Uval. "He doesn't know me; have they forgotten?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. The TARDIS did it without permission. They briefly remember you and know you were involved in saving their lives but I know for a fact Amy doesn't remember more than that so I'm assuming Yumo doesn't." he explained, wincing at the extremely sad look that passed over his employee and friend's face.

"Good." Mickey said, following Jack out of the office. "It's hard enough for adults, they shouldn't know." Speaking of animals...Amidala was still sitting in the corner, looking around worriedly. "Stand down." He called out and braced himself for the nearly year old puppy crashing into him but still rocked backwards on his heels when she hit him dead centre. "Good girl!" he proclaimed, rubbing her ears as she tried desperately to clean his entire face. "That's the longest you've had to sit still, huh? What a good girl. I'll have to get a treat for you when Mummy gets here." Mickey praised her, laughing a little and ignoring Jack's laughter.

"Jack." the Doctor called out, standing in the doorway to the medical wing.

"Amy?" he questioned.

"Rory's trying to figure out the newer oxygen tank, it's got some sort of lock on it." The Doctor said, hoping Jack knew how to fix it.

"Yeah, Martha's got equipment coded and I-" the entry alarm blared as the lift descended and Jack smiled, "She'll show him how it's done." He said running out.

The lift had barely stopped when Martha hurried off it looking quite the sight. She had a dark motorcycle helmet under her left arm, a leather jacket zipped all the way up and boots Jack knew she didn't wear to work most days. Her eyes searched the room and when she saw Mickey, Jack could see the relief temporarily spread in her eyes before worry then nothing replaced it. "Gwen?" she asked, setting the helmet down on a table and walking towards Jack.

"Safe. Fine. Baby too." Jack told her to clear some of the fear he knew she was hiding, "It's Amy, the Doctor's daughter and Rory." He explained still trying to leave.

"Where are they?" Martha stripped her coat off and handed it to Mickey who took it and offered a hug and light kiss on the cheek in return to try and settle her and keep her from going completely unemotional.

"Medical wing. Girl's nearly nine with advanced pneumonia, Rory's got smoke inhalation." Jack told her, moving so she could pass him.

"Martha," the Doctor smiled at her, but it was a fearful one, "My Amelia..." he said, looking lost.

"I'll see to her, Doctor." Martha promised him, entering where he'd left from.

"Jack," the Doctor started again.

"I know, on my way to get Sarah Jane and Luke now." Jack said, holding up his keys. "I can be there and back by about one if we count supply gathering time." He explained jingling the keys.

"Jack-" The Doctor said, his tone even.

"I'm fast, I swear." Jack said.

"JACK." the Doctor said loudly.

"What?" he questioned.

"We don't need you until morning." the Doctor said grudgingly.

"What?" Jack repeated.

"There's no point in dragging them out in the middle of the night when we aren't going to work until I know Amelia's doing better. You might go, but you don't have to hurry back." He mumbled, knowing the time agent would hear him anyway.

Jack stared at him and a smile slowly started spreading across his face, "Are you ordering me to go spend time with your wife?" he teased.

"Don't push it." the Doctor narrowed his eyes and huffily picked Yumo up from where the Uval was pawing at his feet. "I'm not averse to ruining your office while you're gone." He grumbled.

Jack gave a mock salute and smiled at Mickey when the Doctor took Yumo back into the Medical wing. "Stick around, explain to Gwen and Rhys and DON'T let Gwen or Amidala into the medical wing till Amy's better, understood?" he demanded.

"course." Mickey nodded, "Aren't you sticking around?" he asked.

"You heard him," Jack smiled and jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "Plus I haven't seen or spoken to Sarah Jane in eight months." A wistful smile came over his face, causing Mickey to shake his head.

"Say no more, please." Mickey covered Amidala's ears and shook his head.

* * *

><p>Jack preferred the entry and exit to Torchwood that went through the back of Rhys' shop over the invisible lift. While the lift was cool, the shop one was practical. It ended neatly with a door that wasn't there, to put it frankly.<p>

It had been painted to blend with the wall around it and Rhys had slapped a poster up over it of one of the John Smith villains. There was a little keypad next to the door you had to open up with a pressure switch and only once you input the correct code would a door handle appear, sliding out of the wall with a click, leading to the little tunnel that took you to the main hub.

It was 'pretty cool' according to Luke, who'd helped design the route in, and Jack had to agree.  
>He shut the door behind him and heard the click of the handle disappearing into it.<p>

The shop was normally alarmed, but when the door opened it disabled the shop's alarm for five minutes, long enough for them to leave with whatever they needed. They'd either take the front or back door out of the shop and go just around the corner to the little locked garage that the kept the SUV in for safety.  
>Jack couldn't resist impulse and stopped by the little shelves Rhys had set up full of 'gamer junk food', basically quickly eaten items and stuffed some into his coat pockets, quite happy he'd finally gotten it back. He paused though when he heard a key enter the front locks. Gwen and Rhys were back. Good timing.<p>

Jack changed directions and headed towards the front door, "Hey-" Jack was cut off by Gwen nearly throwing herself into his arms, "Gwen? Hey, what's wrong?" Jack encircled her with his arms and rubbed her back lightly as she cried. "Rhys?" he asked softly, looking towards the man.

"We just saw you off." Rhys said coldly, trying to hide the hurt he felt. "You're an ass." He complained.

"That was tonight." Jack hissed out a curse word and tightened his grip on Gwen, "I'm sorry, so sorry." He said honestly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I should have warned you, I should have remembered." he continued putting as much honesty into his words as he could.

"What's the alarm for?" Gwen asked, finally pulling away, "Whose hurt?" she questioned.

"Doctor's kid and your brother." Jack said, looking up at Rhys, "Rory's got smoke inhalation, but he should be fine. He's in the medical wing. I've got to go get Sarah Jane, talk to Mickey, okay?" Jack hugged Gwen again, pressing another kiss to her forehead, "I'm back and I'm staying back, got it?" _'Bar a reappearance that'll send me running again in oh, about a year.'_

"Got it." Gwen nodded and wiped away tears, "Why are you stealing junk food?" she asked looking at his pockets full of treats.

"Died three times, I'm refueling. Gotta stop and fuel up the SUV and myself on the way. See you two later!" Jack yelled as he disappeared out the door.

* * *

><p>Martha surveyed her med wing with a cool analysing stare. In one bed a little girl lay in what looked like a nightshirt and coat, a woman sat at her bedside that Martha didn't recognize but Tish was sitting at the end of the bed while Rory tried to work her machines.<p>

"Hands off, nurseboy." Martha said sternly, crossing to Amy's bedside. "Don't touch my stuff." She said warningly.

"Sorry." Rory stepped backwards, "Just trying to replace the equipment they were using." He continued in quiet deference.

Martha glanced at the very weird and obviously old fashioned oxygen tank with some distrust and then to the IV that was rather antiquated. "When did you try to patch her up?" she asked in near disgust.

"1983," Tish got to her feet and pulled Martha into a tight hug, "God, I've missed you." She exclaimed hugging her sister tighter.

"I just saw you a few hours ago." Martha told her, but hugged her just as tight.

"For you." Tish whispered.

"What? Never mind, medical... Rory, go sit down before I have to kick you out...Actually, you reek of smoke so..." Martha dug into a drawer and produced a set of scrubs she tossed at him, "You breathing okay on your own?" she asked.

"I'm fine. 80% fine. I'm not going to die, my chest just hurts a little." Rory sumarized as he caught the scrubs.

"Go ask Mickey to show you the showers." Martha told him then switched courses when the Doctor reappeared. "Hey, no dogs in the med wing." She insisted staring at the blue dog in The Doctor's arms.

"He's not a dog, he's a Uval." the Doctor said, setting the little creature on the ground, "Yumo, stay out from underfoot and just listen, okay?" he ordered.

Martha looked on with surprise as the little creature proceeded to dash over and hide under Amy's bed, back against the wall where he wouldn't be underfoot. Yumo...She knew that name. "His Majesty Prince Yumo." she said softly.

"Yes." the Doctor said, averting his eyes.

Martha shook her head and pushed those feelings back, "Okay, first we've got to get her changed." She took a breath, to center herself then pulling on a pair of gloves and examining Amy's hand where the IV was. Horribly outdated, it was obviously going to bruise and it was easily replaced with her own stuff...

Martha crossed the room and returned with tape and a cotton ball. "Glad she's asleep, most kids fight like hell at this stage." Martha said, mostly to herself as she removed the tape that held the IV in place. "Tish, cabinets across from my desk, bottom shelf has small gowns, grab one, please?" Martha looked over to the other side of the bed once she had the tape in place and was discarding the old IV. "Who're you?" she asked the red haired woman.

"River Song. Amy's mum." River said. "I'm not a medical doctor, but I'm good at following instructions." She insisted.

"We need to get her changed." Martha said, "Before I get her hooked up to anything else." Martha continued examining the little girl even as she spoke.

"I can help with that." Tish offered, returning with the gown. "River?" Tish looked over at the other woman and motioned her over to help.

The Doctor turned around to face the door, hand over his eyes to avoid embarrassing the girl once she awoke while the two helped dress her quickly.

"Any medications she's already on?" Martha asked, changing out her gloves and finding a new IV kit.

"Just saline for hydration and a cough suppressant...oh, and a little bit of acetaminophen." Tish responded quickly.

"Any medical allergies?" Martha looked distrustfully at the oxygen tank they'd brought and nudged it with her toe, "Uh-uh, that's not sticking around here." she went to grab her own new version of an oxygen tank, much more 'evolved' and thanked Jack quietly for making her outfit this place with everything anyone might need.

"Uh...Cherry?" the Doctor said slowly, "All things cherry or derived from cherries." He said, excited he knew the issue.

"Good to know but not what I asked." Martha said, exchanging Amy's oxygen mask for the new line that worked through the nose, not covering her entire face. "Medical allergies or issues?"

"I...Cherry?" he repeated weakly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as he realized just how little he really knew. "River?" he questioned looking over at his…wife?...girlfriend?...companion?

"Don't look at me." River said, holding her hands up in front of her, "Anything I know could just be because I told you it and it might not be an actually allergy and those I know to be actual allergies could have not been developed yet." She said looking down at the weakened child.

"What?" Martha questioned sternly looking at them both in disapproval.

"They're going back to front," Tish told Martha, "Somehow parenting the same kid when not working on the same time line. It gave me a headache." She explained.

"How is it you're both her parents and yet neither of you have a clue what she's allergic to?" Martha demanded, starting a new IV line in Amy's other hand.

"I...she..." The Doctor started then stopped a frown on his face.

"Has she ever been hospitalized anywhere? Jack's computer system could probably get med records from Jupiter." Martha sighed, trying from another angle.

"Er..." the Doctor looked at Tish worriedly, "Will this be covered by Physician–patient privilege?" he asked hopefully.

"I don't know," Tish said, watching her sister carefully, trying to figure out just how much of what emotion Martha was blocking at the moment. "But I'm certain if you asked her to keep your secret she would." Tish said weakly, smiling.

"Right." the Doctor nodded, "I trust you, Martha Jones. Do you trust me?" he looked her in the eye as she spoke, causing her to pause.

"Yes." Martha said, stepping back from the bed now that the IV was working properly and the oxygen was going. "What are her records under and where?" she demanded.

"Last proper hospital use would be in the early 1990's." the Doctor said, taking a breath and hoping that she wouldn't yell. "Under the name Amelia Jessica Pond." He said this last part quietly, flinching as he did so.

Martha's eyes went wide and she inhaled sharply, "That's Amelia Pond?" she asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes." the Doctor nodded once, "Or she was. Lately we've been using Amy Song and I don't know if 'Smith' is a proper last name when it's not really mine..." he said turning to look back at his child.

"Well, Jack did say she was taken by aliens." Martha said, more to herself than anyone else. She discarded her gloves and moved to her computer to pull up Amy's records.

Tish left the Doctor and River with Amy and stood behind Martha's chair, "Martha?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Martha said, typing quickly.

"Martha." Tish repeated, resting a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"I'll be fine." Martha amended and looked up at her sister, "Your hair is a mess." she stated calmly and Tish could see some light return to her sister's eyes.

"Yeah, it is." Tish laughed.

* * *

><p>Jack exited the SUV, parked in the drive behind Sarah Jane's little car and quietly made sure it was locked. A drive that normally should take two and a half hours somehow got cut down to just over an hour when Jack got the SUV going. It was completely safe too; otherwise he wouldn't drive that way with anyone else in the SUV with him.<p>

He stared at the door for a minute, fighting an internal debate as to what to do before finally picking up the rock he knew hid Sarah Jane's spare key. Technically it was his key but after he'd lost it for the fifth time she'd taken it back and just hidden it in the fake rock to make sure he didn't lose it yet again. He let himself into the house and shut the door behind him, making sure to lock it as well. Jack sat the key down on the hall table and hung his coat up by the door where it was supposed to go.

He reached for his holster to leave his gun in the little lock box she'd purchased when Mickey had lived with her, stating that she wasn't having guns in her house, and cursed quietly when he realized River still had it.

Now that he had actually eaten and was no longer on the verge of starving to death he was starting to get rather tired. Checking his boots for mud he shrugged and took them off at the door anyway, walking down the hall in his socks.

Jack ran his hand over his hair and was immensely thankful that Tish had forced him to take a shower and change clothes while they started tearing apart electronics to fix the TARDIS. It was one thing to show up in the middle of the night, it was another to do it splattered in dried blood and smelling of smoke.

He made it halfway up the stairs when he noticed Sarah Jane standing at the top watching him curiously. "Wake you up?" he asked.

"Barely, it's not that late." Sarah Jane tilted her head to look at him, "You look...tired." she said frowning.

"I am." Jack nodded, reaching the top of the stairs and pulling her into a hug. "Missed you." he murmured, face against the top of her head.

Sarah Jane wrapped her arms around him too, "How long were you gone this time?" she questioned quietly.

Jack laughed quietly, thankful she understood, "Eight months back in time with no contact." he said, voice not as strong as he'd like. He looked down the hallway at a noise and saw Luke look at him through his door, teddy bear clutched in hand and close the door to his room. He would have laughed at Luke rolling his eyes at them but there was time to tease Luke tomorrow. "No contact with anyone in the future, anyway." He amended, letting her pull away.

"Here, let's talk where we won't annoy Luke." She said, stepping back into her room and letting him shut the door behind them. She moved and sat down on the edge of the bed, watching him, "Why no contact?" she said looking at him worriedly.

"Because if we – any of us – contacted someone in the future it was possible that you'd tell us we'd been gone years and we didn't want to risk it." Jack admitted, "So no one but us in two different times. Though, I have to say, you were an adorable child and your cooking skills have not improved." He teased.

"What?" Sarah Jane said, eyes wide in shock and she paled.

"I'm not sure how you could break your arm when you're never anything less than graceful but..." Jack shrugged and emptied his pockets of cash, keys and wallet, leaving them on her dresser. "Maybe you grew into that." He said smiling fondly at the memories.

"You were in the sixties." Sarah Jane said, tears in her eyes now as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Yeah, we—what's wrong?" Jack asked, noticing the tears and moving to sit next to her. "Sarah Jane?" he asked noticing her worried behavior.

"You two died. It was in the papers, your friend identified you." Sarah Jane said, tears finally falling.

"What?" Jack tried to process that, "Died?" he asked staring at her.

"You and Rory. You can come back but-" Sarah Jane said choking back a sob as tears started running down her face.

"No! No, no, no!" Jack said, "Rory's fine." He insisted.

"What?" she said sniffling.

"He's in Cardiff. A little smoke inhalation and I plan to mock him mercilessly for leaving the stove going but he's alive." Jack stressed, "The Doctor grabbed us with the TARDIS while we were inside." Jack pulled her into a hug, finally understanding why she'd been so worried about Rory travelling with them. "He's alive."

* * *

><p>Jack burrowed under the covers trying to resist the waking world. It took him a moment to register that he wasn't on the couch in the flat he shared with Rory.<p>

He wasn't in his flat either; his bed didn't smell like vanilla. He opened his eyes and looked around sleepily, not the TARDIS either; he was at Sarah Jane's. He blinked back sleep, clearing his eyes as he remembered WHY he as at Sarah Jane's home beyond his usual intents.

Right, he'd told her their story last night, how they'd gotten stuck, how they'd gotten back and how they needed to fix the TARDIS again so they could help Amy and get the Doctor traveling again.

Jack reluctantly climbed out of bed and set about locating his clothes so he could go locate the other members of the household. The alarm clock said it was only seven in the morning but time was probably of the essence for now.

* * *

><p>Jack found Sarah Jane and Luke both in the attic. Luke was sitting down at his mother's computer watching as Sarah Jane put things into boxes and spoke on the phone.<p>

"What's she doing?" Jack asked Luke curiously.

"Getting things to fix the TARDIS and getting me out of school for at least a week." Luke told Jack, looking up at him. "You were stuck in the 60's?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah." Jack nodded and gave Luke a partial hug since the teen was still sitting, "It's good to see you again." He said smiling.

"Good to see you too. How sick is Amy?" Luke asked worriedly.

"Pretty sick, but Martha's going to fix her right up again." Jack said. He walked down to where Sarah Jane was separating out what looked like spark plugs and held his hands out in a 'what can I do' gesture.

Sarah Jane smiled at him and handed him one of the plugs, "Look for things with the pink wires." she said softly then turned back to the phone, "No, Haresh, I'm still here. Yes, family emergency. I know it's unusual but with there being a hospital...Yes, we'll stop by and get his work. Thank you." Sarah Jane hung up and turned to Jack who was digging through circuit boards with a confused look, "How have you ever helped him with any repairs?" she asked shaking her head.

"He gives me parts, tells me where to put them and with what." Jack said, letting her take the circuit board from him. "Plus he fixes things without the actual intended parts."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Okay, we really suck lately at getting this out by midnight my time. <em>We're earlier than we have been in weeks though! _True...__At least I'm not passed ou__t asleep while you're writing an authors note. _True. No Doctor/Sarah moments this chapter, sadly, but next chapter definitely. Who else is he going to trust to help him fix his TARDIS? _More like who else has a sonic...Martha knows about Amelia! _Yup. We're nearing the final countdown chapter wise...If everything works out as it should RA will be finished before our 2nd anniversary. We've just jinxed ourselves. _How does that jinx us? _Murphys law. Enjoy!]**


	99. Checkups, Awkward questions and hugs

Martha sat silently in her computer chair, watching where across the room the Doctor sat quietly with Amy and River. Yumo laid on the bed, curled up quietly at the bottom of the bed on top of Amy's feet where he'd 'sworn to be good' if the Doctor was to be believed.

She'd long since sent Tish and Rory to get some sleep instead of staying up all night, but opted for caffeine over a nap for herself. Rhys and Gwen were probably sleeping still as well, or just waking up. Mickey had come in a few times to deliver things but mostly had stayed out, knowing he was just in the way most times.

It'd taken most of the night to get Amy completely stabilized and out of any danger she could foresee and by now the girl was fully medicated and sleeping a lot more peacefully than she had been, though it would still be a time before she was completely healed.

Amy's hair was shorter, her face fuller and her skin darker than it had been in the dream world, which was curious but not unexpected. There were three years difference between the two and an entire reality. Yumo wasn't a real corgi, so why should Amy be who she was?

When Amy made a noise in her sleep Martha stood and moved to her side.

"Is she waking up?" River asked worriedly, hand still holding Amy's.

"No, I think she's just dreaming." Martha checked her vitals anyway, regardless of her thoughts and what the Doctor's little receiver were telling her. She checked over her wrist and couldn't resist turning it over to expose the underside of Amy's arm. Twin scars lay faded and white against otherwise unblemished skin. "I'm very good with stitches, aren't I?" She let Amy's hand go back to rest on the bed and stepped away. "I suppose it's from overuse of that particular skill." She said, her voice toneless.

"Are you okay, Martha?" the Doctor asked, voice worried again.

Was she okay? Physically she was fine, bar a need for proper sleep and emotionally…Well, that would require having emotions present. "Fine." she decided on finally, mostly because it was easiest to voice.

"Are you sure? Martha, I -" the Doctor said concerned for Martha.

"Hey," Rory closed the glass doors behind him and smiled at the room lightly, gaining smiles from River and the Doctor in return, "How's Amy?" he asked softly, looking between them and then to the child in the bed.

"Stable." Martha told him, "Resting." She continued as if reading from a cue card.

"That's brilliant." Rory smiled brighter, "Tish said that Rhys and Mickey were going to run and get food for everyone and Jack called saying he'll be back by nine-thirty at the latest." His smile grew as he spoke.

The Doctor checked his watch unnecessarily, "So...two hours." He trailed off.

"Yes. Why do you not look thrilled by that news?" Rory asked, "That's good. He's bringing Sarah Jane and the parts to get started fixing the TARDIS." Rory spun to look at him concerned.

The Doctor shrugged and leaned forward; tugging the blankets up to recover the hand Martha had been looking at. "Yes." He grumbled.

River reached her hand across the bed and just let it rest on top of his. After a moment he nodded, "Yes, it's a good thing." She said smirking at him.

Martha looked over Rory, examining him without a word until he finally turned to meet her gaze, "What?" he asked worriedly.

"You're a time traveller now." Martha said simply, getting to her feet. "Your DNA changes, immune systems get a boost. Things you shouldn't go to a normal hospital for. You need records here."

Records were simple, examines and check-ups were mechanical and made sense and meant she didn't have to think and she could push back that fuzzy feeling that was starting in her chest that she knew would bring only things she didn't want to think about. "Examine table, Nurse boy. Your turn." She insisted.

"Wha?" Rory looked back towards the Doctor and River then to Martha, "I'm healthy." He whined.

"You do need records." River was obviously trying not to laugh, "Best just to give in. I'll go see what Tish is doing and give you a little privacy." She said puling the Doctor towards the door.

"Don't go far; You've been stuck in a time period full of disease and with someone who was contagious; you're next." Martha warned her.

Rory laughed when River winced, "You do need records." he repeated her words back to her.

* * *

><p>"River!" Rory yelled, exiting the medwing faster than she thought possible, "Martha wants you and I'm so going to kill you for not saving me from...that!" he yelled.<p>

"Oh, what's the worst a check-up could do?" River scoffed but did stand from her seat where she'd been talking with Tish and Gwen.

"She wanted medical history and anything that could affect me medically." he hissed, obviously embarrassed.

"And?" River asked trying not to laugh.

"She asked what my method of 'protection' is!" Rory's face turned red at this admission.

Tish choked as River laughed, "Oh, Sweetie, it could be worse." She said breathlessly as she continued to laughing.

"What?" Rory grumbled.

"She could have asked you to strip." River tossed the comment out as she walked away.

"River Song, be nice!" Tish yelled after her.

"I was being nice!" River went through the first set of glass doors, thankful Martha had set it to let everyone in without a passcode with the amount of people going through, and closed her eyes as she was sprayed with the disinfectant that smelled faintly of mint.

Once through the other doors she started trying to think of ways to get out of this, even though she knew it was futile.

"Up on the table." Martha gestured, face as passive as her voice.

River couldn't help but wince at that. She knew Martha, she knew all of them of course and had for a long time, but when Martha went all robotic it was a bit scary. She looked around and saw the Doctor still sitting by Amy's bedside, only now he wore a pair of noise cancelling headphones that looked oversized and weren't attached to anything. "You know those aren't doing much at all, right?" River asked Martha.

"It's the intent that counts." Martha replied, setting out her new files.

"Sweetie, if I'm going to put up with your companion poking and prodding me you better be somewhere else." River said.

The Doctor looked over and scowled, "But Amy-" he protested, even as he pulled off the headphones.

"Will be just fine with a medical doctor in the room and with me. Go get something to eat and relax for a few minutes." River told him. "Go embarrass Rory, that always makes you feel better. Honestly, there's a pregnant woman out there and you haven't once tried to feel the baby." She teased smiling.

The Doctor looked up curiously, "How-" he blinked his eyes wide as he stared at her.

"Spoilers." River smiled at him gently, "Go eat something; you need your energy and I know you'll spend most of the day in the TARDIS with Sarah Jane fixing things." She said fondly.

The Doctor nodded and stood up, "If she'll work with me, yes." He said sadness in his voice.

"Why wouldn't she?" Martha asked.

"She hates me." the Doctor said simply. He leaned down and kissed Amy on the forehead then looked at Yumo. "You're coming with me too. I know you could do with food, despite your thoughts." He growled.

Yumo whined a little and hunkered down further against the blankets.

"No protesting." the Doctor scooped Yumo up into his arms, "We'll get tea and breakfast and I think I might be able to con someone else into taking you for a walk." He said simply looking down at the squirming Uval in his arms.

Yumo made a noise that sounded a bit like a growling duck and scrambled in the Doctors arms till he was looking over the Time Lord's shoulders back at Amy.

"Sorry, not helping you." River said, even as the Doctor took the Uval out with him. "I don't know what it is with the two of them but it's as bad as Rory and Jack." She said sighing.

"The Doctor likes pretending he doesn't like people when he really does." Martha shrugged, "Full name?" she questioned.

River sighed, "Nothing on electronic records and you keep everything locked up tight with only you having access or I'll not cooperate."

"Fine. Full name?" Martha insisted again.

Why was she doing this? Right, guilt. Bloody woman forced her into a checkup every single time she was around. Something about 'obligations' and 'I'm the only doctor qualified to treat you'.

"River Song." River stated looking at Martha.

"Height?"

Ugh...

* * *

><p>"Right, let's listen to your heart then." Martha gestured for River to lean forward as she moved the stethoscope from around her neck to check.<p>

River could have warned her, but where was the fun in that? She winced some at the cold metal contacting her ribs but waited.

"The hell?" she heard Martha mutter to herself and felt the stethoscope move locations from the left side to the right side. Martha looked up at her, intrigue and distrust in her eyes. "You've got two heart beats." She stated, frowning.

"Two hearts." River corrected, a sly smile on her face though she tried to look innocent.

"Why have you got two hearts?" Martha questioned, placing the stethoscope back around her neck.

River shrugged, "Atavism."

"Atavism?" Martha questioned.

"Genetic throwback." River said simply.

"I know what it means," Martha rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, watching River with interest. "What are you?" she questioned.

"Mostly human, just a tiny bit 'other'." River said. "Mother thought I had a bad heart murmur at birth, my traits were...unexpected." River looked at Martha, studying her expression and shook her head, "I know what you're thinking but Time Lord's aren't the only species in the galaxy with multiple hearts you know." She grumbled hoping it was enough to hide the truth.

"What's you're 'other' then?" Martha asked.

"Not medially relevant at this time. You'll find out eventually. You've subjected me to enough checkups," River muttered in annoyance, "So, soon enough you'll know my entire medical history, but for now it's not important." She stated, she may have been better off saying spoilers.

"Everything's medically important." Martha started.

"Not today." River smiled, "Today I'm perfectly healthy." She continued interrupting the doctor's train of thought.

Martha nodded, "Fine, but just for your obstinacy I'm going to keep dragging you into check-ups till I know everything. If you're heading out, send in Tish." She stated.

River groaned, "Great. I set myself up. Fine, I'll send her in. You going to examine Jack and Yumo as well?"she asked.

"Jack's always fine and I'm not a vet." Martha said.

"Yumo's an alien species." River countered teasingly as she left, "Not an earth Animal."

"Still not a vet!" Martha closed River's file and moved to put it in the locked drawer only she had access to where it sat next to the Doctor's file and Amy's file. Fitting, it seemed.

* * *

><p>It'd taken ages, but by time River had exited the med wing and Tish had gone in they'd finally got the TARDIS right side up and Rory had volunteered to start cleaning up the blood with help from River, neither of whom looked absolutely thrilled by the idea but were happy to do something of use instead of sitting around. Mickey had gone out to walk Amidala and Yumo after much convincing and an explanation of what Yumo's 'bracelet' did.<p>

The Doctor had fluttered around, all nervous energy and annoyance that he wasn't allowed back in the med wing till check-ups were all over. It probably hadn't helped that his breakfast consisted of stealing Mickey's cappuccino and two doughnuts.

"Will you sit down?" Gwen requested, closing her eyes, "You're making me dizzy and when I get dizzy I have a tendency to throw up these days." She warned.

"Sorry." the Doctor sighed and sat down into the kitchen chair next to Gwen, across from Rhys, "Just...my daughter." He said sadly.

"I can't say I quite fully understand, but you'll be back in there soon." Rhys told him, "Martha's a brilliant doctor."

"Can't find one much better...Well, I better not say that." the Doctor scratched the side of his head and looked contrite, "I know a Cardiologist and a Navy Surgeon who might be a bit bothered if I did." He said a bit sheepish.

"Past companions?" Gwen asked.

"Yes. Brilliant. They're the two that helped save your brother...er, sorry about that, by the way." the Doctor blushed faintly, "He jumped in front of a shot meant for me. But, in the process he did help save all of Wales...sort of. It's complicated." He babbled.

"Heard a bit of the story." Rhys nodded, "Just one question: why my brother? Is it because of Gwen and I working with Torchwood?"he asked curiously.

"No. He was Tish's choice, actually. We were visiting then he accidentally got dragged into it...Well, I say accidentally, I may have kidnapped him till he agreed not to tell anyone my secrets." He admitted.

"You kidnapped my brother-in-law?" Gwen almost laughed.

"Just a little." the Doctor held up his hand, showing how little with his forefinger and thumb, "I let him go...Then he wanted to travel with me so we're all good!" the Doctor stated smiling.

"I don't think kidnappings work that way." Gwen said, almost apologetically.

"Hmm." the Doctor ignored that statement in favour of watching her stomach, "How long till you're due?" he asked.

"I'm due late June, so about four months still, give or take." Gwen's hand was resting on her stomach as she spoke with a smile. "Martha thinks somewhere around the 25th but my other doctor says the 27th." She said smiling.

_"Amelia's time, 26/06/2010." _the words flashed unbidden through the Doctor's mind and he closed his eyes tightly to brush them away. "Boy or girl?" he asked.

"We don't know." Rhys answered.

"Would you like to?" He asked, smile growing.

"No. We want it to be a surprise." Rhys told him. "First baby and all."

The Doctor nodded seriously, "I bet Jack's trying hard not to let anything slip." He smiled again.

"I think he's had to catch himself a few times." Gwen agreed. "Little one's being rather active today; do you want to feel it?" she asked looking at him.

"Can I?" the Doctor asked eagerly.

Gwen laughed and reached out, taking his hand and placing it where her hand had been, pressing her hand over his to where it pressed in lightly. She watched his face and giggled when his eyes widened in surprise at the tiny push back in protest. "Strong, isn't it?"

"Very! Hello, tiny human." the Doctor looked almost in awe as he felt the tiny foot pushing on his palm, "Oh, isn't that brilliant." He turned his gaze away from her stomach and found both parents smiling just as brightly as he was, "You two are very lucky." He said nearly bouncing.

"I like to think so." Rhys looked proud, "Can't wait to meet our little one."

"Doctor!" Mickey called out, returning with two very pleased looking animals. He leaned down to let them off their leashes and snickered when Yumo went running immediately into the Doctor's legs under the table. "Why is it that you get a perception filter for a Uval and yet these 'conqueror the Earth' aliens don't bother with them?" he asked curiously.

"They're a 'bother'." the Doctor grinned at his 'word play'. "They're either expensive or hard to put together properly. Most prefer a shimmer, but since those change around the body they're more uncomfortable. Plus you're scarier as a giant green thing with claws than you are as a pale fleshy human. No offence," he said to Gwen, his hand still resting where he could feel the baby.

"None taken." She said smiling.

"Don't feed him that," Mickey said as the Doctor used his left hand to sneak a donut down to Yumo, "I'm sure it has to be bad to have all that sweet stuff. Remember last time he-" Mickey trailed off and shut him mouth so quickly there was an audible click from his teeth.

"That doesn't count because there he was a sedate house animal," the Doctor replied evenly as if Mickey hadn't stopped and there was nothing wrong with his statement, "this time around he runs everywhere, spends time chasing things in the garden and plays fetch with the TARDIS." He explained.

"You mean 'in the TARDIS'?" Rhys asked, trying to recall what very little he knew about the TARDIS from Gwen who knew from Jack.

"No, she regularly makes his toys disappear and brings them back other places so he has to hunt them down. She also has a habit of letting him get into any treats he wants if he's 'good'." the Doctor shook his head, "My ship is telepathically training my daughter's pet."

"I'm not sure if I should laugh or be horribly disturbed." Mickey reached into his pocket and produced a large dog biscuit for Amidala who was pawing at his feet with as big of puppy eyes as she could make. "Good girl." He told her as she took it gently and scurried over to her pillow by Jack's office to lay down with it.

"Just so you know, those two don't get along." Mickey told the Doctor after a moment, "Yumo avoids her and she thinks he's a squeak toy."

The Doctor looked under the table to where Yumo sat, "Are you avoiding her? Why?" the Doctor shook his head and let out a breath of air that was obviously an attempt not to laugh, "I'm sure she won't eat you. Just nip back once or twice and she'll get the message." He responded with amusement.

"What are you doing?" Gwen asked.

"I speak Uval." the Doctor told her.

"You can't." she started.

"I speak everything." he added.

"Like Sarah Jane?" Rhys looked interested.

"Where do you think she got it from?" the Doctor said cheekily.

Any answers from Mickey were cut off as the door to the med wing was slammed open and Tish stormed out.

Tish looked around for a moment before spotting Mickey. She pointed at him and he nearly flinched at the anger he found, "You! Your wife has gone all cyborg; fix her before I hit her." Tish threatened, pointing now to the door behind here where Martha had followed. The fact she didn't look annoyed made everyone a bit more uncomfortable.

"I'm fine." Martha stood still, left hand holding onto her right wrist as she let her arms rest in front of her. "I really am." She insisted.

The Doctor removed his hand from Gwen's stomach, smile slowly fading and folded his hands to rest on his lap, eyes following Martha but he didn't say a word.

"On it." Mickey sighed, "Amidala, guard." Mickey pointed to Gwen then walked to his wife.

"I'm fine." she repeated, more firmly than before.

Ignoring his wife, Mickey crossed the room and reached out to grab hold of her right hand. "Let's go."

"Mickey, leave me alone." Martha tried to resist but Mickey tugged her along to follow him towards the stairs anyway.

"Nope." Mickey said cheerfully, "Walk or I carry you." He threatened.

"Where are they going?" the Doctor looked confused, even as he got to his feet and started edging towards the Med wing.

"Gym." Gwen stretched, popping her back and stood up.

"Why?" he asked.

"People might say fighting is emotionless, but unless you're fearful for your life or angry at your opponent you will falter and your skills go to waste." Gwen explained easily.

"So...He's going to go make her run on a treadmill?" the Doctor asked frowning.

"No." Gwen shook her head, "Think MMA...Street fight?" she elaborated at his blank look, "He'll grab gloves and then antagonize her till she snaps back and actually smacks him." She said trying not to laugh.

"That's our story and we're sticking to it but while I'm thinking on it I'm going to go cut the security feed to the gym camera." Rhys stood up, stopped long enough to kiss Gwen and walked down to where the desks were, stealing Mickey's computer system. "What's Mickey's password this week?"

"Amidala." Gwen said smiling.

* * *

><p>"Think you've got enough boxes?" Jack asked, holding as many as he could stacked in his arms. Several cardboard boxes of varying sizes had been packed full of everything from wires to what looked like a really old typewriter and brought along as 'parts'.<p>

"Probably not, but I'm certain we can pick up anything else we need here." Sarah Jane said, well aware Jack's complaining was without heat. She herself only had one box, but was also trying to keep an eye on Luke and K-9 and make sure they didn't get into anything. "I might have to raid your archives." She smiled evilly.

"Don't touch my stuff, it's mine!" Jack whined, peering around the boxes at her and narrowing his eyes, "I'll rearrange your shoes," he threatened, "Switch around which boxes they're in and I might possibly change your heels out for the trainers you despise." He grumbled.

"Low blow, Jack, but don't forget I have access to your coat." Sarah Jane smiled sweetly and Jack had to concede a point for her.

"Stop flirting!" Luke protested, "I want to go see Amy!" He shifted impatiently, readjusting his own load. The teenager had one laptop bag over both shoulders, his and his mother's, and a backpack on his back yet wasn't acting as if it were heavy. They'd already stopped by Jack's flat and left any luggage that wasn't needed behind but Luke refused to relinquish his backpack, claiming it was important.

"That's not flirting. You want to see flirting?" Jack smiled devilishly.

"No!" Luke yelled.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Jack," Rhys took one of the boxes from Jack to ease his burden.<p>

"Thanks. Why isn't the shop open yet?" Jack asked, setting the other boxes down near the TARDIS.

"Was waiting for Rory to finish cleaning before I headed upstairs." Rhys set the box down with the others and gestured to where his brother stood. "Him an' River just cleaned up the ash and blood in the TARDIS." He said frowning.

"Blood?" Sarah Jane asked worriedly, setting her things down.

"Don't worry, it's Jack's." Rory offered. He nearly yelped in surprise when Sarah Jane bypassed everyone else and pulled him into a hug. "It's good to see you again too." he said, bemusement clear though he did hug her back.

"I thought you died." Sarah Jane said, "The papers reported you two were dead, your friends identified your bodies." She said, obviously trying not to sound too upset.

"Bodies?" Rory looked around Sarah Jane to Jack, "Would Vastra kill someone to fake our deaths?" he asked worriedly.

"Only if they were evil." Jack shrugged, "I should contact her. She's probably still hanging around somewhere, her and Jenny. Which apparently we can blame on my niece." He said with a fond smile.

"You have a niece?" Sarah Jane asked, stepping away from Rory again and straightening her waistcoat.

"Amy. She asked if I'd be her Uncle Jack." Jack said, smiling brilliantly.

Tish cleared her throat to catch their attention, "Sarah Jane, you've got a heart broken Time Lord in the med wing pretending he's not anxiously awaiting your return." She said pointing towards the Doctor.

"Heartbroken? Because his TARDIS has been broke down?" Sarah Jane questioned even as she headed to the glass doors.

"Because we just came from 1983." Tish said evenly.

Sarah Jane faltered and froze in place, still facing away from them, "UNIT?"

"Yes." Tish stated.

"Oh, hell." Sarah Jane's voice held both embarrassment and annoyance but she walked forward anyway, letting herself in.

"Well then, since that's bound to be awkward and I want nothing to do with it..." Rhys clapped his hands together, "Rory, Tish, want to come see the shop and help me set up?" he asked.

"Why not?" Rory shrugged and reached for Tish's Hand.

"Why not." Tish echoed, taking Rory's hand and following Rhys.

"Jack, can we talk in your office?" Gwen asked, trying to ignore the fact Amidala was following her.

"Yeah, we just..." he looked at Luke and made a noise, clearly unsure. "Uh..." he started.

"Hello, Luke, would you like to see in the TARDIS?" River asked, reclining against the door way and wiping her hands off on her trousers that were flecked in soot and blood. "You can bring the dog."

Luke lit up but he froze, looking towards the med wing, "Can I see Amy?" he asked worriedly.

"Let your mum and the Doctor talk first," Jack told him, "Wait till she comes and gets you or tells you that you can come in, okay?"

"Okay, I'll see the TARDIS then." Luke said, K-9 trundling behind him, "Are you mad at me River?" he asked honestly.

"Why would I be mad?" River asked curiously, moving further inside.

"I accidentally stole your scanner. I didn't realize it till after we were all out of the Byzantium and I was back home though, but it's still stealing." He said, sounding like a toddler trying to admit his 'crime' before he was punished.

River closed her eyes for a moment and laughed, "No, Luke, I don't think it will be."

"What?" he asked.

"Honey, I haven't been anywhere with the name 'Byzantium' yet," River informed him, laughing a little more when he flushed red, "But when I am I'll be sure to forget you have my scanner." She said smiling at him.

* * *

><p>"Doctor?" Sarah Jane slowly walked from the door to stand a few steps back from the bed Amy lay in. The little girl was too pale and hooked up both to an IV and oxygen while a little device that looked like Luke's music player sat next to her bed, beeping in time with what Sarah Jane suspected was Amy's heartbeat."How's she doing?" she asked without thinking.<p>

"Better. Stable." He answered, not looking up at her and instead focusing on Amy's hand which he held between his two. "Martha says she'll get better. Quicker if we could get into the TARDIS med bay." He explained.

"Doctor." Sarah Jane stepped forward and placed her left hand on his right shoulder, "I'm sorry." He didn't say anything but he didn't move away either. "Tish said you have just come from UNIT in 1983. Doctor," she said sadly.

"I deserved it." the Doctor said, standing up and moving away from Amy's bed and passed Sarah Jane to across the room where he wouldn't wake Amy. "I ruined your life."

"How?" Sarah Jane demanded, following him, unwilling to let him place blame on himself or to let him run away from their conversation. "How did you ruin my life?"

"Like you said before when we were with Mickey and Rose, I took you out and showed you all of the universe then I just...abandoned you." he exclaimed and finally met her eyes. Sarah Jane's heart contracted at the tears that were in his eyes, "I left my best friend and my wife behind, all alone for thirty years." He said tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Ooh, don't go all dramatic; I wasn't all alone," Sarah Jane countered and waved that point off.

"What?" he looked utterly confused. "But..."

"I had Sir Alistair, Liz, Harry, Jean, Jo, Cliff, John, Abigail, Mike, Tom and God knows more than enough little ones running around calling me 'Aunt Sarah'." Sarah Jane took a breath and absently bit her thumbnail as she tried to think of what to say. "I was mad then, I was upset and hurt but I'm not now. I know the truth, I know it wasn't intentional, Doctor, and I don't blame you." She said moving closer.

"You should." His arms crossed his chest, hands clenched around his biceps in what looked like a self-hug. "I do."

"Well, then, I'm just going to have to force you to stop that." Sarah Jane stepped closer and placed her hands over his. "I don't blame you. If I'm the 'victim' in this then my opinion is what matters, correct?" she asked him.

"Yes." he nodded slightly.

"Then if I think you're not to blame then it must be true. Or rather, I think since I'm no longer mad at you about it then you can't be mad at you either. Got it?" Sarah Jane smiled calmly at him.

"Yes." he repeated, eyes closing again. "I didn't get a hug." His voice was, as Tish had said, heartbroken.

"Yes, well, I was being a brat." Sarah Jane moved her hands and encircled him in a hug, "I never should have done that. I'm sorry." She apologized smiling softly at him.

He moved his arms out from under hers and wrapped them around her, hiding his face against her hair, "I meant to come back when I was the last me; We intersected too soon for me and too late for you."

"I believe you." Sarah Jane said, hugging him just a little tighter.

A very quiet groan from across the room caught their attention and the Doctor released Sarah Jane to move to Amy's bedside, Sarah Jane only a step behind him. "Amelia? Hey, Pond," the Doctor brushed his fingers lightly over the side of her face, smiling when she turned her head against his hand. "Pond, it's time to wake up."

Amy made another groaning noise and slowly with great effort opened her eyes, "Dad?" her voice was rough from disuse and it looked like it hurt to talk.

"Yes. I'm here." he said, laughing and leaning down to kiss Amy on her forehead, "We're safe in Torchwood, Yumo too. Everyone's safe." He said quietly.

"Good." Amy whispered, "There was a lady in my dream singing." she closed her eyes again, relaxing back into the bed but trying to fight sleep. "She took care of me."

"Did she?" the Doctor wiped away the tears that had finally fallen. "Well, that's good then. You can sleep again, we'll be here when you wake up, okay?" he asked quietly.

"M'kay." Amelia said snuggling into her blankets.

* * *

><p>By lunchtime everyone had settled down, back into their normal routine, for the most part. Rhys and Rory were upstairs in the shop, supposedly working but mostly playing around with the toys Rhys had in stock; Tish and Martha had taken up refuge in part of the med wing and everyone was loathe to interrupt them; Mickey had gone back to 'planning for all possible invasions' which in reality meant he was playing a game Jack had picked up via intergalactic market a few weeks back that had you play as an alien trying to stave off the human invasion.<p>

Luke had gone in to sit with Amy, though the girl had gone back to sleep which meant he was mostly sitting playing a game on his laptop till she woke up again; Gwen and Jack had been working on 'paperwork' for the last few hours though mostly that had involved ordering a really big TV and looking at baby things as the Doctor and Sarah Jane worked in the TARDIS with River and K-9 lending their help.

"You hold on up here," Jack scooted out of his chair and gestured for Gwen to take his seat, "I'll go see what they want for lunch." He said

"As long as it's not pizza, I'm fine with whatever they want." Gwen took over his computer and started scrolling through the system Jack had set up.

Jack made a whining noise but nodded, "I'll ask." Pregnant women were sensitive to smells and different foods, he knew and accepted this, but how could his trusted Lieutenant become repulsed by what was basically the main food eaten at Torchwood?

He passed the main area, ignoring Mickey grumbling at his game on the couch and ducked into the TARDIS.

Instantly he was greeted by what almost sounded like a mixture of trilling and something that he thought might be French. "Anyone home?" he called teasingly, even though he could see River sitting up on the glass flooring, sorting through wiring, Sarah Jane sitting in the weird swing the Doctor had for working on things and the Doctor buried shoulder deep in the main column under the glass.

The noise stopped and he realized it had been the Doctor and Sarah Jane speaking something he didn't recognize.

"Go away, we're working." the Doctor told him, waving his left arm dismissively.

Sarah Jane sat up fully in the swing, resting the spanner she'd been using across her lap. "What do you need, Jack?" she asked shaking her head.

Sarah Jane didn't look like she usually did, far from her normal pristine self she'd dressed down considerably. She still had her boots on, like always, but had opted for a pair of slightly large blue jeans and a faded t-shirt over her other clothes, with her hair pulled back in a low ponytail. She had the goggles the Doctor normally used resting on her forehead and grease smeared across her cheek.

"Uh..." Jack trailed off.

"Keep those thoughts away for now." Sarah Jane warned him, "What did you need?"

He had come for something but right now something else was distracting him, "Tell me you're not seriously wearing a UNIT shirt in Torchwood." Jack complained.

Sarah Jane looked down at the well worn grey shirt with UNIT's logo printed on it in fading black. "No, I'm wearing it ironically in a TARDIS." she quipped, drawing a laugh from River.

"...I could get you a Torchwood shirt." Jack offered.

"Not interested." Sarah Jane returned to the job that had previously held her attention, continuing to work on the TARDIS with the Doctor.

"Come on, my woman is supposed to support my organization." Jack whined, coming further inside but wisely staying away from K-9.

"Oh?" Sarah Jane looked over at Jack, one eyebrow quirked as she watched him.

"I mean I love you and support you no matter what you wear." Jack said quickly. "Your clothes are your own choice?"

"That's my shirt, actually." the Doctor piped up with a smug smile, "She just stole it from me."

When Sarah Jane laughed, Jack shook his head, "Great, you two are back to being good buddies and ganging up on me again, aren't you?"

"Isn't that what married couples do?" the Doctor asked innocently, pulling a piece of burnt and twisted metal out from inside the column. "Gang up on outsiders."

"Ha, very funny." Sarah Jane said looking at them both.

"Especially their wife's boyfriend." The Doctor stated.

"Yeah, righ-Oh, shit," Jack trailed off, wrinkling his nose in distaste, "I'm a mistress!" he said as the thought finally occurred to him.

"Join the club." River said as the Doctor nearly collapsed in laughter and Sarah Jane protested, "We'll get T-shirts."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>We learned a little more about River here, huh? <em>Not much, but some, yeah. We really need to get back to updating by midnight EST at latest. _Yeah, 2am for me sucks. Heh, Jack's a mistress. _Technically, but only on Poosh! Wait, is Mistress the right term? Isn't there a male term? _I don't know, nyquil's affecting me. _We'll let her sleep...Hope you liked!]**


	100. Brotherly bonding and vortex manipulator

"No, huh uh, you're not coming into my med wing looking like that!" Martha stood defensively in front of the glass doors, arms spread to cover them though the stern look was countered by her trying hard not to laugh.

"But...But...Amelia." the Doctor whined, stamping his foot and gesturing towards the door with one of his hands that was spotted in grease. He'd been stripped down to trousers and a t-shirt while fixing the TARDIS but both of those articles of clothing were covered in grease, sweat and various other fluids he'd encountered while working.

"Nope. Shower first." Martha ordered. "Shower, change clothes, eat something and then you can come in. Till then Luke and I will keep watch. Right, Luke?" Martha asked the teen who was eating faster than she figured possible.

"'ight!" Luke agreed, mouth full.

The Doctor looked distastefully at the table, "I don't want a hamburger." he grumbled.

"You picked it." Martha said shaking her head at his childish behavior.

"It tastes weird." he countered.

"Go shower and change, sweetie." River said, not trying to hide the smile she held. "I'll fix you something you'll actually eat." she said patting him on the head.

He sighed heavily, "Then you'll let me in." he pouted.

"Of course! I'm not evil, just protective." Martha agreed amiably.

He stopped, half way into the TARDIS and looked back, "Why doesn't Sarah have to shower and change?" he pouted.

"Well, for one she knows how to clean up," Martha said, looking to where Sarah Jane sat next to Jack, face, hands and arms devoid of any grease or anything else, "and for another she's not trying to access a sterile environment." Martha said with authority.

"Fine..." he looked over his shoulder sulkily but only got a cheerful half wave from Sarah Jane and a giggle from Tish before he entered the TARDIS.

"Speaking of showers, medical care and cleaning up." Gwen spoke, words measured as she watched Martha rejoin them at their makeshift dining table. "You look like you could use some medical care yourself."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Martha said robotically, sitting down next to Mickey and grabbing a wrapped hamburger out of the pile Jack had bought.

"Oh yeah? You've got a bruise on your jaw." Gwen informed her, trying not to laugh even when Martha reached up and covered the left side of her face where indeed a faint bruise had formed on her jawline. "Are we ignoring the scratches on Mickey's neck too?" Rhys asked with a grin, "Those look pretty bad." he teased.

Mickey didn't blush but instead shrugged and reached under the table to slip chips to Amidala.

"Huh?" Luke swallowed his food, "Did you fight an alien today?" he asked curiously.

"Something like that." Jack said before anyone could say something worse.

* * *

><p>"How do you get into running a place like this anyway?" Rory asked, looking around the shop with his hands in his pockets.<p>

"They needed a place to enter the hub from and I suggested they do something sci-fi instead of something that screamed 'normal people come here'." Rhys shrugged, "Before I knew it I had been roped into running it. Seriously, my name's on all the paperwork but Jack pays for everything." Rhys admitted, "He's got Sarah Jane to sign some of our 'John Smith' stuff." he said smiling.

"'John Smith'?" Rory asked curiously.

"Yeah, 'John Smith', like...Here," Rhys lifted one of the books off the shelf and held it out, "'John Smith and the Pyramids of Mars'."

"Weird." Rory took the book from Rhys and examined the cover. It looked rather cheesy to be honest, a Martian landscape with a large pyramid guarded by what looked like mummified robots.

"Didn't you ever read the 'John Smith' books?" Rhys asked his brother, "There are comics too."

"No." Rory shook his head.

"Why not? I thought every kid did." Rhys crossed his arms and looked over Rory, watching his reaction to the book.

"Dr. Patton advised against letting me have anything sci-fi related in my day-to-day life so as not to further the delusions I had." Rory replied, opening the book and scanning the inside cover.

Rhys flinched, "Oh."

"Don't feel bad, I bit him the next week." Rory stated smiling at his brother.

"What? Why?" Rhys asked with a mixture of disappointment and shock.

"He suggested maybe I was repressing memories about you and Amelia." Rory shrugged and shut the book. "I disagreed."

"I feel oddly touched." Rhys said, taking the book back from Rory when it was offered. "Really...You bit a psychiatrist for me?" he asked smiling at his brother.

"I bit four for you." Rory reached up and absently toyed with one of the figurines on the shelf that looked like an overgrown rat with wings. "Well, that's not true. Technically three of them also were making me mad by saying my Army man didn't exist." Rory admitted, "So..." he trailed off looking a bit sheepish.

"You bit your psychiatrists." Rhys tried not to laugh but a snort escaped anyway. "You really are my brother." he smirked.

Rory rolled his eyes and put the toy back. "Yes, because violence runs in the family."

"No, but biting does." Rhys chuckled, "I left a fairly good mark on a doctor when I was about five. But, in my defence, she'd been trying to give me an inoculation at the time." Rhys stated his grin growing bigger.

Rory laughed, "I've had a few try that on me, but luckily I'm too quick most times." he said laughing.

"I appreciate you helping me out." Rhys said after a few moments, "I mean, I know stocking and organizing sci-fi stuff isn't exactly brain surgery but..." he trailed off looking at his brother.

"Rhys, most of my days involve studying or helping sick and upset children." Rory said blandly, "Or alternately, helping an alien take care of his kid while running for my life on some planet that I can't pronounce the name of because Jack has offended yet another local." Rory ranted.

"It can't be that bad." Rhys said shaking his head.

"We got caught up in the American revolution." Rory caught Rhys' eye as he started opening boxes, "Think about that for a moment."

* * *

><p>"What exactly is this anyway?" Martha asked as she toyed with the little receiver that the Doctor had handed over the night before. It was monitoring Amy's pulse and breathing rate, but she wasn't sure how.<p>

"A very fancy baby monitor." the Doctor said, taking it from her to show off how it worked. "It's connected to her bracelet and sends feedback about her vitals. Yumo has one too, both have everything I could get attached...plus a perception filter, but that was my doing. Can't have people recognizing her and a blue corgi could draw attention." the Doctor looked towards the bottom of the bed were Yumo lay snoozing contentedly to the unobservant eye. The Doctor knew he was pretending to sleep and was in fact listening for Amy to wake up.

"That's...brilliant." Martha said, clearly in awe of the technology. "Any way you could get me one of these for keeping track of my patients?" she grinned, "None of them like to stay still or hooked to monitors."

"I'll look into it." he promised, taking a seat by Amy's bedside.

He looked extremely odd, so Martha thought, clad in loose jeans, a worn blue t-shirt and light up trainers he must have stolen from the wardrobe. Somehow he also seemed to look simultaneously exceedingly young and yet extremely old. "How are you holding up?" she asked quietly.

"I'm fine." he said absently. He reached out and took one of Amy's hands in his own.

"Physically. How are you holding up otherwise?" Martha prodded, knowing his codes by now.

"I'm...hanging in." he admitted, "You and Sarah help a lot." he said softly.

"Glad you think so." Martha toyed with the reciever for a moment, "Could you transfer this programming to my computer so I could track without taking this away from you?" she asked quietly.

"With my sonic, yes, but it's locked away and I tore Amy's apart to fix the TARDIS. Sarah's is the only one we have...If we could borrow it, yes." he said still staring at the girl on the bed.

"I'd ask you to go get it, but I'm almost certain you've just sent a message to Luke in hopes you'll annoy him or bribe him into bringing it in here." Martha tapped the side of her head and looked at him questioningly, only receiving a smile in reply. She rolled her eyes, "Of course you have. You know how annoying that is? He had all of us craving lemon ice lollies for days you know." she said sweetly.

"Ew." the Doctor made a face, "I mean...ew." he grumbled.

"I know!" Martha stated smiling.

Amy shifted on the bed and made an unhappy noise. Instantly Martha was on her feet and moving to Amy's side.

"Amy?" the Doctor squeezed her hand lightly when she protested. "Amelia?" he asked gently.

"Ow." Amy whimpered.

"What's ow, Amy?" Martha asked, checking Amy's IV then the girl herself, "What hurts." she asked going into doctor mode.

"Ev'thing." Amy tried to open her eyes but winced at the light.

"Sorry," Martha reached up and dimmed the overhead light, "Doctor, can you get some water for her? Right, Amy, what's 'everything'?" she continued.

"Chest. Throat. Tummy...head." Amy listed, chancing opening her eyes again and blinking repeatedly to try and clear away the blurriness that had set in during her sleep.

"That should all be from coughing and the meds clearing everything up." Martha observed but checked Amy's chart to make sure her memory was right. "I can give you something more for the pain though...Give me just a moment and I will. Other than that how are you feeling?" she asked as she continued to examine the girl.

"Tired." Amy winced when Martha sat the bed up a little until Amy was sitting up just a little more than she had been before so the Doctor could help her drink from the cup he'd filled.

"That's fine, if you're sleepy don't try to fight it. That's your body trying to heal itself." Martha measured out the next dose for Amy as the girl watched her worriedly. Martha tried not to laugh as she put the vial aside and moved closer with the syringe, "Don't worry, this is going in your IV." Martha did as promised and did chuckle a little at the relief in Amy's face. "Don't worry, Jack and Gwen are afraid of needles too." Martha told her, "Gwen hides from me when I need to use needles on her." she whispered conspiratorially.

"Really?" Amy asked, abandoning her cup in favour of holding her dad's hand.

"Yup. That woman has been shot twice, yet it's the needle that sends her running." Martha trailed off, "speaking of...Luke, no running!" Martha called out when the boy nearly impacted her doors, waiting impatiently between the sets as the disinfectant sprayed. "Doctor?" she asked.

"I might have broadcasted." the Doctor tried to look apologetic, but the giant grin he had at Amy's awakening negated.

"Let me guess, my sterile, calm environment is about to be invaded by at least three people?" she said angrily.

"At least." The Doctor looked completely unrepentant.

* * *

><p>Within thirty minutes Amy had fallen back asleep, this time with Luke sitting at her bedside with his laptop. The Doctor wasn't completely sure what the teenager was playing, but it looked to be filled with weird purple alien creatures.<p>

"Sarah! Ready to get back to work?" He said, striding through the hub feeling better than he had in ages. Amy was awake, well, sleeping at the moment but conscious, and healing. His TARDIS was being fixed and soon he'd be able to travel again.

"Heading in now." Sarah Jane told him, passing him with a box that was stained with oil and something green.

"Good! Where's River?" he looked around the hub but didn't spot her.

"I think she said something about the garden." Jack offered, "Want me to check?" he asked.

"No, I will." The doctor sighed.

* * *

><p>He found her in the garden, underneath the same tree he had found her under with Amelia months ago. She looked like she wasn't in the present, but lost in the past of her own thoughts.<p>

"River?" he called out trying not to startle her, she had a bad habit of hitting or throwing things at him when startled.

"Inside my head, at the base of my skull getting louder and louder, and it won't stop." she continued shivering.

The Doctor nodded understanding but at the same time not comprehending "Martha's here, is there anything we can do to help?" he asked quietly.

"Martha can help, but not this Martha, the one here now, she doesn't know yet." River said weakly rubbing the back of her head as if trying to ease the pain.

"What do you need us to do?" he asked walking closer to her, but staying out of reach.

He may have trusted her on a normal day, but considering he had once taken a kitchen appliance to the head, he knew enough to stay out of her reach when she started acting like this.

"I need you to fix this" River said holding up the disabled vortex manipulator on her arm, "I need you to let me go home." The words were almost a plea as she looked up and stared directly into his eyes.

He closed his eyes and took a breath before gently reaching out and taking the vortex manipulator from her arm.

"Do you want to come with me?" he asked quietly, "or do you want to stay here while Sarah and I fix it." he continued staring into her eyes.

"If you're going to actually fix it," she started, "I guess I should go start saying goodbyes."

He tried to look affronted as he helped her up. "What do you mean if?!" he grumbled halfheartedly, "I can fix anything." he boasted.

"You blew a hole in the roof with our stove sweetie." she said her voice getting stronger as she fell into their normal bantering.

"That...That was with Amy's sonic! Not Sarah's!" he defended sticking out his tongue.

* * *

><p>"River! Are you going to—help..." Sarah Jane trailed off as the woman hurried past and out the doors. "Doctor?"<p>

"Ignore her," he said simply, taking the stairs two at a time and skipping the last one to enter the underside of the console where Sarah Jane stood. "Her brain's about to explode and when that happens people get hit with hard things. I hardly think you want her holding a spanner right now."

"So she's about to get violent and you've sent her into a place with a sick child, my son and a pregnant woman." Sarah Jane stated, voice calm but her tone made it obvious exactly what she thought of his 'idea'.

"Yes." he nodded then paused and shook his head, "No...Maybe? She only seems to try and hit me so I'm assuming it's something that I did at the time. Gwen can hold her own and I'm nearly certain Martha could take her down."

"Nearly certain?"

"Well, she's very strong." the Doctor mused, "But Martha has Barbiturates."

"That's not a good compromise." Sarah Jane said, looking worriedly at the door.

"Well..." he looked the same way, "Let's hurry."the Doctor held out the Vortex Manipulator and smiled, "I need to steal your sonic to fix this so I can let her go home or to find her version of Martha that knows and can properly medicate her."

"Is that Jacks?"

"You know, I'm not sure." He said, taking the sonic when she offered it and smiling, "I've never asked. She's from the same time period as him though, so it's not too unlikely that a future version of him handed it over for some reason...or she killed him and stole it. That's not too unlikely either."

"She sounds charming." Sarah Jane said dryly.

"She really is." the Doctor smiled, looking almost like a puppy when he did so.

"You're so smitten." Sarah Jane scoffed.

"You have no room to talk." he sniffed in mock offence as he fixed River's Vortex Manipulator. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go send a paranoid version of someone I may or may not be married to at some point in time in someone somewhere's future back home so a version of my friend may or may not be able to medicate her." he paused and tilted his head to the side in consideration, "My life has become exponentially more confusing since I met her."

"I can tell."

* * *

><p>"I'll see you again soon," River said soothingly when Amy started to protest. "I promise. You know me, I don't lie...to you anyway." she continued, brushing Amy's hair back from her face. "You'll see me and I'll know I'm your mum next time."<p>

"Promise?" Amy asked, obviously trying not to cry.

"From this day on, every time you know me I'll know I'm your mum." River promised.

"Swear?" Amy asked, holding up her hand, little finger extended.

River would have laughed if the occasion weren't so solomn and her head didn't hurt like it did. She reached out with her hand and hooked her little finger around Amy's, "Swear."

Amy nodded and reached out again, this time with both arms and River pulled her into a hug. "I would stay if I could, sweetie, but..."

"You don't want that to happen here." Amy asked, already fighting back sleep.

"Yes." River nodded, "I'll be back, you know me."

"You know me better." Amy replied.

"Yes, but that won't be the truth for very long." River looked up when the doors opened and the Doctor walked in. "I think that's my ride, unless of course he blew it up like a stove."

"It's fixed just fine, thanks." the Doctor sniffed and held it out to River, trying to look more annoyed than he really felt.

"Not going to lock me in the early 20th century again?" she asked, teasingly as she pulled it over her wrist and did the strap.

"No...Well, yes, but not this time. I'm sure I'll do that later for a good reason." the Doctor shrugged. He looked around briefly and noted Martha and Luke pretending to not pay attention in the corner at her desk. He chose to ignore them and opened his arms slightly towards River, "Do I get a goodbye?"

She smiled and let him pull her into a hug, resting her head on his shoulder briefly, "Oh, but this is so far from goodbye." She said with the brightest smile she could manage when she pulled away, "There's oh so much more for us; you'll see."

"Goodbye for now." he amended, trying to ignore the gagging noises from Luke when River leaned on tiptoe and kissed him.

River smiled again and walked back to Amy's side, "Do you want to know a secret?" she asked quietly of the sleepy girl. "Of when we'll next meet?"

"Yes." Amy replied, sitting upright as best she could.

"You'll see me again, quite soon." she whispered in Amy's ear, well aware the Doctor could still hear her, "When the Pandorica opens."

"But...that's a fairy tale." Amy whispered in shock, looking up and following River with her eyes when the woman walked to the centre of the room.

"Oh, sweetie, we're ALL fairy tales." River winked, blew the Doctor a kiss and pressed down on her Vortex Manipulator, sending her away in a gust of air and a flash of light.

"I hate those bloody things." Martha said, interrupting the quiet. "They leave a mess and a splitting headache."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and caught Luke's look, "What?"

"That's gross when Mum and Jack do it and grosser when it's you." Luke said plainly, moving from his seat next to Martha and back to the chair he'd occupied next to Amy's bed.

"Oi!"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Author down! I've been hit! <em>She cut her finger making breakfast with really sharp knives she got for Christmas. I told her they were a bad idea. <em>Yes, and now typing HURTS! You never realize how much typing is done with one finger till each press of the key is a knife - haha - through your nerves. _So, yes, short chapter. Blame her getting hurt...she did shut that finger in a door as well. _Oi! _You did! _We'll try for a longer chapter next week when hopefully my finger's healed. _Enjoy!]_**


	101. Shopping, boredom and cracks

"Honestly, we're fine sleeping here." Tish protested as her sister tried to figure out arrangements, "Really, bunk beds are fantastic after the last few months." She continued eyeing the door to the JIC room enviously.

"Where have you been sleeping?" Martha asked, not having thought of it before.

"A horrible mattress or the wardrobe room. Didn't you notice the nests?" she said absently daydreaming about an actual bed.

"I'm not entering that war zone while two tech geeks are prancing about, giddy about fixing things." Martha said, looking towards the TARDIS with distrust, "I swear I saw Sarah Jane giggling about wielding equipment. How do you stand it?" she tapped her sister on the shoulder sympathetically.

"He put a hole in our apartment...flat's," Tish corrected herself, "roof with a stove. We're still not sure how it worked." She smiled at the memory now, remembering how she had yelled.

"What? Seriously?" she giggled.

"Mhmm. He said he was trying to make me a birthday cake, but Amy said he was playing with fireworks." Tish laughed.

"That's...Why am I not surprised?" Martha asked.

"You travelled with him too." Tish laughed, "You want horror stories though? Ask Sarah Jane or try that boss of yours." Tish shook her head, "I heard no less than five stories involving the Brigadier, Sarah Jane or Dr. Sullivan while I was with him this time. Amy's bedtime stories are more often than not about former companions. I've heard some tales about you too, Miss 'I don't know happy primes'." She teased.

"Shut up," Martha rolled her eyes, "Anyway, I've got a spare room but...it's not exactly liveable unless you want to sleep on a couch." Martha offered.

"Oh my God, you've done it. You turned your spare room into a games room, didn't you?" Tish laughed and Martha shrugged. "Does mum know?"

"No. And if she finds out I'll tell her it's all my husband's fault we've got a room full of game stations, dozens of games and posters of alien things or video game characters." Martha smiled.

"Why do you blame everything on your husband?" Tish laughed.

"That's the fun bit of getting married!" Gwen said, coming up the stairs and into the main hub, "What are we talking about?" she said smiling at them.

"Where Tish and Rory are going to stay." Martha said.

"Oh, with us of course. Unlike some people, our guest room really is a guest room." Gwen teased. "Beyond that, Rhys has been trying to find ways to spend more time with his brother." She admitted.

Tish tried not to laugh, "He's plotting ways to bond with his baby brother?" she said smiling.

"Yes." Gwen nodded, "sometimes I think he's got the pregnancy brain, not me. I'm sure if I tell him Rory's staying at our home he'd be plotting movies, board games and junk food. There might even be footie pyjamas." She said failing to hide the laugh bubbling up inside her.

"Right, so Tish and Rory get to go home with you and Rhys, Sarah Jane and Luke always stay at Jack's flat, that just leaves the Doctor to figure out." Martha listed.

"Oh, good luck getting him to go anywhere." Tish scoffed, "He's not ever leaving that girl's side. I once heard him say, 'If I can't hear your heart beat, you're too far away'. Now, I'm not sure if he meant that literally or if he meant if she's out of the receiver's reach, which is quite a ways, but still." Tish smiled.

"Okay. I'm sure if he needs sleep he'll either sleep on one of the bunks or I'll set him up on one of the other beds." Martha agreed. "It can't be that hard. I'll probably stay overnight again, but send Mickey and Amidala home." She said looking over to where Mickey and Amidala were sitting, Amidala sleeping at Mickey's feet.

"Sure...That'll happen." Gwen said sarcastically.

"What? I can send him home." Martha insisted

"He can't sleep without you and you can't sleep without him." Tish teased her sister, "I doubt he'll go anywhere." She smirked.

* * *

><p><strong>Three days later<strong>

* * *

><p>"We're not trying to buy out the whole store, Luke." Tish giggled as he added two more DVD's to their cart. "Just entertain her till she's well enough to move around more." She said looking at the large pile of dvd's Luke had put in the cart.<p>

"I know, but it gets boring when you're stuck still." Luke whined.

"Oh, I know, trust me." Tish looked over some of the titles Luke had picked and had to laugh again to herself. All he'd chosen were fantasy stories or Disney Princess movies. She'd have to remember to keep the Doctor from watching 'Peter Pan' or 'Alice in Wonderland', both versions of the movie that Luke had added to the cart'. "We've got ten...You can choose two more, that's it." Tish warned him, smiling at his sulky look. "Then you can look at computer games." She smiled.

Luke smiled brightly at that, "Really?" he said happily bouncing.

"Yes. I need your help setting up something." Tish said her smile growing as she thought of the surprise.

"What?" Luke asked excitedly.

"I missed Rory's birthday, when we were separated, and if people keep referring to him as my toy boy I might have to use the term to his benefit." She said smiling.

"What's that mean?" Luke questioned both the term and her statement.

"It means I'm about to spend copious amounts of money on him for my own entertainment." Tish told him. "That man can't let anyone help him and he's been working without a laptop for his schooling." She explained honestly.

"How's he manage that?" Luke asked confused.

"He handwrites essays and types them up at the library to print." She said shrugging.

"Ew." Luke made a face, "That sucks." He said frowning

"I know, right?" Tish laughed, "So I'm going to get him a laptop, that way he's not stuck in the dark ages." She continued smiling at him.

"What about you and Amy?" Luke asked.

"What do you mean?" Tish asked

"Don't you have one?" Luke asked.

"Yes, but it mostly stays at my flat." She said honestly.

"Why not take it with you? Then you can email and skype us on Earth." Luke told her, "Send photos in ways other than your phone." he enticed.

"Is this your way of making sure you can talk to Amy all the time?" Tish asked knowingly.

"Maybe." Luke admitted, not looking the least bit embarrassed he'd been caught out.

"I don't think she needs one quite like Rory's..." Tish paused, thinking over what she still had in her savings and realizing this wouldn't really scratch it overall, "Why not?" she shrugged

Luke grinned, "Think we can get her some of my games?" he asked.

"You're a horrible influence, Luke Smith, and I'm beginning to see why they accuse the Doctor of being your father." Tish said laughing.

He looked at her curiously, "Is that supposed to be an insult?" he asked, genuinely unsure.

"Maybe." Tish smiled sweetly.

* * *

><p>"Oh, please, I wasn't that bad!" the Doctor complained, swinging his little swing back and forth, kicking with his shoes to move it.<p>

"You were horrible." Sarah Jane shook her head and ducked out from under the console, "Really. Poor Harry's been traumatized ever since he travelled with us." She said shaking her head.

"That might be purely due to your fashion choices or the trauma of our wedding...which you caused!"

He watched curiously as she leaned out and with one very greasy hand drew on the glass floor in the fluid. After a moment he recognized the circular pattern forming as Gallifreyan and snorted when he could read the finished phrase, "Very mature, Sarah." He said shaking his head.

"I stand by the written statement." Sarah Jane replied, going back to her work.

"I still can't believe you've got everyone around here convinced you're completely sweet, innocent and would never curse." the Doctor toyed with a spanner before turning back to his set of wires. "It's like they don't know you at all." He said in amazement.

Sarah Jane didn't speak in reply, only leaned out and tapped the glass again where she'd written.

After a few minutes of silence bar working noises there was a clicking noise and a woosh.

"Did we do it?" the Doctor yelped, jerking backwards from the now whirling gears inside and the wires that had righted themselves.

"We have power!" Sarah Jane laughed, moving out from under the console and standing up, "Welcome back, girl." She said gently touching the console.

The Doctor grinned brightly, sliding out of his swing and taking the stairs two at a time. "We've got her back!" he said excitedly, "Hello, Sexy! Welcome Back!"

* * *

><p>Amy twitched on the bed, trying to rearrange and get comfortable. She was getting really bored. She was well enough to sit up for long periods of time and she wasn't sleeping nearly enough, but Martha told her she couldn't leave the bed other than to use the loo until she was no longer coughing. She got more stuff injected through her IV every few hours and she had to keep the weird oxygen tubes up her nose, despite how aggravating they could be.<p>

Mostly everyone had been in to visit or sit in with her, except for Jack's other friend Gwen and Rory's brother. Gwen wasn't allowed in because Amy could make her sick and she was pregnant and Rhys worked most the day and Martha kept him out for some reason.

It might be neat to see Rhys again, just to see how he'd grown up. Amy's memories of him involved a teenager with weird hair that stuck up, baggy trousers and a football jersey that Henry had mocked.

With a sigh she shifted on the bed again.

Martha looked up from her laptop and Amy blushed, "Getting restless?" she asked smiling softly at the little girl.

"Yes." Amy said.

"I know the feeling." Martha told her, "When I was a bit younger than you my brother pushed me off of a swing, I fell and broke my arm. They called an ambulance and everything. Well, I got to the hospital, they put a plaster cast on but about the time they did that I started having issues breathing and started turning red." Martha hit a button on her laptop and Amy watched the screen change to a photo with a writing box underneath it. She walked over and sat on the edge of Amy's bed to talk eye to eye. "I had a really bad allergic reaction to the morphine they'd given me for pain. I couldn't breathe or anything for a bit. I got stuck in the ICU for a week as they watched me to make sure I was fine." Martha shook her head, "It sucked but Leo felt horrible. He wasn't a brat for a whole two weeks!" she said laughing now at the memory.

Amy laughed, "Is that why you became a Doctor?" she asked

"Yup. It was fascinating to watch them do their jobs. I'm specialized in emergency medicine, but I don't get much call to use it anymore." She said honestly.

"You got to fix Rory," Amy said proudly, "You brought him to life again and you saved me!" she said smiling up at Martha.

"I guess I did." She smiled back.

"Twice." Amy turned her arm over and pointed to the scars on the underside, "Plus you helped break us out of a dream, right?" she asked her smile growing.

"Yes," Martha nodded, "But I don't think that qualifies under 'medicine'," Martha laughed.

"I know... Dad said you got stuck in the past before." Amy said, "When we were?" she said looking up.

"Oh, I got stuck twice. Once we ended up staying at his first ever companion's house for a few months in 1969 and another time I ended up working as a maid in 1913." She joked.

"We were in 1913," Amy told Martha seriously, "Tish didn't work though, Dad didn't let her. He fixed things, Mum...got fired. But I worked! I was a tutor..."Amy froze and frowned, saddened by the thought, "Martha?" she asked quietly.

"Yes?" Martha responded at the girl's questioning tone.

"You...Do you know how to find someone from long ago?" Amy asked timidly.

"Yes." Martha nodded, "Is there someone you want me to look up?"

"Yes." Amy fiddled absently with the edge of her blanket, "Could you help me find my friend? He was in 1913 but..." she trailed off looking at the floor.

"I'll see what I can do." Martha promised.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Mickey?" Martha left the med wing and located her husband working at his computer. "Can you do me a favour?" Martha asked in a tone that made it not a request.<p>

"Whatcha need, love?" Mickey asked, spinning his chair to face her.

She tried not to laugh at the game of space invaders he had paused. "I need you to locate someone for me. Friend of Amy's." Martha said.

"You want me to stalk a nine year old?" Mickey asked in confusion.

Martha did laugh that time, "No. Well, he was seven but given he was born in 1906 I doubt he's still that old." She said.

"Oh...Right, past, future...Yeah, I'll give it a go. What've you got." Mickey said turning back to the computer.

"Robert Henry O'Connor, born 1906, sometime in November." Martha listed, "Parents named Thomas and Eileen. Immigrated to the United States from Ireland sometime before 1906, lived in Pennsylvania."

"Isn't that where they chucked all the tea into the harbour?" Mickey frowned in thought as he typed up the information into his search program, minimizing his paused game for now. Typing was so much easier than handwriting for him, and he was normally faster at it than any of them.

"No, that would be Boston." Martha tried not to laugh again, "Thus 'the Boston Tea Party'."

Mickey looked a little embarrassed, "Okay, I might have mixed those up. Anything else you know?"

"They ran a shop." Martha shrugged. "She's almost nine, what do you expect?" she asked looking at him.

"She knew his full name." Mickey countered, telling the search to run and sitting back in his seat.

"She's almost nine," Martha repeated, "Full names are yelled occasionally by upset parents."

"Ooh, point." Mickey grinned suddenly and checked his watch, "So...How long till you told her you'd be back." Mickey asked, tapping his fingers on his forearm and watching her with a smirk.

"Not nearly long enough for that. Keep dreaming, dear." Martha replied, walking away from her husband and back to her 'office'.

"Damn." Mickey replied, eyes fixed on her as she left.

* * *

><p>"Martha! Need your help." the Doctor entered the med wing, something small in one arm and his other hand pulling Sarah Jane behind him by her wrist.<p>

"What's up?" Martha asked looking at them.

"Nothing!" Sarah Jane protested.

The Doctor held up Sarah Jane's hand hat he held and indicated her upper arm where red was slowly staining the shirt under a small rip. "She's hurt herself." He tattled.

"Youch." Martha motioned for Sarah Jane to sit down on her exam table.

"I'm fine." Sarah Jane protested as the Doctor left her side and moved to Amy.

"Hey, we got power back mostly." the Doctor told her with a smile, sitting down on the chair next to the bed carefully, trying to keep from smearing grease or anything else anywhere in Martha's sterile environment.

"The TARDIS is okay?" Amy asked eagerly, "She's fine?" she asked excitedly.

"She'll be fine." the Doctor acknowledged, "She's healing like you are...but, I did manage to unlock a few rooms." He said smiling.

"What ones?" Amy sat up a little more on her bed to listen.

"Well, the kitchen which means I now have my sonic back and..." he moved his arm and held up a very familiar toy, "Your room." He said waving the toy in front of her.

"My bear!" Amy exclaimed, reaching for the five eyed bright orange teddy she'd gotten long ago. "You found him!" she said grabbing the bear from him.

"He was still tucked in bed." the Doctor assured her as she hugged it close. "I'm almost certain Dygan is in the Library where we made our blanket fort, I'll try and find him next." He promised.

"Thank you, dad." Amy reached out and pulled him into a hug, ignoring the mess of his shirt.

"You're welcome, Pond." He smiled, holding her tight and relishing the fact she was getting well again. He pulled back after a moment and looked over when Martha made an impressed noise. "What's the diagnosis, Doc?" he asked cheekily, getting up and walking over to see Sarah Jane's arm.

"I can fix it myself." Sarah Jane protested again even as Martha pulled off her gloves and gathered materials. It was a small cut, only about two inches long and not quite deep enough to need stitches, but just deep enough Martha would feel better making sure it stayed together with a 'butterfly'.

"Yourself? Wait, how would you normally fix this?" Martha asked, setting down her things and getting a new pair of gloves. She still remembered vividly Mickey's attempt at fixing himself with super glue.

"Dermal glue, ace bandage and whatever I have in my kit that would speed along healing...Wine." Sarah Jane added as an afterthought.

Martha just stared at her, "How long have you been doing your own medical treatments?" she asked evenly trying to keep her temper.

"Since the 70's. It's that or go to Harry – I'm not allowed to go to normal hospitals due to the scare I give them with my records and with the excess of radiation I've been exposed to," Sarah Jane explained for Martha's benefit as the Doctor looked faintly embarrassed. "And if I go to Harry he lectures me." She shrugged then waved her hand, dispelling that thought, "I do fine on my own."

"How are you still alive and in one piece?" Martha demanded.

"Lots of intervention." the Doctor said tiredly.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Martha?" Rhys gave a half wave of hello as he entered the med wing.<p>

Martha's eyes darted between Rhys and the little girl who had just sat up in bed, placing her book aside with a look of wonder at the new man. This wasn't good. Not remotely good. She'd had the Doctor disable the perception filter on Amy until she was well again, afraid it might interfere with anything medical or hide symptoms. "Rhys, what are you doing in here?" She stood from her seat and closed her laptop screen with a slight click.

He held his hand up, showing off a cut on the end of his finger, "Need a plaster and as per Doctor orders, I'm not allowed to get one myself." He said with a fake sad tone.

Martha nodded and hurried to the cupboard that held all the plasters and things that went with them. "Just take a seat on the table, please." God, please don't let him see Amy. Please let Amy know enough to hide her face...

"Can do. Was just mucking about with Mickey and got my hand on the desk..." Rhys' voice trailed off and Martha winced, eyes closed tight and shoulders hunched before she even turned around.

Sure enough he was now silent and turning pale, eyes locked on the little girl in the bed.

"Hi." Amy smiled and waved, teddy bear under her right arm and Yumo sprawled across her lap.

"No." Rhys said shortly.

"Now, Rhys...Be careful what you-" Martha started internally sighing.

"FUCK THAT!" Rhys roared, whirling to face Martha and pointing accusingly at Amy's bed, "Who the fuck is that?" he yelled.

"I think you know the answer to that...Rhys, we-" Martha said trying to calm the man.

"No. That's not possible. Not even remotely because someone would have told me. That's not right. There's no fucking way I know who that is!" He yelled, fists clenched so tight his scratch started bleeding harder.

"Okay, that's it. We're NOT doing this here." Martha declared and grabbed him by his arm, hauling him towards the doors. "Amy, Sweetheart, we'll be right back, okay?" she said sweetly to the little girl.

Amy nodded, looking scared as Yumo growled, eyes fixed on them.

* * *

><p>"It's not that bad, actually." Rory said, walking with Gwen, her arm tucked through his, "I mean...I've got school, work and on occasion I'm running for my life but...There's also all these amazing things that not many people will ever get to see. I've seen the sun set on a plan that hosts three suns, I saw a lunar eclipse from a planet that's made of diamond...I got to ice skate on a planet frozen solid... Well, I fell on my bum a lot on a planet frozen solid." he admitted, making Gwen laugh, "And I already know I'll really be a Doctor." He said smiling.<p>

"How so?" Gwen asked. The two had volunteered to go out and get coffees – or hot chocolate in three cases – for everyone while the others worked.

"Amy's mum is from our future, I'm sure you heard that grumbling match." at her nod he continued, "Well, she slipped up the first time we met and called me 'Dr. Williams'." He grinned brightly, "Can't wait for that." He said bouncing a little.

"You're going to be an amazing doctor, Rory." Gwen patted his upper arm with her left hand, leaving her right arm linked through his left. "I've no doubt about it." She said honestly.

"I'm glad you think so...Gwen, do you hear that?" Rory asked, frowning and looking around.

Gwen tilted her head slightly, "I don't...I don't hear anything, just silence, why?" she asked quietly.

"We're in the middle of a street full of traffic and people and yet nothing is heard but silence." Rory said softly, hoping it wasn't what he was thinking, even as he looked around.

* * *

><p>"YOU LIED TO US!" Rhys screamed, gesturing angrily towards the glass doors and sending blood droplets off of his hand and onto the floor. "You said you didn't know!" he growled.<p>

"To be fair, I wrote that book several years ago." Sarah Jane said weakly.

"It's not any of your business anyway." the Doctor glared at Rhys, stepping far too protectively in front of Sarah Jane." The action causing Rory to turn his attention to him.

"Not any of my business? Are you fucking kidding me?" Rhys looked incredulously at him then at Martha, "He's just...He's got brain damage, hasn't he?" he asked in amazement.

"OI!" the Doctor yelled angrily.

"Don't insult him!" Martha snapped.

Mickey let out a piercing whistle, silencing the room. "Two things." He said, holding up two fingers. "Sarah Jane's Amelia?" He jerked his thumb towards the med wing.

"Rory's, but yes." Martha nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.

Mickey dropped one finger and then pointed at himself, gestured to Martha and said simply, "Why?"

"Doctor-patient stuff. Illegal." Martha shrugged and smiled semi apologetically at her husband.

"Ah." Mickey nodded, "Proceed." he gestured for them to continue their fight and sat back on the couch to watch. He reached up and tugged Sarah Jane down to sit next to him when she paced past and just motioned for her to remain quiet and let Rhys rant.

"My life was ruined! My brother's life was ruined." Rhys continued, "He went through four therapists, too many medications to count and a lifetime of people blaming him! JACK RETCONED HIM!" he yelled again his anger evident to everyone who saw him.

"In Jack's defense, the retcon didn't work because Rory has a life threatening allergy to it." the Doctor tilted his head in thought, "Though I guess that means he technically poisoned him instead..." he trailed off sending a worried glance Rhys' way.

* * *

><p>"Why is it quiet?" Gwen asked, reaching over and placing her hand on her gun, switching sides with Rory so her right hand was free.<p>

"I think...It's got to be a crack." Rory said, eyes wide as he hurried her down the street, watching everything around him for something that wasn't right. Something...Cracks. It had to be.

The Doctor had told them about Venice, about silence falling with the Saturnine race. Silence and the end of all things.

"A crack? What's that mean?" Gwen asked looking concerned.

"A crack is a piece of space and time that shouldn't have touched." Rory told her, holding her hand tight and keeping her close protectively. "They merge the universe in a way they shouldn't and they eat away at the universe until something stops it." He continued looking around.

"How do you know this?" Gwen asked grabbing his arm to stop him.

"We've encountered several." Rory said turning to look at her so she could see the fear in his eyes.

"And you didn't think it necessary to tell an alien agency that DEALS with weird aliens things?" Gwen demanded.

"According to the Doctor your agency doesn't have tact, decorum or the intelligence to deal with it." Rory paused, "That being said, I think he hasn't told Sarah Jane either." He said shrugging.

* * *

><p>"I haven't been able to talk to my brother in years! I hadn't seen him since he was a child because everyone thought I was a murderer!" Rhys fisted his hands, trying to keep from pacing or hitting anything. "And you just waltzed away with her without a bloody thought to us!" he continued his yells having quieted some since Martha had told him little Amy could probably hear him.<p>

"I had a few thoughts, and I didn't waltz." the Doctor said sulkily, "I crash landed twice and stole some clothing before going to steal Luke." He admitted sheepishly.

* * *

><p>"Oh my God." Gwen whispered in shock when her eyes finally caught what looked like pure light down the end of an alleyway. Rory had dashed to check the other side, leaving her on her own. It felt...like it was calling her, pulling her in. Something waiting and before she knew it her feet were moving of their own accord, pulling her forward and closer.<p>

"Gwen!" Rory screamed, running hard across the road, barely avoiding a car heading down the road. "GWEN STAY BACK!" Rory yelled running towards her.

* * *

><p>"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT BETTER!" Rhys pulled at his own hair lightly in frustration, "You ruined lives! You tried to keep it hidden still!" his tirade continued, despite the guilty look on the Doctor's face.<p>

"I've already apologized-" the Doctor started.

"NOT TO ME!" Rhys screamed again.

* * *

><p>"GWEN!" Rory screamed as he got closer.<p>

Soft...warm...why was it calling her forward? Why...

"GWEN!" Rory screamed again, running much too fast to stop as he grabbed hold of the back of her jacket and yanked her back and away from the crack.

The momentum was too much.

He couldn't stop.

As he threw all his weight into pulling her away from the crack, he threw himself forward.

* * *

><p>"God knows what that bitch needed from the store anyway." Rhys growled out, "But of course I had to do her bidding. Fucking woman...I was accused as a murderer! What normal teen hangs out with little kids?" Rhys ranted.<p>

"The kind with siblings who babysit." the Doctor offered, aware he'd done something and not sure how to make it up. He watched with shock as Rhys, Martha and Sarah Jane all seemed to close their eyes at the same time, Rhys jolting in place as if hit by a strong wind. It came at the same time something electrical buzzed at his brain, something wrong.

"I don't have any siblings." Rhys yelled, "Why the hell...What is wrong with him?" Rhys demanded of Martha. "Stop trying to get out of this. You took Amelia and nearly sent me to prison several times!" he yelled.

"What do you mean no siblings?" the Doctor felt panic shoot through him as he moved forward.

"I'm an only child." Rhys enunciated. "For the love of God." He growled.

"What?" Mickey looked confused, "What about Rory?" he asked looking at Rhys worriedly.

"Who the hell is that?" Rhys snapped.

* * *

><p>"Tish?" Luke looked up at Tish in confusion. She'd just froze in place, halfway in putting her purchases in the car. "Tish, are you okay?" He asked quickly.<p>

"'M fine. Why?" Tish mumbled.

"You're crying." Luke pointed out.

Tish reached up and wiped at her face with her fingers, staring in fear and fascination when her fingers came back wet.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Yes, it is possible to mistake the Boston Tea Party for having happened in Pennsylvanian. <em>She did it, and she's an American! <em>In my defense, I meant the Declaration being signed. _Yes, but you didn't say that. _****Oh, and regarding what Sarah Jane wrote...let's just say it's the written equivalent of a rude gesture. _Rory's gone! I'm like crying now. _I know but it's been plotted since like chapter three. _Of course I'm also crying over 'Once upon a time'_. ONE FANDOM AT A TIME! _Says the person writing about twenty fics in six fandoms. _Bite me.]**


	102. Computers, TARDIS Repair and the Hulk

"No, no, no, this can't be happening." the Doctor said frantically, pulling at his own hair and closing his eyes tight. "NO..." he said loudly, as if his word could change the world back to how it was.

"Doctor, what's happened?" Martha looked deeply concerned for her friend's odd behaviour.

"I can't...Not again. Not someone...We saved him! But...JACK!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"What about me?" Jack asked, stepping through the door from the comics shop and juggling takeaway cartons. "I bring food and return to yelling? I'm so loved." He said jokingly, trying to break the tension he felt in the room.

"You are but right now I need you for something else." the Doctor took the cartons from Jack's arms and set them on the table. "Jack, please tell me you know who Rory is." He pleaded.

"Rory?" Jack frowned in concentration, brow furrowed as he tried to place the name, "Sorry, no idea." Jack said shrugging and looking at the Doctor with concern.

"The hell is going on?" Mickey asked, standing from the couch, "Doctor?" he asked worriedly glancing around the room.

"Who did he go with, Mickey?" the Doctor asked quickly, "Do you remember?" he asked.

"Uh...He went with Gwen to get drinks for everyone." Mickey replied worriedly.

"YES! Gwen, brilliant Gwen, funny Gwen, planet-y Gwen." the Doctor whirled and held his hand out to Martha, "Phone, gimme." He demanded looking pleadingly at her.

"Why do you need mine?" Martha asked though she pulled out her phone and handed it to him anyway.

"So I can call Gwen." he said, tapping the screen to wake up the phone and searching through her contacts.

"What's my wife got to do with any of this?" Rhys growled, "You're not distracting me from this with some made up person." Rhys yelled his anger still evident in his tone.

"RIGHT!" the Doctor yelled, "Unless you know who Rory is, go sit down on the couch. NOW! I—oh, yes, Gwen! Hold on." he pressed the speaker button and cleared his throat, "Gwen, please tell me you're safe." He said in as calm a voice as he could muster.

_"I'm...I'm fine, I think. I fell hard and hurt my arm and leg but...Doctor, something's wrong. There was this light and...it tried to pull me in, but then it was just...gone and I was on the ground.."_ Gwen's voice came through, laced with tears. _"Doctor, what was it?"_she asked worriedly._  
><em>

The Doctor closed his eyes tight and, jaw clenched, breathed deeply. "Are you too hurt to make it back to the hub?" he asked her gently.

_"I'd prefer a ride, but I can make it." _Gwen said causing Rhys to smile at the way she said it._  
><em>

"No, stay where you are. I'll get you help." the Doctor motioned for those sitting to remain down. "Call Tish and tell her to get you, say I said to do it and that she needs to hurry back to the hub. Tell her 'The Cracks are back'." After a moment he sighed, "You're crying. Why?" he asked in worry.

_"Because I'm clumsy, pregnant and an idiot." _Gwen told him, obviously trying to stem the tears.

"You'll be fine. Call Tish, Gwen. Goodbye." He pulled the phone away from his ear and with a frown poked the screen to end the call. He then tossed it back to Martha who caught it deftly. "Is Amy safe to be around?" the Doctor asked her, "For Gwen and the baby, I mean." He continued quickly.

"She should be...yes." Martha nodded, "I didn't want to risk...Doctor, what is going on?" she asked firmly staring at him.

"Doctor." Jack said slowly, looking up and meeting the Time Lord's eyes, "Someone got taken, didn't they? Someone important to us." the horror that dawned in his eyes made the Doctor cringe.

"Yes. Yes, they did." the Doctor nodded and ran his fingers through his hair, not noticing or not caring that it left it standing up in peaks.

* * *

><p>"You should be fine." Martha said, carefully wrapping Gwen's left wrist up in ace bandage. She'd gained several scrapes across the left side of her hand, though she'd avoided damage to her forearm while her jacket hadn't faired so well, and torn up the knee and thigh of her left trouser leg. The skin underneath didn't look very good but some antiseptic, antibiotic ointment and bandages had her leg dealt with. Her wrist however... "A bad sprain, but ice and something for the pain and you'll be good."<p>

Martha stepped back to study Gwen as she sat on the exam table in only her under things and a t-shirt. Something wasn't right, "Are you sure you fell?" Martha asked her.

"You think I'm lying?" Gwen asked in shock, right hand going to her stomach almost protectively. "You think I'd lie about this?" she demanded.

"They don't...They're not..." Martha pulled her gloves off and trashed them before digging through the drawers and producing a pair of scrub bottoms for Gwen to use. "You look like you were shoved," Martha told her, "If you fell I'd expect both knees, your palms at very least." Martha handed Gwen the scrubs and stepped back again, "Elbow, maybe upper thigh given the others but...Gwen, you look like someone shoved you and you caught yourself." Martha finished as Gwen slid off the table and started pulling the scrubs on.

Gwen stared off into space, hands frozen on the tie of the trousers, "Shoved..." she murmured to herself, eyes not quite right.

"Gwen? Hey, Gwen?" Martha waved her hand in front of Gwen's face, bringing her attention back. "Did you hit your head?" she asked in her calm doctor tone.

"No, I don't think so." Gwen said slowly. She looked down in frustration and moved her left arm out to the side in clear disgust, "Tie these for me, please?" she asked sighing.

* * *

><p>"There are cracks, in the universe." the Doctor started slowly, hands clenched around something wrapped in a red and white handkerchief. He'd given in and assembled them in Jack's attempt at a living room in Torchwood. "Some are positively microscopic, some are as big as the sky but they're there. The cracks are two parts of space and time that should never have touched that are being pressed together. See, they're present in the very fabric of spacetime." he gestured when he spoke, but made sure to keep what he held covered, "A crack in a wall will still remain a crack, were you to knock the wall down." He continued as calmly as he could.<p>

"A crack in time." Sarah Jane said, eyes wide, "It's possible?" she asked, sitting straight up on the couch between Jack and Luke.

"It's been done." the Doctor nodded, "Some cracks are...mostly harmless. They act as wormholes and allow passage between the places. It's how Rosanna brought her family through, it's how Prisoner Zero got into Amelia's house and they're...mostly harmless," he repeated. "Easily forced to close with a sonic but others...Through others there is nothing but silence and the end of all things." he closed his eyes, remembering the words from Rosanna that came from so long ago. "But other cracks...Others release pure time energy." He continued staring off into space as he spoke.

"That's lethal," Jack clarified for his team's benefit. Gwen hadn't pulled away from Rhys' side since she sat down and Rhys seemed quite content to just hold onto her on the loveseat.

"The pure time energy eats at things around it. If the light touches you, you're gone. You don't just die, you disappear." the Doctor wrapped his hands around the back of the chair Tish sat in, Amy curled up next to her wrapped in a blanket. "You never existed at all. Your past, present, future, all gone, but the things that happened because of you still happened." His voice caught a bit as he continued, memories of Rory bouncing in his brain.

"So you're saying someone we know got taken by a crack in space and time." Rhys said. "And we don't remember because it was time energy erasing them?" he continued sceptically.

"Don't laugh." Gwen snapped, clearly still shaken at her close encounter, "This energy, its white and glows, right Doctor?" she said staring off into space as if lost in a memory.

The Doctor nodded, "Sometimes you can see it leaking out, reaching for its prey like a vine." He shook a bit remembering their close call with the Silurians.

"So who did we lose?" Sarah Jane asked, "And why can you remember?" Sarah Jane tapped her fingers lightly on her leg, agitated and angry for reasons she couldn't exactly place.

"Rory's gone, isn't he, Doctor?" Luke asked.

"You remember?" Sarah Jane looked shocked.

"Yes." Luke said simply looking around at the group.

"Time Travellers, our brains work differently now." Amy whispered and looked up at the Doctor, "I remembered the clerics." She said quietly.

"I did as well." Luke nodded.

"You can remember them because they had no importance to you." the Doctor told them, "They held no impact in your life and they didn't relate to your direct past." he continued, "Me? I'm just advanced." He said bragging a bit.

"So who is Rory?" Rhys asked finally.

"Your baby brother." the Doctor told him. "He's funny, shy, painfully awkward – I've never met anyone as bad – stick thin, geeky beyond-" he continued with fondness in his voice.

"Think his last self," Mickey interrupted, jerking his thumb towards the Doctor, "Only less suave and more compassion." He teased.

"Med-student, nurse. He volunteers and lives at Tish's place." Luke offered.

"Why does he live at my place?" Tish inquired, clearly puzzled.

"Because he's your toyboy." Luke said promptly, causing the Doctor to choke.

"I think she prefers 'boyfriend'." Mickey corrected at Tish's flabbergasted look. "He's a bit younger than you." Mickey continued trying hard not to laugh.

"Why is Rhys' younger brother important enough to me that I'd forget everything to do with him?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Well, you've known him since he was younger than Amelia." the Doctor scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Um, he was there the night I took Amelia...sort of. He hit his head and had to go to the hospital which left her alone and Rhys had to babysit..." the Doctor winced, "Jack retconned him, you looked into the story and sort of kept in touch." the Doctor explained, thinking of the stories Rory, and then Sarah Jane, had told him, and of the book hidden in the TARDIS.

"So...If he's dating me, how do you not know him enough to be significant?" Tish asked Mickey.

Mickey shrugged, "He hangs out with Martha in the med wing, studies or is off with his brother. I'm down here playing space invaders – which reminds me, Jack, I beat your high score – and he's all 'I've got school work'. Plus he's like twelve." Mickey wrapped his left arm around Martha where she sat, perched on his lap, and with his right hand stroked the ears of the puppy on his feet.

"He was twenty-one as of June," the Doctor glared at Mickey, "and probably closer to twenty-two if you count right. Don't be mean."

"Eh, still too young." Mickey waved it off.

Luke shrugged, "I talk to Amy. He was a companion after me so..." Luke trailed off.

"You were a babysitter, not a companion," the Doctor stressed, sending Luke a look that clearly said 'shut up before your mum kills us'.

"Right." Luke nodded, "But he was in the book, the magazines, all that." Luke told his mum, "It's...If I went and looked, I wouldn't find him, would I?" Luke asked the Doctor.

"No...Not..." he froze in thought, "Maybe..." he trailed off his mind latching back on the book.

"What is it, Doctor?" Jack recognized that look.

"Inside the TARDIS is shielded from time changes." the Doctor murmured to himself. He looked up, "Tish, if you were going to hide something important that I shouldn't see somewhere, where would you hide it?" he asked a smile growing on his face.

Tish just looked at him for a moment before answering evenly, "Probably in the very back of my dresser, under several pairs of pants." She said honestly looking at him confused.

The Doctor flushed red for a moment, "Um...I'd ask you to fetch it, but you wouldn't know what you're fetching and...Mickey?" he looked desperately at his ex-companion.

"No way in hell." Mickey said calmly.

"Beyond the protests I have at you digging in my dresser," Tish looked at him in annoyance, "Have you even got my room unlocked yet?" she asked.

"I...Sarah?" the Doctor looked towards Sarah Jane questioningly.

"We've got the kitchen, Amy's room and what I think might be a boot cupboard." Sarah Jane listed, "Few more hours, a bit more power charge and we should be able to get all the rooms." She said thinking.

"Few hours then." he nodded, "Amy? How are you feeling?" he asked gently.

"Different." Amy frowned in thought, looking baffled, "I want to cry and scream and I don't know why." She said sadly.

"That makes two of us." Tish said softly, unaware she'd started crying again.

"Do you know what caused the cracks?" Jack asked him, eyeing the handkerchief.

"I have an idea." he replied, tossing the wrapped object to Jack who opened it and stared in horror.

* * *

><p>"Why did you believe me automatically," the Doctor asked as he rewired the console, hoping to speed up the charge.<p>

"You've never lied to me, not outright anyway," Sarah Jane responded, clearly still conflicted on the issue of the cracks. "And I've seen it happen before."

"You've seen the cracks?" He said in horror.

"No, no, nothing like that. The Trickster, remember?" When he nodded she continued, "He erased me out of existence once, Maria too- she's Luke's friend you shoved into a closet in Virginia." Sarah Jane smiled and poked him.

"I know." he tried not to blush, but from the heat knew his ears had turned pink.

"It was...weird." Sarah Jane admitted, "I was alive, but I wasn't. Just sort of...trapped. My life in exchange for another's. Awful. So I know this boy," Sarah Jane changed tracks, "Liked him?"

"You threatened me for taking him," the Doctor told her, "Lectured me for it and then proceeded to guilt trip me about it so I'd keep him safe."

"How did you meet him?" Sarah Jane asked.

"He was Amelia's best friend as a child, she wanted to see him again, Tish guilted me into a meeting – with Amelia disguised of course – and then I kidnapped him and held him hostage for a few months till he agreed not to tattle to you, I kicked him off the TARDIS and asked politely if he'd like to travel with me." the Doctor summed it up, aware if she did remember she'd probably yell at him for that.

"So...How you met Harry, then?" Sarah Jane smiled.

"Yes, just about." he laughed, "Speaking of, did you know he's an imbecile?" the Doctor asked her.

"I've heard that shouted a time or two. What did he do and when?" she sighed.

"Last time I was dying I made a point in saving everyone." the Doctor pulled his hands off the wires and wiped them on his trousers. "I took care of Luke, I made sure Jack found someone – long story – I saved Martha and Mickey from Sontarans, I gave Liz the chemical cure to save Julia," he waved his hands as he spoke, building momentum, "I made sure that Jo's grandson didn't die from a stupid accident involving a tree fort and I made certain that Harry would live! I left him a highly concentrated dose of that blue goo to save him and heal his heart and do you know what that imbecile did?" he said in mock anger.

"Took it, I'm assuming given the fact he's up and alive." Sarah Jane said dryly.

"Yes but only when I made him! He left it on his desk to examine later and tried to go home to his wife and kids early!" He nearly howled in outrage.

"Would this be the day you kidnapped Kate?" Sarah Jane asked, handing him a towel to get rid of what was left on his hands that kept getting flung off in little droplets.

"YES! I …That wasn't a kidnapping." he muttered, turning red.

"Ah, so you didn't take the Brigadier's eldest child at gunpoint, steal a car and use her to break into UNIT – somewhere you could have just said 'please' to enter – and then use her as a bargaining chip till you got what you wanted." Sarah Jane said nearly laughing at his expression.

"Can I still plead the fifth when I'm not pretending to be American?" the Doctor wondered out loud.

"No!" Sarah Jane laughed.

"Fine, fine...How is Kate?" he asked, "I saw her at the Brig's Christmas party but I didn't know her significance then." He said smiling.

"She's dropped the 'Lethbridge' part of her name and is currently UNIT's scientific advisor." Sarah Jane bit back the laugh at the look that crossed his face, "She got the job on her own merits, but, like Martha, she's keeping an eye on things. Won't be long till we've got it all back as it should be."

"Is PERU planning a hostile takeover of UNIT?" he chuckled at the idea, genuinely pleased and proud of his friends.

"Well, not actively." she said coyly, "Though I can't say much about plans already made."

* * *

><p><strong>Two days later<strong>

* * *

><p>"What are you doing?" Amy asked as Rhys pulled several books off of Martha's bookshelf and stacked them on his arm.<p>

"Messing with Martha as petty vengeance." Rhys replied, sticking them back in random order. "She's very precise about things in her med wing." He explained, still a bit weary his once sort-of neighbour.

"Oh. What if she doesn't need a book?" Amy set aside her crayons in favour of watching Rhys.

"That's why next up I'm going to go switch things around on her desk." Rhys replied evenly. He'd calmed a lot over the past two days, not nearly as angry or prone to yelling as he had been when he'd first found out. In fact, he seemed overly determined to be nice around her.

"Okay...Rhys?" Amy asked.

"Yes?" He looked up from switching sticky notes around.

"Um, when you're done...do you want to colour with me?" Amy asked hesitantly, gesturing to her colouring books.

Rhys paused, watching her with an emotion she couldn't place for a moment then he smiled, "What colouring books have you got?" he asked his smile growing.

"Um...I've got princess ones but I've got super hero's too and plain paper." Amy said timidly.

"Sure, why not?" Rhys smiled at her and she smiled in return.

* * *

><p>Tish sat still on her chair at the Torchwood table, just staring at the table. She had too many things.<p>

There was the stack of DVD's for Amy and the video games that went with it – Luke was still installing all of them on the little pink laptop Tish had bought – and the little safety software but...She also had another laptop. Thin, sleek and silver with a stack next to it of computer programs that mostly students in University would need and a computer game called 'Hospital Tycoon'.

She tried hard to remember, to bring forth anything at all to recall the man she'd apparently been dating for over a year, but nothing came to her. All she ever could get was a headache and for some reason she'd start crying.

"What am I going to do with it?" She murmured to herself, lightly tracing the laptop with her fingertips.

"Huh?" Luke looked up from inputting the game codes and frowned, "What?" he asked.

"Just trying to figure out what to do with a laptop bought for someone who never existed." she told him.

Luke frowned in reply, clearly unsure as well. "You could give it to the Doctor." he suggested finally, "Put Skype on it as well and he'll never have a reason to ignore anyone." Luke dug through his pockets and produced a clean folded tissue and mimed wiping his eyes.

Tish laughed, took the tissue and dabbed at her eyes where once again she'd started crying. "This is getting really annoying." Tish told him, blinking to clear away any tears. "If I can't remember him, why am I crying?" she asked him.

"Your subconscious?" Luke shrugged, "I'd have to ask the Doctor, sorry."

* * *

><p>The two disappeared into the TARDIS, the doors closed and Jack a stop watch from his pocket, nonchalantly starting it and placing it on the table as the TARDIS disappeared.<p>

"What are you guys doing?" Gwen asked, finding Rhys and Amy busy over books, both holding crayons.

"Playing." the replied in unison, making her laugh.

"Oh?" she said practicing her mom voice.

"Lookit what I did, mam," Rhys teased, holding up his page that had been coloured in.

"Is that supposed to be a nutcracker?" she asked, squinting and turning her head.

"It's the Hulk." Rhys whined in protest, making Amy giggle.

"Sure it is," Gwen nodded, "How about you?" she motioned to Amy. Amy held up her page and Gwen smiled, "Oh, now that has to be Snow White, right?" she said fondly.

"Yup." Amy smiled and went back to colouring, "Dad says that movie isn't very good. He likes 'Mulan'." She frowned a bit then smiled back up at Gwen.

"Jack claims his favourite is 'Monsters vs Aliens'," Gwen said secretively, "But I know he cries over 'Sleeping Beauty'."

* * *

><p>"I think we've got it sorted out!" the Doctor proclaimed, dusting his hands off and grinning to the group who sat around the kitchen table eating out of takeaway containers. Amy, finally allowed out to eat with them, sat happily in her pajamas, rescued from her room, and a pair of fluffy pink slippers.<p>

"Just a quick hop into to test it out and we'll be right back." the Doctor told them, "Right as rain. Right, Sarah?" he said cheerily.

"That's the theory." Sarah Jane agreed. "Quick five minute hop, at best." She said hopefully.

"You've got all the rooms unlocked?" Tish asked.

"Yes." The Doctor stated firmly.

"Good," Tish stood and scooted past them, fingers trailing across Amy's back lightly as she passed, and headed to the TARDIS.

"You coming with?" the Doctor yelled after her.

"Finding that book!" Tish yelled.

He rolled his eyes and found Amy watching him worriedly. "Hey, don't worry. It won't be twelve years, I promise." he reached up anyway and undid his bowtie.

He crossed to stand by her and redid it around her own neck, trying not to laugh at how loose it was. "You hold onto that for me and we'll be right back in five minutes. Okay?" he continued reassuringly.

"Okay." Amy hugged him tight anyway.

"Ready Sarah Jane?" he asked, practically prancing tow the TARDIS doors.

Sarah Jane smiled, "Always. Luke, five minutes, don't get into trouble." She said looking at the Torchwood crew as she spoke in warning.

"I never do." Luke promised.

The two disappeared into the TARDIS, the doors closed and Jack a stop watch from his pocket, nonchalantly starting it and placing it on the table as the TARDIS disappeared.

Five minutes ticked past and Jack frowned, looking back towards where the TARDIS had been.

When the watch hit six minutes Amy's phone rang.

She quickly dug through the pockets of her pajama trousers and pulled it out, "Hello?" she asked timidly.

_"Hi! We're safe, we're fine, we just landed a little off course."_ the Doctor told her.

"How far 'off course'?" Amy asked, turning it to speaker phone at Jack's gesture.

_"Um...I'm not sure...I think Colchester. TARDIS wouldn't land, I got chucked out, I hit the ground, TARDIS disappeared and now I'm calling you because there's a note on the ground on the back of a receipt dated four days from now saying I need to call you and to 'stick around and see what happens." _He explained,_ "I promise I'll be back, and Jack and Luke will take care of you."_

"Are you ordering yourself around from the future again?" Martha asked, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it.

_"Course not. This is Tish's hand writing."_ The Doctor stated.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: okay, sorry, slightly shorter chapter. <em>But on the other hand, we're early. We think -<em>Guestimate here - _**We'll b**e done within oh...ten chapters, give or take a few hundred words. _Yup! I'm not sure that's a good thing though. We'll have to see, eh? _Hope you like it!]_**


	103. Waffles, Ducklings and Wonderland

"Amy?" Jack sat down on the edge of Amy's hospital bed, "You're going to come home with Luke and I tonight, okay?" he said happily bouncing a bit on the bed.

"You finally found out who gets me?" Amy asked, hugging Yumo close, left hand lightly toying with the blissful Uval's ears. They'd been arguing for ages, but she didn't know why.

"Yeah, we did. See, I figure as the mistress to your semi-sort-of illegal step-mother, I get more rights than the guy who lost you to an alien kidnapper and Martha's not going to be in town." Jack explained.

Amy blinked in confusion, "Huh?" she asked curiously.

"Your Dad's married to my Girlfriend," Jack explained simply, "That means I get more claim than Rhys." He cheered.

"Oh. Okay...How long is Martha going to be gone for?" Amy asked. Martha and Mickey had disappeared around lunch time with a file full of papers and Martha's medical bag, leaving Amidala with Gwen. "I thought I had to stay in bed." She said looking at him.

"They'll be back tomorrow morning, don't worry about that and I'm being sent home with an oxygen set up for you, your meds and orders to keep you calm and relaxed and mostly off your feet." Jack crossed his heart and smiled, "That means you and Luke are all mine for tonight. I feel I might possibly need to giggle like an evil villain." He smirked smiling at the younger girl.

"You wouldn't be an evil villain," Amy told him seriously, "You're too good." She said smiling innocently.

"Ah, think so?" Jack tilted his head in consideration of the idea, "I bet I would make a great villain. I'm dashing, handsome, well spoken, strong and very rarely have the moral high ground." he ticked off his reasons.

"What's moral high ground?" Amy asked.

"It means I'm rarely the type who can tell others what to do without being a hypocrite." Jack explained.

"Oh...what's a hypocrite?" Amy said blinking at him.

Jack chuckled, he'd certainly missed the questions over the months they were separated, "It means I'm telling people not to do what I do or did." He said smiling back

* * *

><p>Jack shuffled in place, trying to juggle too many things at once. He had Amy's portable oxygen machine that he didn't quite know the workings of in a bag on his back, her backpack hooked on his arm and the girl in question in his arms. He looked at the lock on the door then at Luke who was trying his best not to smile and gestured to it with his right hand, "Want to open it?"<p>

"I don't have a key." Luke replied, Yumo prancing about his feet.

Jack rolled his eyes and shifted, unhooking his keys from his belt and handing them to Luke, "Blue key." He stated.

Luke sorted through them and did laugh, "Why've they all got colours?" he said staring at the rainbow of colored keys.

"Because I can't ever remember which one goes where if they're not coloured. Just open the damn door."

Amy giggled, hiding her face against Jack's shoulder.

"Hey, no laughing." Jack scolded her playfully, "We don't laugh at Uncle Jack." He mock scolded.

Luke snorted and pushed the door open before removing the keys, "No, but I can laugh at mum's boyfriend Jack." he let go of Yumo's leash, letting the Uval run into the flat and search around.

"Don't push it." Jack kicked sideways and nudged Luke with his foot, pushing the boy slightly off balance.

"Hey!" Luke whined in protest, shutting the door and locking it behind them. "Don't be mean, I'll tell mum." He whined.

"How can you tell her without calling?" Amy asked curiously as Jack set her down on the couch.

Luke took his backpack off and tapped the side of his head, "It works a long, LONG ways. I dunno how far, but it wasn't there when I was in the TARDIS and in other times or planets." He explained.

"That's really cool." Amy said in awe watching him.

"Alright," Jack clapped his hands together after depositing all the things he'd been carrying onto the coffee table. "Minions, listen up." He demanded cheerily.

"Minion?" Amy questioned.

"Yes, you're smaller, less evil versions of adults and under my command, ergo you're my minion." Jack explained then cleared his throat, "Bathroom #1 is to the left through the door with the clear handle. Bathroom #2 is through the master bedroom which has the stars painted on the door," he gestured as he spoke and indicated what was in question, "Minion room has the weird blue stain on it that's right off the kitchen and if it's in the kitchen and covered in duct tape don't touch it. Capisce?" Jack finished.

"What's that mean?" Amy looked around, following Jack's cues and memorizing them.

"It's his way of asking if we understand." Luke opened his backpack and pulled his laptop out followed by the smaller pink one Tish had purchased.

"Why doesn't he say that then?" Amy frowned in confusion.

"No idea." Luke shrugged, opening both up, "Hey, Jack, can we have pizza tonight?" he asked pleadingly.

"Oh, so you're going to insult me and then ask for takeaway?" Jack tried to look insulted, crossing his arms and sniffling.

"Please, Uncle Jack?" Amy pleaded, "I haven't had it in ages." She continued staring at him with puppy dog eyes.

Jack paused and slowly dropped his arms and smiled, "Fine, fine, pizza it is. Just don't expect me to save you if you show up tomorrow and Gwen claims you smell of it still." He warned looking pointedly at both of them.

"What's wrong with Gwen?" Amy asked Luke.

"Nausea gravidarum." Luke informed her. At her blank look he laughed, "Morning sickness." He stated.

"What does that mean?" Amy asked.

"It means she's pregnant and the baby doesn't like certain things and it makes her feel sick." Jack explained.

"Why?" Amy frowned in thought, "Babies grow in looms until they're old enough to be picked up at a hospital." She stated looking at both of them innocently.  
>Jack stared blankly, caught out on a 'lie' he didn't know the story to. The moment Luke opened his mouth, however, he knew no good could come from it.<p>

"No, that's not right. Babies are—-mph." Luke was cut off by Jack vaulting over the couch and moving to stand behind Luke's chair, his hand clasped tightly over Luke's mouth.

"Ask your Dad," Jack spoke quickly, ignoring Luke's complaints, "Really, just ask him." Jack made a face when he felt Luke lick his palm but kept his hand where it was, "Or Tish, or your mum." He stumbled with his words hoping she'd drop the subject.

"Okay." Amy agreed easily. "Can we watch a movie?" she asked.

"Sure! Which one?" Jack pulled his hand away from Luke's mouth and wiped it absently on his trousers to rid it of the saliva left behind. He opened the door to his little cabinet full of DVD's and gestured for them to pick.

"Can we watch 'Alice in Wonderland' again?" Amy requested, drawing her feet up underneath her on the couch.

"But we've watched it like four times." Jack whined.

"I like it! He has a cool hat." Amy said eagerly, "I want one like it." She said bouncing.

Jack groaned and closed his eyes, wishing the Doctor hadn't been an influence like this this early, "Fine. But we have to watch 'Monsters vs Aliens' at least once." Jack left them to dig through the drawers in the kitchen, looking for menus.

"Deal!" Both agreed eagerly.

* * *

><p>Amy yawned as she woke, blinking against the light and peering out from under her covers. Not her room, not the TARDIS, not the medwing...Jack's flat. The walls were a very light yellow and had painted little blue stars in a three star pattern around the wall about midway up and little glow stars on the ceiling. She sat up, pulling the thick fluffy white comforter back and getting a whine from Yumo in protest at the colder air. There was a large white wardrobe against one wall and a smaller dresser against the other, that one held a large white framed mirror over it with remnants of tape and what looked like paint in places on the glass.<p>

It didn't look much like a boy's room, Amy had decided late the night before, but it was Jack's room so maybe he just liked it.  
>Her feet hit the cold floor and she almost mimicked Yumo's whine without meaning to. It took her a few moments to locate her slippers and tug them on.<p>

"Coming?" She peeked under the covers again to look at Yumo who just watched her sleepily. "You might miss breakfast." she warned him, putting them back down. The covers wiggled and Yumo crawled out from under them, hopping onto the floor and nipping at her slippers.

Amy bit back a giggle and settled for following him out of the room. She smiled when she found Jack in the kitchen working on something at the stove and Luke sitting at the table in his pyjamas. "Morning!" She greeted them cheerfully, taking the chair next to Luke and sitting down.

"Morning!" Jack grinned at her in greeting and stepped away from the stove. He move to the other counter and pulled down a plastic cup, "Grape or orange juice?" he asked cheerily back.

"Grape, please. What are you making?" Amy looked over at the stove where some little plastic machine was emitting steam.

"Waffles!" Jack handed her the cup of juice and held out his other hand, palm closed but down. When she extended her hand he dropped three pills into her palm, "All of them." he warned her.

Amy made a face but one by one swallowed the little pills. "You can cook?" she asked wearily.

"I'm wizard with breakfast, just don't expect any other meal." Jack told her.

Amy tapped her fingers on the table and looked at his back as he moved again, back to his cooking. "Uncle Jack?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he responded staring at her.

"I left my phone at the hub. Can I use yours and call dad?" she asked timidly.

"Sure." Jack dug into his pockets and slid it across the table to her.

Even a she went to unlock it and call him it started ringing, a woman's voice singing about someone not being welcome any more.

Jack bit back a laugh and looked at Luke, "Never tell your mother that's her ringtone." he took the phone back from Amy and answered, "Hello, Miss Sarah, how are you?"

Luke shook his head, "It's a weird song anyway. You can use mine to call him." Luke offered, "It's in my bag. How about after breakfast, though?" Luke messed with his own plastic cup, eyeing the coffeemaker, "That way you can tell him more about your morning." He responded.

"Okay," Amy sighed but nodded.

There was a loud knocking that filled the flat after a moment and Jack looked towards the door curiously.

"I didn't know your friends knocked." Amy told him.

"They don't." Jack replied, leaving the stove and walking to the door. He undid all the locks and opened it cautiously. There was a moment of quiet before he opened it fully.

"Hold on one moment, Sarah Jane, your kids have invaded," Jack moved the phone away from his mouth and scowled at the two teenagers standing in his doorway, "Rani, where do your parents think you are?" he asked trying to sound serious.

"With my cousin Ravi." Rani said simply, shifting her backpack and waving past Jack at Amy and Luke.

"Where does Ravi think you are?" Jack pressed.

"On a romantic weekend with my boyfriend." she shrugged. Clyde made a face and Rani just rolled her eyes at him.

"Why would he say that?" Jack bit back any curses or amusement.

"Because if he doesn't I'm going to tell everyone that he spent last weekend on a romantic trip with his boyfriend?" Rani smiled sweetly.

"Fair enough." Jack stepped aside and motioned her in, "Clyde?" he questioned.

"Mum thinks I'm at a friend's for some weird sci-fi movie and game-a-thon weekend." Clyde shrugged as well, "She doesn't care as long as it's not some weird thing with Sarah Jane and Luke." He said simply.

Jack shook his head and let Clyde in as well, "Sarah Jane, your kids are a menace to polite society AND Torchwood...Wait, good point. Hey!" Jack raised his voice and motioned to the two of them as they sat down at the table with Amy and Luke, "It's Friday!" he said as if it had just occurred to him.

"Yes, yes it is." Clyde nodded and smiled.

"You should be in school." Jack continued with his best imitation of Sarah Jane's look.

"I'm sick," Clyde coughed dramatically to prove his point, making Amy giggle.

"Mum excused me so I could leave for an entire weekend with Ravi." Rani hugged Amy and then grabbed Luke in a hug, "Dad said I can do the work at home on Sunday."

"Sarah Jane, your kids are far too good at lying as well." Jack complained into the phone. He pulled it away from his head and stuck it on speaker, "Go ahead." He sighed.

_"We're all having a very long talk about lying and sneaking away to other countries the moment I'm not trapped inside a wonky TARDIS in the vortex."_ Sarah Jane said sternly and all three teens winced, looking chastised despite her not being present. _"Till then, listen to Jack and Martha."_ She insisted._  
><em>

"Martha's not here!" Amy told her with a whine.

_"Oh?"_ Sarah asked a warning tone in her voice._  
><em>

"She's stealing Ducklings away." Jack said, flipping the phone off of speaker and putting it to his ear again, "They're probably back by now...No, that's not...Hey, it doesn't count as kidnapping. Yeah...Bye, Miss Sarah." he ended the call and slid the phone back into his pocket.

"Your waffles are burning." Clyde observed.

Jack looked back and found there was indeed smoke pouring out from the appliance. "Son of a...Fuck it, we're going out for breakfast." he declared, yanking the plug from the wall and shoving it into the empty sink. "Get dressed and we'll get something on the way to the hub." He insisted looking at the kids.

Amy covered her mouth, trying to supress laughter.

"Yes, I know I cursed." Jack turned around and fixing all four with a glare, "Now go get dressed! You two," he pointed at Clyde and Rani, "Big trouble once I can find a way to yell without getting caught laughing or being proud."

Clyde gave a half salute, "Got any juice?" he asked.

"In the fridge." Jack gestured and leaned back against the counter, "You seriously got a cousin called 'Ravi'?" he asked in disbelief.

"He's exactly a year older than me," Rani stretched in the chair and popped her back, "What do you expect with mothers who are sisters named Gita and Lalita?" she said shrugging.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Amy!" Mickey waved in greeting, stretched out with his feet propped up on his desk. "Wait, huh?" He sat up, boots on the floor when he saw who else was with Jack and Luke, "The hell are you two doing here? It's a school day!" he said with annoyance.<p>

"Huh," Jack looked between the recalcitrant duo and Mickey, "That's how...Mickey, lecture them." Jack ordered, setting down the plastic bags full of takeaway cartons and sidestepping Yumo as he wound between his feet. "Amy, wash your hands and sit down." He said sternly.

"How'd they get here?" Mickey yawned as he stood, climbing the stairs and stealing one of the disposable coffee mugs from Jack with a grateful smile.

"I..How did you?" Jack asked, realizing he hadn't questioned that one.

"Ravi's boyfriend Vince gave us a ride." Rani told him, "Then they were heading to the beach for a weekend and will grab us on Sunday night." She said shrugging.

"Ravi being the cousin who works in the garage that blushed when I complimented his paintjob on the bike he's got?" Mickey verified.

"Yup." Rani nodded and helped Jack set out the cartons for the right people.

"Huh." Mickey thought about it, "Can I lecture after the coffee kicks in? I was up all night...Technically twice, I think." He said rubbing his forehead.

"Speaking of, how was your trip? Did everything go alright?" Jack set one of the cartons in front of Amy, opening it to reveal pancakes and locating a set of utensils for her.

"We got through all clearances just fine but the flight back was...entertaining." Mickey allowed, "Your pilot guy was unhappy that he was 'playing part of a crime' and says you owe him extra for the trip back." He stated.

"Fine, fine," Jack waved it off, sitting down next to Amy with his own breakfast, "Luke, go tell Martha that we've brought breakfast." He ordered as he started to eat and as Luke trotted off.

"Where are Gwen and Rhys?" Amy asked, covering her pancakes in syrup.

"Day off. They've gone to visit Gwen's parents," Jack told her, "Gwen will be back this afternoon."

"Hey, Jack?" Luke looked confused as he came back from the medwing, Martha not far behind. "Why is there a lady handcuffed to a bed in the med wing?" he asked with a slight frown.

"We're not discussing that." Jack told him, handing him one of the takeaway cartons.

"...Why are we not discussing the lady handcuffed to a bed in the med wing?" Luke continued, sitting down next to Rani and opening the box.

"It's not relevant at the moment." Jack shrugged and handed Martha one of the coffees.

"When will it be relevant?" Amy asked him curiously, trying not speak with her mouth full.

"When she wakes up, realizes we kidnapped her and starts freaking out." Martha said with a grin, taking one of the boxes.

"I see..." Luke frowned, clearly still puzzled.

"So...Anyone want to explain why two of Sarah Jane's other kids are here?" Martha stole the last seat at the table and sat down, looking a bit more rested than Mickey.

"They caught a ride with a blackmailed cousin who thinks Rani's doing naughty things all weekend." Jack said evenly, "Lecture them for me so I don't laugh?" he continued as he tried to hold back a laugh.

* * *

><p>Amy tapped her feet against the railing of the hospital bed, looking around the room in annoyance. She was beginning to hate this room, and the bed. Nothing ever changed in here...well, there was a new patient, that one was new.<p>

"Is she sick too?" Amy asked Martha, indicating the woman. She was young looking, older than Martha but younger than Gwen probably, with long blonde curls and really pale skin. She was also clad in light blue hospital scrubs with weird leather looking things around both her wrists and her ankles.

"No, she's just sleeping." Martha sat the bulky nebulizer down next to Amy and gestured for the girl to sit back. As she measured the liquid into the face mask Amy watched the sleeping woman.

"Why's she tied up?" Amy persisted, relaxing back against the bed that was just barely reclined so she could still see the room.

"So she doesn't hurt herself or us when she wakes up." Martha held the mask to Amy's face and slid the band around the back of her head. "See, she doesn't exactly know us and didn't know she was coming here."

"Are you going to hurt her?" Amy asked worriedly, voice muffled some by the mask.

"No, oh honey, no." Martha shook her head, "I swear. We just need to talk to her for a bit. When she wakes up I'll take the restraints off and we'll talk like normal. I just don't want her to hurt herself when she's scared and waking up." Martha hugged Amy, assuaging her fears, "I promise nothing will happen to her." She said calmly.

"After this is done, can I call my Dad?" Amy questioned, tapping the mask.

"Of course! Tell him how good you were for your checkup and how your night was." Martha flipped on the machine, smiling at Amy when it hummed to life. She crossed back to her desk and signed in on her laptop, her typing soon filled the air and Amy found herself relaxing back against the bed.

She must have briefly fallen asleep because Jack's voice woke her up a few minutes later.

"Martha, there's a bit of an issue, I need both of you." He said commandingly.

"What about Amy and the others?" Martha responded looking worried at the thought of leaving them alone.

"Luke and Clyde are in the shop taking care of it, Rani'll come down in just a few minutes." Jack said, "I don't like it either, but we don't have Rhys or Gwen and I need medical backup." Jack noticed Amy was awake and smiled at her, crossing to sit on the edge of her bed, "Hey, firebird, there's a bit of an issue and we have to go solve it; Mickey, Martha and I will be gone for just a little while but until we're back you'll have Amidala and Rani to keep you and Yumo company, okay?" he said trying to sound reassuring.

"Is everyone alright?" Amy asked worriedly.

"Everything's fine." Jack promised, "Just a bit of an issue with aliens we need to sort out. We'll be back before you know it." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and stood again, "Martha?" he asked.

"When that stops making noise and there's no more liquid left you can take it off and turn the machine off," Martha told her as she grabbed her medbag, "I'll tell Rani the same." She said calmly.

"Can I call Dad?" Amy asked again.

"Yeah, just as soon as you're done. If you need anything at all, call us." Jack told her, "Even if it's just a plaster." He insisted.

"What if she wakes up?" Amy indicated the sleeping woman.

"In my little fridge there's a bottle of water with a red stripe," Martha said, checking Amy's mask, "Give it to her and it'll be fine, alright? Just don't tell her anything about where or who we are, okay, Amy?" she said seriously.

"Okay. Um...I'm not scared but...Can Rani come down sooner?" she asked quietly.

"I'll yell at her as we go through, promise." Martha said smiling.

* * *

><p>Rani hurried down the passageway and through the doors into the main Torchwood hub, both hands occupied and freezing cold from the two milkshakes she'd been given by the boys after a 'quick stop' at a nearby takeaway place.<p>

Jack had laughed at them for wanting ice cream before noon, but was apparently debating one himself when they took off.

All she had to do was watch Amy for a bit, make sure the nebulizer was done and...well, that was it.

She paused outside the med wing, stepping over the snoozing Amidala and typing in the code that unlocked the doors.

The dual security doors and the disinfectant spray in between them was annoying, but she figured they were pretty smart for a 'hospital' area.

"I don't know," she heard Amy say as she entered the second door. It took her a moment to realize the accent Amy was using was American, "When she wakes up, I guess." Rani frowned as she heard Amy speaking. Quickly she walked in seeing Amy with a phone to her ear.

"Hey, who's on the phone?" Rani asked, setting their drinks down. "That's not your phone." She said firmly.

"I don't know," Amy told her, "And it's hers. It rang and I answered it because it was interrupting my movie." She said whining.

"Give it," Rani held her hand out sternly and looked at the screen. She could somewhat hear people talking on the other line, obviously trying to get her attention but it was a bad idea to answer it. She ended the call and flipped the phone off, setting it aside. "What'd you tell them?" she demanded calmly.

"That their friend couldn't talk right now because she was tied up and asleep." Amy said grumpily.

Rani sighed and shook her head, checking the mask and then the machine and turning it off. "Got you a vanilla milkshake." Rani offered, gesturing towards the cup, "What'd they tell you?" she asked.

"Not much. I think she's a doctor, though." Amy happily grabbed the cup from its table, "and her name's Cameron but that's it." She said timidly, afraid she was in trouble.

"Huh...What movie are you watching?" Rani grabbed her cup and settled next to Amy on the hospital bed, looking down at Amy's laptop.

"Alice in Wonderland." Amy said a smile growing on her face.

"I don't know why I even asked." Rani giggled, making Amy giggle as well.

* * *

><p>"And then we watched a movie." Amy finished excitedly. She'd finally gotten to call her Dad and talk to him at length. She wasn't sure what aliens he was looking for but he said he had a flatmate called 'Craig' who was 'hopeless as Rory' and that Sarah Jane was making fun of him with Tish.<p>

_"Which one?"_ the Doctor asked.

"Alice in Wonderland. I think you need a hat like the Hatter has." She said excitedly.

_"I'd love one. Maybe we should make them. That or a blue fez."_ The Doctor answered laughing.

"Blue fezzes are the best!" Amy tried not to bounce in place with happiness that he agreed because Martha kept telling her to sit still and the boys were playing a video game on the big TV. They were supposed to keep out of trouble while Jack and the others talked to the woman from earlier...oh, that reminded her! "I think that Jack's gonna get a new kid." Amy informed him promptly.

_"What!?"_ he choked as his voice went up an octave, _"Amelia?"_ he sputtered.

"There's a woman that was kidnapped I think and she was tied up in the med wing but now she's in the office with them talking all nice and Martha made her tea and Gwen had her feel the baby move – and how come there's a baby in Gwen if they come from Looms? – and then Jack was laughing so I think Jack's gonna take her like you did me." She babbled.

There was a long silence before the Doctor laughed, _"No, Amelia, I think that's his way of finding new employees or pawns. Ask him about it though, please. Oh, and don't let her see you without your mask on if possible."_ He said as calmly as he could while stifling giggles.

"I won't...Can I call you at bedtime so you can tell me a story?" She asked quietly. Amy'd only been away from him for one full day but she really missed him already. They were never apart, not ever!

_"Of course!"_ the Doctor promised her, _"I love you, Amelia."_ He said smiling at her.

"I love you too, Daddy." She said smiling happily and looking up to where Jack was motioning her.

"Amy! Can you come here for a second?" he asked peeking his head out of his office.

"Bye, Daddy, I'll call you back tonight."

_"Goodbye, Amelia."_

She tucked her phone away and looked around in her bag. After a moment she located one of the weird surgical masks that Martha had given her and hooked it on over her ears, it would have to do for now.

"What do you need, Uncle Jack?" Amy asked when she entered the office. He quickly lifted her up into his arms and behind the desk.

"Firebird, did you talk on her phone?" Jack gestured to the now less scared looking woman.

"Uh-huh, a man called but I don't know who because the name that showed was a naughty word," Amy told him honestly, her voice slightly muffled by the mask, "and then there were a lot of people on the other end." She said honestly.

"Is that all?" Jack questioned in an even tone.

"He asked for a picture," Amy said brightly, "So I sent him one." She nodded.

"One of you?" Jack demanded worriedly.

"No, of her. I said she was tied to a bed and couldn't talk and he said 'prove it' and then someone wanted a photo so I sent it." She said nodding as she did so.

"Great," the woman groaned, head in her hands, "Now I either have to play this off as the most horrible prank ever, say I was admitted somewhere or say a team of alien hunters abducted me from the US, took me to the UK and bribed me to be a 'pawn' in their workforce." Cameron sighed and shook her head.

"What does that mean?" Amy asked Jack.

"It means she knows about us, will do our bidding, keep an eye out for the strange and help us when we need help." Jack explained.

"Oh...okay. Are you adopting her too?" Amy asked as Jack and the woman groaned.

* * *

><p>It had been a long day with lots of stupid medical tests, Jack getting lectured by a random lady Amy didn't know and far too much junk food and games with the teenagers. By time they got home Amy was ready to crash.<p>

Amy snuggled into the big bed as Jack tucked her in. "Can I have a bedtime story?" she asked tiredly. She'd already gotten one from her dad, but two was always good.

Beside her on the floor Clyde snickered as Luke nodded hopefully and Rani tossed a pillow at him from her side of the bed, "Yeah can we Jack?" Luke asked.

They had been situated so the boys could have the 'minion room' and Rani and Amy the big room, but Amy had asked if they could do a 'sleep over' and before he could protest the big room had blankets on the floor and Rani on one side of the bed.

Jack sighed then shrugged, "You just want to hear about the silly Romans again." He teased as she sat down on the end of the bed.

"They're not silly! They're not silly, Romans are awesome! We saw some though those Romans were scary but then the Doctor showed me some real Romans and we dressed up like them and everything." Amy said defensively. "Well, the other Romans are good, not the ones on Rome. The ones in Rome were scary and made people mad." She grumbled.

"Okay Okay," Jack said ignoring the teenagers' snickers.

"Once Upon a time, a long long time ago, The Romans protected the world…." Jack began, trying to craft something from his knowledge of history.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Okay, so we broke our streak. <em>I take blame for 12 hours of the twenty-four hour delay, I fell asleep and missed my writing portion and playing beta.<em> Yes! BLAME HER! I was worried sick! _Not for the whole time though; I did wake you hours ago today! _Yeah, and I was writing. Any who, once again playing 'way too many refrences', but it made me laugh. Eventually in 'Expanding the universe' the full story of the phonecall regarding 'the woman' will be posted. _I'll make her write/post it. It made me laugh. _Everything does. Hope you enjoy!]**


	104. Art, Photos and a lack supervision

The Doctor looked at the key in his hand with amazement, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat. He didn't know why this simple gift had affected him so, but there was something about it...

"Doctor?" Sarah Jane asked looking at him with concern. It'd been a long few days of waiting around not able to do anything but explore the TARDIS and try to keep the Doctor out of trouble remotely, but now they were able to go home.

"Sorry Sarah, lets go," He said shoving the key into his pocket and bouncing away to the console. As his hands hit the console he looked up in realization,

"Wait." He yelled loudly.

"What?" Sarah Jane asked staring at him.

"Tish!" he yelled to catch her attention, digging into his pockets and producing a receipt, "You got to do the thing!" he babbled.

"What thing?" Tish asked, stepping up to the console, a familiar book hugged to her chest.

"I...did that help?" he asked, gesturing to the book.

"No. I still don't...It didn't bring anything back, sorry." Tish shook her head and handed it to him. "What am I doing?" she questioned.

"Oh, right, take this and write a warning for me to stay here on the back so we can drop it off and I'll follow your orders." the Doctor handed her the receipt, shifting the book to his left hand and digging into his pocket till he produced a pen, "Then we've got to leave a note telling me where to stay." He smiled.

"You know, it's scary how often you manipulate your past self." Sarah Jane mused, leaning against the console.

"It really is." he agreed, smiling wryly. Once Tish had left the TARDIS he looked down at the book again, tracing the words on the cover curiously.

"Going to read it?" Sarah Jane asked him, moving to stand by him as they waited.

"No." the Doctor said finally, though he opened the front of it to show her the inscription she'd done for him. "It's full of too much I don't know yet. Thirteen years of thinks I might accidentally avert or cause to go wrong if I knew." he did flip the book open to the middle section though, and flipped through the glossy pages till he located a small photo. In it a small boy, probably no older than six sat in his swim trunks on a set of concrete stairs, face covered in bright purple from an ice lolly, to his right sat a small Amelia, bright hair all a mess from water and her hands covered in bright orange, to his left sat a little black girl, no older than toddler, he knew to be called 'Melody'. He wondered briefly what had become of her now that things changed and she no longer had Rory.

"Here," he handed the book to Sarah Jane, "Go put it somewhere Amelia won't find it and I won't be tempted, please." He said quietly closing his eyes tiredly.

"Of course." Sarah Jane took the book and traced the cover like he had, "It's weird to read something I know to be my work but not remember writing it." She said thoughtfully looking at the cover.

"Stay away from your section of the library then," He called as she walked away, "It's got full shelves of things you haven't written yet!" he yelled after her.

"What!? Wait, I have my own section?" he heard her yell smiling as he did, a laugh escaping him.

* * *

><p>–<p>

* * *

><p>"Right, so minions," Jack paced slowly back and forth, hands grasped behind his back as he studied the three teens and one child, "We are not going to mention we only lived off of junk food this weekend. We will not be mentioning the PG-13 movies and there is no reason to ever mention the curse words in several languages spouted by... everyone." Jack continued, eyeing the 'curse' jar that they had to put money in for every slip.<p>

"Don't forget our friend." Martha added.

"Yes! There is no reason to mention that we may or may not have kidnapped an American this weekend and definitely no reason to mention her being tied up in the med wing." Jack continued nervously.

"I thought she was gonna work here?" Amy questioned, leaning against Luke. She looked much better than she had and didn't need near the medication that Martha had been giving her before. She wasn't quite up to running around without breaks, but doing much better.

"She's working for us," Jack corrected, "She works a big emergency room and is keeping an eye out for signs of alien life we'll need to deal with and will be on the front lines if we have another ATMOS incident." He explained.

"Oh...What's ATMOS?" she asked curiously.

"Car thing that choked everyone." Rani simplified to keep Luke from going off on a tangent.

"Exactly." Jack nodded, "Now, we've got a little time before they show up, everyone pick something quiet to do." He demanded.

* * *

><p>Luke dug through the plastic container curiously, pulling out chunks of plastic, small circuit boards and what looked like several dismantled watches. At the bottom he found several spiral notebooks, all filled with diagrams and writing he couldn't read that he thought might be Japanese. The diagrams looked easy enough, so maybe he could have his mother translate for him.<p>

"What've you got, Luke?" Jack asked, coming to crouch down next to the teen.

"I don't know." Luke admitted, handing him the notebook he had open. "It was in the group of tech I'm allowed to mess with but I don't know what it is. Maybe it got blown up in the blast?" he said staring at the object.

"No, it didn't get blown up." Jack traced the handwritten letters and smiled sadly, "This was in my flat."

"Your flat?" Luke asked.

"Well, it was her flat. I took over it after...after." Jack finished lamely and handed the notebook back to Luke. "It's a transportation system." he explained.

"What?" Luke looked at him curiously.

"It's based off my wrist strap." Jack said, lifting one of the plastic cases, "But not meant for time travel. Tosh was...Tosh was working on a way to transport us across large spaces instantly sort of like a transmat but only to set locations with homing devices in them, mainly other transporters." Jack said staring off into space as if lost in memories.

"Did she ever get them working?" Luke asked frowning as he looked down at the designs.

"No, not fully. I tested her prototype and it managed to throw me about ten feet but it did stop my heart." Jack smiled again, "That was about a week before she died." He whispered.

"Oh...Sorry, I can put it back and find something else-" Luke started quietly.

"No, it's okay." Jack put the casing back down, "I'll see if your mum will translate the notes for us and we'll try and get them working right. Tosh'd love to see her creations come to life." He said with a big grin.

Luke smiled and nodded, "It'd be really neat to do."

"Yeah just...just be careful with the notebooks." Jack cautioned, standing up again, "I want them in the same condition you found them."

"Promise." Luke nodded.

* * *

><p>The TARDIS noise drew everyone near, including a very forlorn looking Yumo with pink streaks in the fur that covered his head.<p>

"Think it's been long?" Amy asked worriedly when it landed.

"Doubt it, you two have been in contact." Martha told her.

The moment the TARDIS doors flew open, any doubts Amy had disappeared as her dad stepped out onto the tile floor.

"Amelia!" He smiled happily, opening his arms.

"Dad!" She yelled, running across the floors and into his arms with such speed that a normal human would have been knocked backwards. Instead he lifted her up into his arms, squeezing her tight, "Missed you!" she told him.

"Missed you more." the Doctor said tightly against her hair.

"Mum!" Luke yelled, slowing himself so as not to impact her like Amy had but still pulling Sarah Jane into a tight hug.

"Luke." Sarah Jane laughed, hugging him close, "Did you behave?" she asked smiling.

"Of course." He nodded and stepped back.

She looked over to the other two teens, both trying and failing to look innocent, "I don't think I can ask you two that question without gaining a lie in return, can I?" she said sternly.

"Well, we did behave..." Clyde said slowly.

"Just...badly." Rani added, trying not to smile.

"We'll be having a nice discussion about this later." Sarah Jane said pointedly as she stepped out of the way to let Martha greet her sister. "Really, blackmailing your cousin to get him to take you to Wales?" she questioned.

"Luke!" Rani whined, "Stop letting your mind be a sieve!"

"That was intentional." Luke smiled brightly.

"Clyde!" Amy motioned to the teenager when she was finally put down, "Want to come see my art things?" she said happily looking at him.

"Can I?" Clyde asked looking over at Sarah Jane.

"It's new inside." Rani told Clyde eagerly, "I don't have a room, but Luke has a cool one."

"You can go look, but no going anywhere!" Sarah Jane warned them as they followed Amy inside quickly, not waiting for her to take it back. "Doctor," she said warningly.

He raised his right hand quickly, "I swear I will not take your son on another trip." he swore with a grin.

"Better not." Sarah Jane grumbled.

* * *

><p>"Oh, man, this is so cool." Clyde looked around in amazement at the random doors and hallways as he followed Amy through the TARDIS, Luke and Rani not far behind. "You get to live here? I never saw this far in." he said in amazement.<p>

"It's my home." Amy confirmed, opening a white door with flowers on it and smiling happily. "My room." she sighed contentedly, stroking the wall for a moment before hurrying inside and sitting down on her bunk beds. She'd missed it. Missed her room, missed her home, missed the TARDIS more than anything. Even now she could feel the hum again and felt happier than she had been. "Welcome home," Amy said, patting the wall.

"Wow, you got the cool room." Clyde turned slowly in the centre of it, looking at the walls and shelves covered in strange things.

"It's changed." Luke agreed, "More friendly looking. Was sort of...housing then, wasn't it?" he asked looking at the changes.

"Now it's my home." Amy said happily.

"You still have your photos set up?" Rani asked, indicating the tray where her photos automatically printed to.

"Yes. You can look if you'd like." Amy offered, standing up and grabbing Clyde's hand to lead him to the wardrobe. "Watch this." She instructed, opening it up and shoving the clothes that hung there to either side, clearing a space. She reached out and pushed the back wall and he had to try hard not to gasp when the back of it swung open to reveal another room.

"Oh my God." Clyde said his eyes wide as he looked around.

"Language." Amy teasingly chastised, climbing through and indicating for him to follow.

"What is this?" Clyde asked, easily following and standing up in the new room. The walls looked like they had at one point in time been white, but they had almost every single inch of them covered in colours of paint, marker and even chalk. The ceiling itself had been painted to look like the night sky on Earth. The walls had shelves and clear plastic buckets that held what looked like every art kit he could think of and a small table sat in the middle of the room, paper still on it from her last play time.

"My art room." Amy said simply. She paused and stared transfixed at a portion of the wall, "That's new." she crossed and reached up, placing her hand over a section.

Clyde looked over and noticed five hand prints in various colours and sizes. "What's new?"

"Mine," Amy traced the tiny pink hand print, "Tish," she moved to the purple one, "Uncle Jack, Dad," the blue and orange ones, "I don't know." She said, stopping with her hand pressing against the obviously male hand print done in yellow.

"The bloke your dad says disappeared, maybe?" Clyde suggested.

"Maybe," Amy agreed, looking upset for a moment before she pulled away and smiled at Clyde, "You're a better draw-er than me." Amy told him.

"I've had more practice. And it's 'artist', not draw-er." Clyde smiled, trying not to laugh, "Just keep at it and you'll be good as me, maybe even better." He insisted.

Amy laughed, "Dunno, you're really good." she dug into her selves and pulled out a new sketchbook, handing it to him, "Your old one's getting full." She said smiling at him.

"Amy, I don't need..." he froze, forgetting words for a moment as he opened the book and ran his fingers over the paper. He knew this book, he knew how much it cost and had been saving for ages... "How'd you get this anyway?" he asked her.

"Birthday. I have four." Amy said blankly, "Take one, please? For being my friend." Amy added a little whine to her voice." Poking out her bottom lip pleadingly.

"I..." Clyde couldn't resist, "Yeah, alright." He said as he held the sketchbook tight.

"Hey, Amy?" Rani yelled in her direction, "Where were you at where there were purple clouds?" she asked holding some pictures.

"Oh, that's the big place!" Amy said, crawling back through the wardrobe and sitting down on the floor next to Rani, looking at the pictures she and Luke had spread out, "I can't say the name but the clouds are thick enough you can mess with them. Dad made cloud men and Jack tackled them." She said excitedly.

"Really?" Rani asked.

"Uh huh." Amy patted the floor next to her and Clyde sat down, taking the photo to look at it.

"Whoah, look at the ice!" Luke exclaimed, boggling over a photo of a giant wave froze mid break.

"That's Woman Wept." Amy told him, "Entire oceans froze solid in a second cause something happened to the sun. We went ice skating and Tish was the only one of us that didn't fall." She said smiling happily at the memory.

"That's neat," Rani smiled, "You fell?"

"Lots," Amy nodded, "Uncle Jack didn't fall as much, but he fell too sometimes. He tried to go up an entire wave and flip but dad yelled that he'd 'break his neck' then Uncle Jack said it 'didn't matter' and Tish made them shut up." She stated honestly.

"Hey, who's that one?" Clyde took one of the frozen over photos and pointed to the man in it. In the photo a man in a thick winter jacket, face partially obscured by a scarf stood behind Tish, arms wrapped around her waist, Tish's hands were over his and she was smiling brightly.

"That's...I don't know." Amy said, clearly confused.

Luke looked over and smiled, "That's Rory." He said his grin growing bigger.

"Rory? As in 'disappeared' Rory?" Clyde asked.

"Yeah." Luke nodded, "Hey..TARDIS is shielded and I know he was your best friend, I wonder how many more photos you have of him in here." Luke said slowly, an idea forming.

* * *

><p>"Dad! Look what Luke helped us find." Amy said, rushing through the console room and out into the Hub again, a stack of photos clenched in her hands.<p>

"What's this?" He asked, taking them when offered. He turned quiet, looking down at the top one in surprise, "The TARDIS is shielded...

"Amy takes photos of everything that print...inside the TARDIS." Jack realized. "You have photos of him?"

"We have photos of him!" the Doctor said excitedly.

* * *

><p>Amy watched as they posted Rory's photos up on a big board that they wrote all over. Next to it was a big computer screen Mickey had been putting stuff about the crack's up on.<p>

It was boring, really. Yeah, someone had disappeared but she didn't know them. None of them did, not really. She knew that she should be upset and trying to help but she didn't feel any emotional connection, not even the drive to save someone she felt when someone else was in danger.

"Bored?" Clyde asked her quietly.

She nodded and sighed, "Want to colour?" she asked him.

"Yeah. Where's your stuff at?" Clyde stood up and looked around.

"In my room. All my art stuff is in my hidden room." Amy admitted, shifting in her seat.

"Okay, I'll be right back." He promised, strolling across the hub and into the TARDIS.

Amy sat in place for a moment before her eyes lit up, "Dad?" She called quietly, getting his attention.

"What's up?" he asked, crouching down in front of her seat.

She motioned him closer and leaned forward, hand cupping his ear so she could whisper, "Clyde's in the TARDIS all alone and Sarah Jane and Uncle Jack aren't here." She whispered conspiratorially.

The Doctor sat back, looking around cautiously. Tish seemed occupied talking to Martha, Yumo sprawled across her lap. Mickey was working on the computer with Luke while Rani ran through the files. Jack and Sarah Jane had gone to get lunch for everyone while Gwen and Rhys had the day off.

"Go quick and quiet into the TARDIS," the Doctor told her softly.

He pretended not to watch as she hurried off like told and pinned another photo to the board. "I'll be right back," he said after a few minutes, "Just getting a few things." he inched his way backwards, "Some markers, paper..work stuff." He babbled.

"Uh huh." Tish said absently, not paying much attention.

* * *

><p>"Hey, where's the TARDIS?" Jack asked, shifting his bags to set down the food on the tables.<p>

"With the Doctor." Luke said.

"Where's the Doctor?" Sarah Jane set down the drink carriers.

"No idea." Rani shrugged.

"I..." Sarah Jane froze as she looked around, counting heads, "Where's Clyde?" she asked with a worried and resigned tone.

"In the TARDIS." Mickey tried to hide his smile but didn't succeed.

"You let him kidnap Clyde?" Sarah Jane demanded, "Why?" she yelled.

"It was funny." Mickey offered.

"Not my job to stop him." Martha shrugged, hiding a small smile.

"I...Okay, I might have dropped the ball this time." Tish laughed, scratching Yumo's ears.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Amy I-whoah." Clyde stopped in place, art supplies still in hands as he found the Doctor standing at the console with a giddy look on his face and Amy standing next to him, hands over her mouth. The doors were shut and the room was practically pulsing, "You just kidnapped me, didn't you?" he asked evenly.<p>

The Doctor threw both his arms up in the air, "Score! I am now four for four! So, Clyde, one trip. One moment, one event, one...anything! Where do you want to go provided it's on Earth?"

Clyde paused, setting the supplies down and adjusting to the idea, "Anywhere?"

"Anywhere, anywhen." the Doctor assured him.

Clyde's face lit up, "What do you know about Van Gough?"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Okay, so short and a little late, but not too too late. At least it's not midnight on saturday like last week...sorry. <em>Sorry, sort of have a bit of a case of writers block. I know where I'm going, but it's like nothing comes out right. Trying to work through it, sorry. ]**


	105. Churches, Artists and Fanboys

"See just an art museum, Sarah can't get mad for that can she? No aliens, no running just a quick educational visit." the Doctor said as they looked out at the museum. Clyde and Amy stared in amazement as they walked inside.

"Didn't we find angels after a museum?" Amy questioned a small smile on her face.

"Don't start," the Doctor warned teasingly, "I refuse to go up against any bad things today." He insisted with a big grin.

"So this is one of the last paintings Van Gogh ever painted." A man who was obviously a tour guide spoke with confidence, gesturing evenly to the paintings around them, "Those final months of his life were probably the most astonishing artistic outpouring in history. It would be like if Shakespeare managed to write Othello, Macbeth and King Lear over the summer hols. And it was especially astonishing because Van Gogh did it with no hope of praise or reward." there was amazement and admiration in the man's voice as he detailed the exhibit.

"Thanks for bringing us." Clyde said, taking one of the little guides that were offered and tucked it into his pocket, "I know you don't have to and it's just a week back but..." he started a hint of shyness and thankfulness in his voice.

"Hey, I like taking you guys places. This is educational and Amy loves art." the Doctor said. He'd made sure Amy's perception filter was back on and fully functional before they'd left.

"You're being really nice." Amy smiled up at him, her hand in his.

"I'm always nice." He stuck his tongue out at her.

The tour guide continued on ignoring their whispered conversation "Each of these pictures now is worth tens of millions of pounds. Yet in his lifetime, he was a commercial disaster. He sold only one painting, and that... to the sister of a friend." he shook his head in pity, "We have here possibly the greatest artist of all time, but when he died, you could sold his entire body of work and got about enough money to buy a sofa and a couple of chairs." He paused as the room laughed, "If you follow me now…" he started as he led them to another painting.

"Who is it?" a little boy's voice piped up from across the room to another painting.

"It's the doctor!" another boy said excitedly.

The Doctor turned to look at them and went closer seeing the painting in front of them. 'Portrait of Dr Gachet' he read silently listening to their conversation.

"He was the doctor who took care of Van Gogh when he started to go mad." The second boy continued.

"I knew that." lied his friend.

"Look!" Amy pointed excitedly to one of the paintings then back to her guidebook, "That's the real one? It looks like my birthday cake." She said cheerfully, pulling the Doctor to it.

"Brilliant!" Clyde whistled low and got as close to examine it. "Never got this close to a painting like this before. Well, the Mona Lisa, but she was trying to shoot us at the time." He whispered quietly to the doctor and Amy.

"Really?" the Doctor looked bemused, "I thought Romana and I took care of that when the original was destroyed." he murmured to himself.

"The original?" Clyde questioned.

"Long story." the Doctor leaned close, studying the paint and smiling, "You can almost feel like he's painting it right there in front of you huh?" he nudged Amy, "Carving colours into shapes and..." he trailed off with a frown, "What's that? Look at that..." he said curiously pointing at a part of the painting.

"What?" Amy asked, standing on her tiptoes to try and see what he saw.

"That's not supposed to be there." Clyde observed, looking at his pamphlet then back to the painting. There in the window of the church was an outline of something not quite fully seen, something black and dangerous looking and obviously screaming.

"What?" Amy asked. When the Doctor stepped back and picked her up in his arms so she could see it properly she bit her lip, "Is that a face?" she asked nervously.

"Yes. And it's not a very nice face at all." the Doctor set her back on the floor and tapped his fingers against his thigh, "I know evil and it's in that window." He stated looking at his two companions seriously for a moment then whispered into their ears and walked towards the still lecturing tour guide.

"It has changed hands for something in the region of 20..." the guide continued his speech, used to not being interrupted only to stop suddenly at yells from Amy and Clyde and a hand on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, if I can just interrupt for one second." the Doctor said "Um…my son and daughter were arguing, and I really don't want to explain why the two got into a fight in an art museum, so please could you clarify, When was that picture of the church painted?" he asked as Amy and Clyde stopped suddenly to watch them.

"Ah, what an interesting question. Most people..." The tour guide started to explain as Amy and Clyde glanced wearily at him.

"I'm going to have to hurry you. When was it?" the Doctor interrupted glancing over at the kids causing them to start squabbling again.

"Exactly?" The tour guide asked pinching his nose.

"As exactly as you can. Without a long speech, if possible, it's the only thing that'll stop them at this point." the Doctor said in a suffering tone.

"Well, in that case, probably somewhere between the 1st and 3rd of June." He said as Amy giggled. "Nyeh Nyeh, I win I win." She bragged as the doctor grabbed her.

"Not yet," he said trying to separate them, before turning to the tour guide again. "What year?" he asked.

"1890. Less than a year before he killed himself." The tour guide said glancing tiredly at the trio.

"Thank you, sir. Very helpful indeed. Nice bow-tie." He said turning to Amy and Clyde, "He wins," then turning back to the tour guide he continued smiling "Bow-ties are cool." He said smiling.

"Yes? Your's is very..." the guide frowned, trying to come up with a compliment for the red and gold tie with a strange light blue circle in the center. "Unique." He stated, eyeing the Doctor and the two kids wearily.

"Cool." the Doctor turned to grab Clyde and Amy, "we need to go." He stated dragging them out of the room.

"But there are more pictures." Amy said sulkily.

"Art can wait, this is life and death." He lifted Amy into his arms and grabbed hold of Clyde's hoodie, "We need to talk to Vincent Van Gogh." He continued as smiles grew on Clyde and Amy's faces.

"Toldja museums were dangerous." Amy giggled even as Clyde seemingly forgot how to breathe.

"At least the paintings didn't try to kill us." Clyde responded

* * *

><p>The alley was quiet and dark until the loud noise of the TARDIS landing broke through the night. The Doctor, Amy and Clyde peeked out and looked around before stepping out onto the stone street. It was calm and quiet.<p>

"Right, so here's the plan. We find Vincent, talk to him and get him to lead us to the church and our evil looking little friend who we'll then help or get rid of." the Doctor whispered.

"Easy peasy." Amy said, taking his hand.

"Easy, Right, of course." Clyde smiled, "Because everything around you is always easy." He joked.

"Okay, so maybe it might not be easy with Mr. Van Gogh," the Doctor admitted, leading them out of the alley, "He'll probably be at an outside cafe, a favourite of his, with tables and an orangey light.  
>Clyde pulled out his guidebook from the museum and opens it, flipping it through the pages till he located what he was looking for, "The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night" He proclaimed, showing Amy the photo. "A really nice one though "Starry night" is neater." He explained as they walked.<p>

"That's the one." The Doctor agreed as Clyde took Amy's other hand.

"Or that." Amy announced pointing just ahead of them to a street café that looked just like the painting come to life. "Right?" she asked innocently her face broken out in a large grin.

"Yeah, exactly like that." the Doctor laughed, quickening his step and smiling at the maids outside cleaning and the clean cut man in a suit standing by the entrance. "Good evening!" He called out cheerfully, "I'm looking for a man. Does the name 'Vincent Van Gogh' ring a bell?" he asked loudly.

"Don't mention that man to me." the male sneered, turning on his heel and striding back inside.

"Okay...Excuse me?" the Doctor tried again, this time to the maids. "Do you know Vincent Van Gogh?" he asked frowning slightly at their responses.

"Unfortunately." the one nearest to them sighed.

"Unfortunately?" Clyde repeated in shock. How could anyone find knowing such a great man 'unfortunate'?

"He's drunk, he's mad and he never pays his bills." the waitress complained.

"Great artist though, right?" Clyde offered. He frowned as both waitresses and the patrons around them all burst out into laughter.

The Doctor scowled and sat back onto one of the tables, Amy's hand in his still.

"They shouldn't laugh," Amy whispered in annoyance, "He's brilliant." She said quietly.

"Yeah, he really is." the Doctor nodded.

"Come on! Come on! One painting for one drink. That's not a bad deal." they heard a man yell from inside the cafe, obviously protesting some deal or another.

They watched the man from earlier walk back out f the cafe, clearly annoyed as a man with red hair and a scraggly beard followed, holding a small canvas of some sort in his hand.

"That's him!" Clyde exclaimed quietly.

The Doctor grinned brightly, "It is." He said nearly bouncing.

"It wouldn't be a bad deal if the painting were any good." the man sneered, "I can't hang that up on my walls. It'd scare the customers half to death." He shoved the painting back towards Vincent, "its bad enough having you in here in person, let alone looming over the customers day and night in a stupid hat. You pay money or you get out." he threatened menacingly.

"I'll pay if you like." the Doctor offered, digging into his pocket and hoping to find some actually cash that wasn't from years in the future.

The man turned and looked at the Doctor in shock and disbelief, "What?" he asked in disbelief.

"Well, if you like." he shrugged, "I'll pay for the drink. Or I'll pay for the painting and you can use the money to pay for the drink." He continued , eying the painting with intent. It was worth a few million, certainly, but it would make a fine birthday present for Amy or Clyde just as well.

"Exactly who are you?" Van Gogh asked, clearly stunned and causing Clyde to nearly squeak.

"Does anyone have an 'exactly' to that question?" Clyde whispered to Amy causing renewed giggles.

"I'm... new in town." the Doctor continued sending a warning glance to his companions, "Just visiting with my children." He stated, ignoring the strange looks from the other patrons who were eavesdropping.

"Well, in that case, you don't know two things necessary to live around here. One, I pay for my own drinks, thank you." Vincent said, proudly ignoring the jeering laughter of those around him at his statement, 'And two, no-one ever buys any of my paintings or they would be laughed out of town. I suggest you keep your cash to yourself and keep your big nose out of other people's business." Vincent turned back to the owner, "Come on, just one more drink. I'll pay tomorrow." he pleaded.

"No." The owner stated in exasperated anger.

"Or, on the other hand, slightly more compassionately, yes." Vincent suggested, hoping it would work.

"Or, on the other hand, to protect my business from madmen, NO." the owner repeated.

"Or-" Vincent started again.

"Oh, shut up," Clyde said finally, angry at watching one of his favourite artists and a personal inspiration of his get torn down, "I can buy a bottle of wine and share it with whomever I choose, Right?" he looked toward the Doctor and gained a grin in reply.

"Right." the Doctor said, handing over several small coins. The owner threw up his hands and went inside to fetch a bottle.

"That could be good." Vincent looked over Clyde, "Who're you?" he asked taking a good look at the trio for the first time.

"My name is Clyde and I'm an aspiring artist." Clyde said, offering Vincent his hand with a smile.

Once the bottle arrived and most others cleared off they sat around one of the outdoor tables, Vincent drinking wine after the Doctor had tried it and gagged, along with Clyde who was slowly nursing a small glass of it under the condition he not tell Sarah Jane. Amy had tried some of what the Doctor had in his glass and decided it wasn't very good either.

'That accent of yours. You from Holland like me?" he asked Amy curiously.

"No. Where's Holland?" Amy asked, curiously.

"Yes. She means yes. So, start again. Hello, I'm the Doctor." He said jovially, hand over Amy's mouth.

"I knew it!" Vincent said his happiness evaporating into a glare of disgust.

"Sorry?" the Doctor asked curiously, trying to figure out how he'd offended his potential new friend.

"My brother's always sending doctors, but you won't be able to help." He grumbled looking down into his cup. "No one is." He continued with a hint of sadness.

"No, I'm not that kind of doctor." the Doctor told him, "Unfortunately." he looked around and spotted the painting still leaning against Vincent's chair. "It's incredible, don't you two think?" he asked them pointing to the picture.  
>"It's brilliant," Clyde agreed with a bright smile, "One of my favourites." He exclaimed.<p>

"'One of my favourite' whats? You've never seen my work before." Vincent said defensively.

"I...Just in general, It's better than most of my work, just one of the favorite paintings I've ever seen. You know, overall." Clyde tried to fix his mistake.

"Then you can't have seen many paintings, then." Vincent scoffed and drank deeply from his glass, "I know it's terrible. It's the best I could do." He gave a half shrug and a pathetic smile, "I tried." He said quietly.

"Then you shouldn't feel bad because all that matters is that you try." Amy told him, "Doesn't matter how you do as long as you try your best!" she insisted, remembering Tish and Jack telling her those words during her lessons.

Vicent smiled at her, "Is that so?" he asked gently.

"Yes! It's what my Tish says." Amy smiled brightly, "Your hair is red." She stated nodding.

"So's yours." Vincent chuckled. "Mine's less orange now than it was. A peril of age." He ran his fingers through it briefly and shook his head, "Never really met children unafraid to speak their minds to strangers before." He said looking at them curiously again.

"We're not normal." Amy winked and then giggled, leaning back against the Doctor's arm.

"I'm not a child." Clyde protested, pointing to his wine and pretended to sulk at Amy's giggles.

"You paint what you see every day?" the Doctor questioned, ignoring his daughter and Clyde's antics.

"Yes. Mostly." Vincent nodded, "There's so much to see in the world every day." He explained waving his hand to indicate everything around them.

"Ever painted any churches?" Clyde inquired. "Any plans to paint any?" he asked pointedly.

"Yes!" the Doctor nodded enthusiastically, "Would you be interested in churches, chapels, cathedrals, you know...religiousy stuff?" he thought back to Christmas and the few churches he'd been in and had to smile. They always had such interesting designs both in and out and many artists over the years had used them as focal points in work or palet cleansers. "At least, fairly soon?" he continued babbling.

"Well..." Vincent took a drink of his wine and tapped the rim of the glass with his thumb, "There is a church I've been thinking of painting. Once the weather is right," he added.

"That's brilliant!" the Doctor grinned and lightly squeezed Amy with his left arm, "isn't it?" he asked her.

"Great." Amy smiled up at him.  
>"Love churchy paintings." Clyde nodded in agreement, making Vincent scoff and shake his head again.<p>

"I don't-" Vincent started only to be interrupted.

There was a shriek that split the calm night air, making all four jump and turn towards the noise. "She's been murdered! HELP ME!" a woman screamed.

"Okay, not so brilliant." the Doctor said quickly, "Amy stay here. Clyde, watch her!" the Doctor stood from his seat, unseating Amy and shifting her to another chair as he took off running towards the scream. Vincent downed what was left in his glass and chased after the Doctor.

"We should help." Amy said antsily, going to follow but Clyde grabbed her hand and tugged her back.

"Clyde-" she whined wriggling in his grasp.

"Amy, someone was murdered." Clyde told her solomnly, "Do you know what that means?" he asked her seriously.

"Yes. I'm not a little kid." She snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's bad enough we're out in the cold night, we don't need you running for your life when you're still getting better," Clyde said, getting her to sit back down and crouching in front of her, "Murders generally mean bad things around and if this is related to what we saw in the painting it could be very bad." He tried to explain as her struggles ceased.

"But-" Amy looked in the direction the two men had run and bit her lip, "What if they need help?" she pleaded even as there was more yelling. This sounded less like scared screaming and more angry yelling.

"Then they'll find us." Clyde assured her, holding her hands between his. "We'll wait here, okay?" he said calmly, hoping she would agree.

"Okay." Amy agreed finally, gaining a smile from Clyde though he still looked cautious.  
>It wasn't maybe three minutes later that the Doctor and Vincent came running back, both out of breath as they skidded to a stop near the tables.<p>

"You all right?" the Doctor asked, hands on his knees as he caught his breath again.

"Yes," Vincent nodded, straightening up and taking a deep breath, "Don't worry about me, I'm used to it.

"Something like this has happened before?" Clyde asked, stepping away from the table when Amy darted past him and into the Doctor's arms.

"A week ago," Vincent nodded and sighed, "It's terrible but no one has a clue what is going on. It's easier to blame the madman then believe a monster walks amongst you." he explained, eyes sad but accepting.

"I wish it weren't so." the Doctor brushed Amy's hair with his fingers calmingly, "Come on, I think we better get you home, Vincent." He said looking at them calmly.

"Where are you three staying the night?" Vincent pulled his hat on, straightening it and grabbed his painting.

"Thank you for the offer! It's very kind." the Doctor lifted Amy into his arms, smiling brightly as he walked off.

"I...Sorry?" Clyde laughed nervously.

Vincent looked puzzled but followed after the Doctor anyway.

* * *

><p>"Dark night." the Doctor looked up as he walked, Amy carefully held in his arms.<p>

"The stars are all out." Amy observed, "I missed seeing them cause I was inside." She said happily.

"You can see them so well here," Clyde whistled low, "Don't see them like this back home." He said wistfully with a hint of homesickness.

"I've always loved the stars," Vincent looked up and smiled slightly, "They're quite beautiful. Right, so it's not much, I live on my own, but you should be OK for just one night." Vincent shot them a look that seemed both annoyed and amused.

"How long we gonna stay with him?" Clyde asked quietly.

"Until he paints the church or Sarah Jane tracks us down." the Doctor whispered back with a wink, following Vincent into the house.

It was dark until Vincent lit a match and lit one of the lamps on a table. He took his hat off and set it aside, moving the lamp to the centre of the room where it would work the best. "Careful," he warned when Clyde stepped too close to one painting, "It's wet." He stated, causing Clyde to freeze in his tracks.

The room was small, cramped but even in the low light it left them breathless. Every surface was covered in sketches or paintings of Vincent's. They were stacked on the floor, laying against walls and piled on end tables.

"Oh my God." Clyde's voice caught as he looked around in awe at all the paintings he'd grown up admiring. "I mean..." he whispered in awe.

"Wow." Amy agreed, indicating for the Doctor to put her down so she could look. "Better than my birthday." she had to restrain herself from touching a painting that was covered in tiny white flowers.

Vincent glanced around not hearing her "Sorry about all the clutter." He said motioning to the room in general.

"This is brilliant and not so bad. You should see Amelia's art room." the Doctor said with amusement, "Talk about 'clutter'." He said teasingly despite Amelia's protests.

"Your paintings are beautiful." Clyde told him.

Vincent shook his head. "I've come to accept by now that the only person who is ever going to love my paintings is me." He sighed wearily as he watched Amy, Clyde, and the Doctor looking around in amazement, all sporting smiles. "I know it's a mess in here." He said, unsure of their reactions, "I'll have a proper clear-out eventually. I must, I really must." He continued mistaking their looks as amazement over how horrible the paintings were. "Coffee? Anyone?" Vincent asked, trying to break the silence and hide his discomfort.

"Not for me, actually – vile stuff - and probably not Amelia, but if Clyde wants some I can't protest." the Doctor started as he poked his head around the door to the kitchen and saw Vincent put the coffee pot down on a painting. He winced horribly, "You know, you should be careful with these." he gestured to the painting, "They're... precious." He stressed but tried to keep the stress out of his tone.  
>Vincent shook his head wiping the coffee stain away with his hand. "Precious to me, maybe, but not that precious to anyone else." He wiped the coffee off on his trousers and smiled wistfully, "No one else." he repeated softly.<p>

"I like them, they're beautiful." Amy declared staring in awe at the paintings around her as she followed her Dad.

"I like them too," Clyde agreed full heartedly, "They're more than beautiful, they're amazing." He said with a smile.

"Well, you're very kind. And kindness is always most welcome." Vincent smiled shyly at them. "Though I'm not sure what you see in them." He said shaking his head.

"Talent," Clyde said, "Beauty. Passion. Love." Clyde shrugged, not feeling the need to keep from detailing his thoughts in front of those who wouldn't care if he looked cool or not, "Heart." He stated simply.

Vincent shook his head and smiled, "Love and passion maybe, though talent may be up for some debate." He said smiling sadly.

"So... this church, then." the Doctor said in an attempt at segueing, "Is it near here at all?" the Doctor smiled when they looked at him and shrugged like Clyde had.

"What is it with you and the church?" Vincent said as he got wood for the fire. "Feeling the need for confession?" he placed the wood in the fireplace nd started it going by lighting the kindling underneath.

"No, just casually interested." the Doctor feigned disintrest. "You know Churches...always so...churchy." he made a face, realizing how lame it sounded as he said it.

"Far from casual interest," Vincent countered. "Since we've met you've brought it up more than my paintings." He rolled his eyes, "You're strange ones." He continued bemused at the trio he had found himself with.

Amy crossed her arms, "We're not strange, we're just a bit different and there's nothing wrong with being different because if we weren't all different we'd be the same and everyone would be boring." She said with conviction.

Vincent chuckled, "It's strange...different to find someone who relishes being different." he corrected himself, sitting down on a chair near the fire to watch it's progress.

"Well, we know the Doctor's interested in churches." Clyde leaned back against the table, careful to avoid any paintings. "How about you? What are you interested in?" Clyde inquired, crossing his feet at the ankles.

Vincent scoffed, "Look around, have you seen my home? Art is all I do. I want...There's so much more to the world than the average eye is able to see, I wish I could show everyone the way I see things!" he said his mind drifting off as he tried to put into words the thoughts in his head.

Amy smiled and tugged on the Doctor's arm, indicating a very familiar painting. "It's like my birthday cake," She told him quietly, pointing out the large painting on the wall. Sure enough _'Starry Night' _was hung up on his wall, not displayed prominently like it should have but almost hidden away on a back wall.

"I believe, if you look hard, there are more wonders in this universe than you could ever have dreamed of." Vincent told them with passion in his voice, "Just look at the world!" he insisted.

"You don't have to tell us." Clyde whistled low and grinned, "Trust me."

* * *

><p>"It's colour." Vincent said urgently, pacing the floor, "It's colour that holds the key to everything. Listen and you can hear them! The colours they speak and they shout." Vincent gestured widely as he spoke, reminding the Doctor of the time Amy had drunk Tish's cappuccino and proceeded to paint the wall with her new markers, "Nature shouts at me every time I step outside screaming 'come and get me!'" He leaned forward towards the Doctor and held onto the lapels of his jacket, grinning even as he nearly yelled, "Capture my mystery!" he continued manically.<p>

"Maybe you've had enough coffee now." the Doctor suggested politely, trying not to laugh. "Why don't we have tea? Chamomile is normally calming...Isn't it? Amy I-" he paused and looked around realizing Amy actually wasn't there. "Amy? Where'd Amy and Clyde-" A shrill beeping came from his pocket and he dug into it, pulling out the transmitter and jumping to his feet. "No, NO, NO!" he yelled, dashing out the door and outside.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Holy heck this is a short chapter. <em>Sorry? <em>We've got writters block but we're trying! _I'm trying to help more but it's kind of like a four year old trying to help mommy clean the house and she has to re-write most of my stuff so...yeah, writer's block. _We're trying, we shouldn't miss a week again, sorry it's a short chapter.]**


	106. Inivisible foes, sleepovers and painting

"You think we're safe out here?" Amy asked, holding Clyde's hand as they stepped into the stone court yard. "I mean, someone got hurt earlier." Amy bit her lip worriedly.

"I'll keep you safe and we're only a few steps from them," Clyde assured her, "You can go back in if you want, I just want to look at the paintings." He said reassuringly squeezing her hand before smiling at her and letting go of her hand to let her stay near the steps if she wanted and slowly moved, eying all the drying paintings. There were a few he didn't recognize amongst ones that were childhood favorites.

"I did an essay on him, once." Clyde told her, "For my English paper about who my hero was." He admitted staring at the paintings.

"Really?" Amy asked quietly.

"Yeah, only writing assignment I ever got 100% on," Clyde admitted, "The man was...is a genius. His art work is spectacular. There'll never be another like him and yet...He wasn't a perfect human being. He was flawed and had his own demons – figurative and literal, I guess now – to battle with and yet he still created such beauty. Kind of inspired me, you know?" Clyde's words shone with admiration as he looked over all the paintings, "If he could do so much with his life as it was, then I had no excuse not to try my hardest at my art." He continued fingertips trailing gently across the paintings.

"Sounds like a real hero." Amy agreed, leaving the steps to stand next to Clyde and examine the paintings. "I think that's what Dad is good at...introducing people to their hero's. Sometimes they're not who you think they are but sometimes they're so much more." She stated, thinking of all the heroes she'd met, and the ones she hadn't met yet.

"Yeah," Clyde smiled and wrapped his arm around Amy's shoulders. "Anywhere and everywhere...ever think about meeting your birth parents?" he asked curiously. He knew that was one thing that Sarah Jane had always wanted but never dared ask about, knowing the consequences.

Amy frowned in thought, "I don't know them. I mean, Aunt Sharon said they were really nice, but young. I know we didn't live in England and that they died in a car accident when I was with them...I've got Godparents! Not just Uncle Brig. They're called Aiden and Annemarie. They live in Scotland and they fight with Aunt Sharon and Henry a lot but I think they were going to come for the wedding." She said with a slightly sad tone.

"Why do they fight?" Clyde asked.

"I don't know," Amy shrugged, "She's a lawyer though and Aunt Sharon always had papers around they were doing. When they had to talk or go places I got to go play with Rory and Aunt Michelle for a while or with Henry's mum and brothers." Amy said thinking as she remembered the times in the past her godparents had visited.

"Oh..." Clyde frowned as well, resisting the urge to ask if she'd heard the words 'custody battle' in connection to any of the papers.

"What about your family?" Amy changed the subject to one she deemed more interesting.

"Well, I've got my Mum and Dad – he's...er, it's complicated but he's kind of in prison," Clyde said with embarrassment.

"My Mum too! She killed someone but we don't know who." Amy said cheerfully.

"Okay, you might win that one." Clyde laughed at the awkward way they'd bonded there, "I have an Aunt Mel, she lives in Germany and a little brother...sort of." He said a bit sheepishly as he recalled that particular event.

"Sort of?" Amy asked coming to stand beside him and frowning.

"Well, he's also my cousin." Clyde tried not to laugh at her expression, "It's complicated. He's only a couple of months old. They've named him 'Maximus' but I think 'Max' is cooler," Clyde dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, flipping it open to show her the little portrait he had inside of a tiny sleeping baby. "What do you think?" he said with a slight smile.

"He's cute." Amy decided, "Looks like you." She continued smiling a bit.

"Luke says he looks like a sleeping Sontaran." Clyde laughed and tucked his wallet away again.

There was a loud crash from across the courtyard and Amy jumped in fear.

Clyde automatically pushed her behind him and searched the area. There were broken crates and dust but nothing that could be seen. "What the hell?" Clyde inched forward, motioning for Amy to stay where she was. He only got halfway across when something hard impacted his side and sent him sprawling hard across the ground.

"CLYDE!" Amy screamed.

"AMY! Clyde?" the Doctor burst out the door above them, Vincent not far behind and ran down the steps, sliding a little at the bottom as he rushed to find them.

He spotted Amy immediately and went to her side, "Are you okay?" He asked urgently.

"'m fine! It's Clyde," She pointed to Clyde where he lay and realized her bracelet lights were pulsing in time to her racing heart.

"What happened?" the Doctor ran to Clyde's side and helped him up.

"I don't know." Clyde groaned, raising a hand to press against his hurting side, "We were having a look at some of the paintings out here when the crates decided to implode or something. Went to check and something sideswiped me!" he climbed to his feet with the Doctor's help and looked around again, "I couldn't see anything!" he said through gasps of air.

"It's okay, whatever it was is gone now." The Doctor pulled Clyde with him to Amy's side and brushed her hair both to assure her it was safe and to reassure himself she were fine. "Right, Vincent...Vincent?" the Doctor looked around and found their new friend staring in fright towards where Clyde had been laying, hands in front of him protectively.

"No!" Vincent backed away till he was pressed against the wall.

"Vincent? Are you okay?" the Doctor shifted to move Clyde and Amy behind him, just in case.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked, tugging at the back of the Doctor's jacket.

"I don't know." the Doctor looked worried and slowly moved forward, "Vincent?" he questioned.

"Vincent? Are you okay?" the Doctor repeated a bit louder.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked, tugging at the back of the Doctor's jacket.

"I don't know." the Doctor looked worried and slowly moved forward, "Vincent?" he asked again.

Vincent reached to his right, grabbing hold of a large wooden fork, swinging it in front of him as if defending against something they couldn't see. "Run!" Vincent screamed at them, darting forward.

The Doctor jumped to the side, pushing both kids backwards and just missing bumping into Vincent who had veered and was running past them.

"Run. Run!" Vincent screamed at them in fear.

"Yeah, running...That's not a bad idea. Amy, Clyde, get inside," the Doctor motioned them backwards again , "Something's wrong, I'll try to calm him down." He said reassuringly.

"Maybe it's a fit?" Clyde offered, protectively standing in front of Amy, "Historians say Epilepsy or bipolar disorder." He suggested almost inaudibly.

"Maybe. Go inside, I'll try and calm him down," the Doctor repeated, turning his gaze back to Vincent.

Clyde moved further backwards, pulling Amy with him to make sure she was safe. It was his fault they were outside in the first place.

"Vincent? Vincent, look at me? It's just me," the Doctor held his hands out in front of him placating and inched froward, "It's the Doctor, look? No one else is here, Vincent. Just me-" he calmly stated.

"LOOK OUT!" Vincent yelled in horror, swinging to face the Doctor.

The Doctor looked around, clearly confused, "Vincent what-" he was cut off as something hard impacted his side and threw him across the yard, sending him crashing onto his side and sliding.

"Dad!" Amy shrieked and tried to run forward but Clyde pulled her backwards.

"I can't see anything," Clyde yelled to the Doctor as the Time Lord stumbled to his feet, "What is it?" he asked.

"That," He pointed at Clyde, hands on his knees for a moment as he regained his breath, "Is a VERY good question." He twirled on the spot and picked up a large stick that almost looked like a staff, holding it defensively, "Vincent, what's going on?" he asked firmly.

"You can't see him?" Vincent kept up his defense as the Doctor swung almost aimlessly around him, hoping for a lucky strike.

"No...not really," the Doctor admitted sheepishly, "Direct me!" he yelled.

"Ahead!" Vincent called out, pushing forward, his own weapon out in front of him. He looked like Sisyphus, Clyde thought, for every two steps he took forward he was forced back three.

The Doctor sprinted to Vincent's side and cautiously reached forward with his own weapon, looking on in shock as it actually seemed to encounter something solid though to his eyes it was pressing against thin air.

Between both men they slowly pushed forward, Amy and Clyde watching in shock as crates seemed to break for no reason in their path, the laundry line was knocked over and dust kicked up by an unseen force.

"Gone." Vincent said after a moment, pulling back as the Doctor lost his balance and stumbled forward, landing hard on the ground for the second time. "You couldn't see him?" Vincent offered the Doctor his hand to help him up.

The Doctor gripped Vincent's hand tightly for a moment then let himself be pulled up, "No. No I couldn't." he shook his head remorsefully, "What was it?" he asked.

"I don't know." Vincent looked in the direction it had gone and ran his hand through his hair. "I really don't know." He stuttered quietly.

The Doctor gazed in the direction that whatever had been attacking had supposedly gone in and then seemed to realize something. "Amelia! Clyde!" He changed courses and darted across the courtyard, easily lifting Amy into his arms, "Why were you out here?" He kissed her forehead and turned to Clyde, using his hand on Clyde's shoulder to move the boy around and see if he was injured at all.

"I wanted to look at the other paintings while you two were talking. I'm sorry," Clyde looked down, "I shouldn't have come outside." He said guiltily.

The Doctor looked torn, "Yeah...if you hadn't we wouldn't know there was something but...next time warn me first!" he grumbled.

* * *

><p>"So, invisible." the Doctor remarked, setting Amy down once they were safe inside again and directing her to take a seat near the fire.<p>

"How is that possible?" Clyde scooted past the Doctor and stood near Amy protectively, ignoring when the little girl rolled here eyes at him.

"Could be a defence mechanism," the Doctor acknowledged, "Some species do have that...might be a light rays thing though that shouldn't affect me due to...differences. Vincent," the Doctor turned to their friend, "What did he look like?" he asked.

"Hold on and I'll show you," Vincent dug into his work tools and grabbed a canvas. They only realized as he brought a brush full of white paint down on the canvas that it wasn't blank and in fact was covered in a finish painting of iris' in a lovely little vase.

"Oh! No, no, no!" the Doctor yelped, hurrying forward.

"No..." Clyde groaned, looking like he might cry.

"What?" Vincent looked up in confusion, brush stilling on the canvas.

"It's..that was quite good." the Doctor sighed, looking down at the now ruined painting. "Just...beautiful."

* * *

><p>"So how do we fight something invisible?" Clyde asked the Doctor as Vincent worked, sketching quickly with charcoal on the now 'blank' canvas with a precision and speed Clyde envied greatly.<p>

"Do you think it needs help?" Amy looked up at him worriedly, biting her lip lightly and the Doctor wondered at her empathy.

"If it needs help we'll try to help it as for how we fight it..." the Doctor shook his head, "I'm not sure. We'll find a way. We always do." He admitted.

"You don't have a plan?" Clyde questioned.

"I never have a plan," the Doctor scoffed.

"Sarah Jane normally has a plan." Clyde crossed his arms as he teased the Doctor.

"Yeah? Well how often do Sarah Jane's plans work out?" he griped.

"Uh..." Clyde stuttered a bit as he began to think about it.

"Exactly! Never plan on a plan that's not a plan to pester the other person till they out all their plans and you get tied up." the Doctor told them sternly, "Otherwise your plan will always fail." He said smirking.

"So...plan to blunder in and get tied up." Clyde summarized.

"It's worked for almost every me so far." the Doctor agreed congenially. "How do you think Sarah Jane knows how to get out of nearly every handcuff ever invented...wait, don't answer that...Vincent, how's it coming?" he probed.

"I think it's done." Vincent set his charcoal down and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. "Best I can do from memory. Here," He shifted the canvas so the three could see it.

In stark contrast to the white paint behind it, the dark lines seemed more jarring.

He'd sketched a creature that looked almost like it could exist only in nightmares; a bird like face with a sharp beak against a muscular body with hands that looked like a cross between talons and paws with lethal looking claws jutting out almost as long as it's beak.

The Doctor found himself hoping that Vincent had exaggerated some of his features.

"Okay...Okay." the Doctor scratched at the back of his head and nodded. "We can..." he lifted the canvas into his arms and turned towards the kids, "You two get comfortable, stick around, don't let any invisible monsters in and make sure Mr. Van Gogh here is comfortable." He smiled brightly, belying his fears. "I'll be right back." He stated firmly

"But that thing, it could be outside!" Amy jumped up from her seat and rushed forward, clinging to his jacket fearfully, "What if it's waiting?" she worried.

"I'll be okay, what's the worst that could happen?" the Doctor crouched down and pulled her into a hug.

"Get shredded like a potato by big claws on an alien we can't see?" Clyde shrugged. At the Doctor's withering look he pursed his lips, held back a laugh and changed his statement, "I mean you'll be fine. Totally." he gave a thumbs up.

"I'll be back before you have time to worry." the Doctor promised Amy, "I'll be fine. Just take care of Clyde and make sure he doesn't get into trouble again. He's one of Sarah's kids, he likes wandering off." He teased.

* * *

><p>Despite what he'd told Amy and Clyde, the Doctor was nervous as he cautiously made his way down the alleyways between houses, heading back to the TARDIS. Just because he had the ability to regenerate didn't make the idea of pain and death any less scary. Sometimes it made it more scary.<br>He kept his steps light, clinging to the sketch and listened carefully to the noises of the night.

He wasn't sure if it was his mind playing tricks on him or if he really could hear periodic growling coming from around him. He really hoped it was his mind.  
>The Doctor still found himself looking over his shoulder every so often as he tried to hurry to the TARDIS. Faster he was the faster he'd get back to Amy and Clyde.<p>

* * *

><p>It wasn't in the first trunk he looked in, it wasn't even in the fifth trunk. The Doctor grumbled as he dug through the newest trunk – this one found tucked away in an alcove off the console room – and chucked anything not pertinent out of the way.<p>

"You've got to be in here somewhere." the Doctor bemoaned his past selves lack of organization and forethought. His fifth self seemed to have been the only one who bothered to put anything in it's right place, other versions of him relying on companions for organization or not caring at all. He decided to ignore the hypocrisy of his complaining and pretend Tish didn't keep everything organized for him.

"I'm sorry I ever thought you were just a useless gadget. I thought maybe you were an embarrassing present but...Ahah!" he cried in triumph as he located what he was looking for. He hugged it to his chest and hurried up the steps to the main console. Many people would look at it and see what looked almost like scrap materials glued together, a mirror hooked to a harness with random inputs and buttons but he knew it as a Species Matcher. "Really, what Time Lord needs something to teach it what species is what? Sorry, Godmother." He rambled to himself.

The Doctor dug into the console and pulled out a power plug, hooking it into the device and flipped the mirror up so he could look into it. "How wrong could I be?" He giggled gleefully to himself and stuck his tongue out at his reflection in the mirror. Instantly white symbols started appearing across the mirror, recording, recognizing and spitting out data about him through the typewriter he'd connected it to.  
>He looked over and rolled his eyes as a photo of his first and second selves came out along with data and tore them off, stopping the flow of photos he knew would only keep going.<p>

The Doctor tucked the photos into his pocket, thinking Amy might get a kick out of them later, and went back to his work.

"Right then, you...who is this?" he held the sketch up and watched the machine try to scan and recognize it. It beeped and he set the sketch aside, hands clasped together as he waited eagerly. He almost visibly deflated when it popped up a photo of a macaw. "Really? It's not that! There are thousands of birds you can see plain as day. Come on! Right, definitely not," the Doctor sighed in annoyance as the photo swapped to that of a polar bear. "Now you're not even trying." He grumbled.

The machine flipped again, this time showing him a badger. "Therein lies the issue with impressionists, they're never accurate enough." he sighed and looked down at the sketch, "Never happen with a 'proper painter'...sorry, Vincent, you'll just have to draw it better." He thought about chucking it out or aside, but decided against it. It could be a right proper souvenir for Clyde. A very unique one at that.

"Come on, you." the Doctor unplugged the machine and lifted it up, digging through to figure out how to attach it to himself.

* * *

><p>When he stepped outside he found it was just reaching dawn, something that shocked him. Surely he hadn't been gone that long! Hopefully Amy had managed to get a little sleep without him around, Clyde would have kept her company at least...<p>

He readjusted the straps of the device again, trying to make sure it'd stay put even if he was running and re-hooked one of the buckles. As he was working on making sure it was on it started beeping at him.

"Oh? Time-delay?" the Doctor looked up curiously and adjusted the mirror so he could see into it. "What've you got for me? Who'd you find?" he read the readout and winced, "Oh...poor thing. You brutal, murderous...abandoned thing." he felt a pang and realized maybe Amy had been right, "When we meet again I'll take you home." He promised more to himself, "Hopefully soon." He said calmly.

The Doctor flinched as his words seemed to be taken literally. Inside the mirror now was the reflection of the beast it had shown that Vincent had drawn. "Too soon!" he squeaked, dashing forward.

He didn't have a 'not-a-plan' yet! He couldn't be found by this thing so soon!

Running through dew slicked stone alleys was hard enough, doing it while looking into a mirror to see how close he was to death was playing on expert, he decided as he slid once again into a wall. The Doctor shoved hard a table, knocking it into the middle of the alley and continued on, hoping to slow it down.

After the fifth 'obstacle' he put in it's way the beast seemed to give up in it's pursuit, leaving the Doctor to rest against the wall, trying to catch his breath. Too close. He had promises to keep. He couldn't get shredded or eaten when he had promised Amy he'd be back.

"Doctor!" Clyde yelled.

The Doctor yelped and spun in a half circle to find Clyde looking at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Don't do that!" he said startled.

"Call your name?" Clyde questioned.

"Scared the daylights out of me." the Doctor muttered, walking in Clyde's direction, "Why are you out here and not with Amy?" he inquired.

"Amy's asleep at the moment and I was a bit bored...told her I'd find you if you weren't back by light so.." Clyde pointed upwards at the morning light, "Plus while I admire Van Gogh in every way possible, he snores worse than Mickey." He admitted sheepishly.

The Doctor made a face, "Is that possible? Sorry." He said in wonder.

"It's alright," Clyde shrugged, moving to keep pace with the Doctor as they made their way back to Vincent's home. "Amy's going to be hungry soon though and she'll need her meds soon." He stated cautiously.

The Doctor winced and looked back towards the TARDIS, "Um...Think missing one day would be bad?" he asked worriedly.

"Missing any amount of time is bad." Clyde said strongly then looked down, wincing at his voice.

"Right...If we get eaten by an alien on the way to get her stuff I'm telling Jeff to get you off the list." He grumbled.

"Jeff?" Clyde responded baffled.

"You'd know him as 'Santa'." the Doctor shot over his shoulder as he strolled back the way he'd come.

* * *

><p>"Wakey, wakey!" the Doctor called out as he entered Vincent's room, "Breakfast is outside waiting and the kids are restless." He paused and tilted his head, "I'm restless...am I one of the kids now? Nevermind!" He threw open the curtains and pulled the window up, bathing the room in light. "Beautiful morning!" he proclaimed, ignoring Vincent groaning and protesting the light behind him. "Come on, get up! We've got breakfast waiting." the Doctor said again.<p>

Vincent stumbled over to the window and looked out.

There was a breakfast set up on the table, it looked like mostly coffee and pastries to him, but that wasn't what caught his eye.

Dashing around the courtyard was Amy and Clyde in a manic game of chase.

"I'm going to get you!" Clyde threatened, stopping and changing course quickly, barely missing out on grabbing the little redheaded girl as she passed.

"Nuh-uh!" Amy giggled, hiding on the other side of the table.

To anyone else it'd look like she was winning, but both men could see Clyde was holding himself back on purpose.

"Good kids," Vincent observed.

"Very. I'd like to think I did a good job...am doing a good job," the Doctor amended, "Clyde..we'll thank Sarah for that one." He stated honestly watching the two.

"His mother?" Vincent queried.

"Oh, she's so much more than his mother." the Doctor smiled.

Down in the courtyard Amy shrieked in laughter as Clyde grabbed her around her middle and spun in a circle.

"Got you!" He cried happily over her giggles.

"Dad! Save me!" Amy waved up at them cheerfully.

"Breakfast?" the Doctor offered, "There's coffee." He announced.

"Sounds brilliant." Clyde said smiling.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: <em>Sorry, sorry, my birthday was last week and I got distracted. <em>And I didn't push because I was sort of getting burnt out. I switched fandoms, wrote for someone else and kind of got back on track. _We'll try to get back to once a week as soon as possible given the end is near. _I like that. It sounds dire. Dramatic. Grr...Yeah, I've had too much sugar. Sorry, we'll try and get back on track. Enjoy!]**


	107. Breakfast, stories and walks

"That's him." Vincent touched the photo printout the Doctor handed him. He traced the ink face of the monster he'd seen with his fingertips. "Those eyes...They hold no mercy." He said fear tinging his voice.

"That's a creature called a 'Krafayis'," the Doctor told him, sitting down on the seat across the little table from him. He looked into the coffee cup Clyde had given him and made a face, nudging it aside with his hand. "They travel in space as a pack. They're scavengers, crossing the universe looking for...well, their prey, actually. Sometimes one of them ends up getting left behind and the others won't come back." He explained calmly.

"Why?" Amy frowned at the thought of someone being abandoned like that.

The Doctor dug into his pockets and produced a handkerchief. "Because they're a brutal race. They don't stop, they don't turn back and they don't pity." he told her as he cleaned her face where she had jam spread around her mouth from the pastry she was eating.

"So...someone left behind stays behind?" Clyde summarized, sipping at his coffee. It was much more bitter than he was used to as one of those that tended to pour sugar and milk in till it was coffee flavoured milk when he DID drink it. "They just abandon them?" he asked quietly.

"Yes." the Doctor nodded and sat the handkerchief down on the table, "That means dotted around the universe are individual Krafayis that are merciless, murderous and utterly abandoned. They...well, they kill until they're killed, I suppose." He shrugged not looking at the sad expressions on Amy and Clyde's faces.

"I doubt that happens often if they can't be seen by others." Clyde tapped his fingernails against the side of his cup in thought.

"But I can see them." Vincent said excitedly.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "Which puts us in a unique position. It is possible that we could end this...reign of terror without more bloodshed." He said a grin growing on his face.

"We can get it home?" Amy looked at him with worry and hope and the Doctor smiled.

"I sure hope so. Vincent, feel like painting the church today?" he asked.

"What about the Krafayis?" Vincent frowned, "Shouldn't we deal with it?" he questioned looking concerned at the doctor.

"Trust us," Clyde smiled, "We go to the church and hang about and he'll show up." He gave a thumbs up and smiled a little brighter.

"'Hang about'?" the Doctor mouthed the words and made a face that made Amy giggle.

"I'll get my things!" Vincent downed the last of his coffee in one gulp.

"In your own time," the Doctor smiled at him, "We'll get this done soon enough. Bet we can be out of your way by, oh..." he checked his watch unnecessarily, "This time tomorrow." He added with a bit happier a tone, trying to convince Vincent he'd have his space back.

Vincent froze for just a moment, eyes trailing over all three of them before he stood and hurried back up the stairs and inside.

The Doctor picked up one of the pastries and took a big bite out of it. "Not as good as a doughnut." the Doctor decided, speaking with his mouth full. He made a face and stole Amy's cup of juice to wash it down. "Next time, TARDIS food." He whined.

Amy laughed at him, "It's not bad though."

"No." the Doctor smiled and sat back in his seat, legs crossed at the ankle and became serious suddenly. "This is risky." he sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"Isn't it always risky?" Amy asked, taking her cup back and refilling it carefully.

"Much more risky than normal," he corrected, looking up towards Vincent's house to make sure he wasn't overheard. "We're in the middle of Vincent Van Gogh's greatest year of painting, Amy. If we're not careful and he gets hurt..." he trailed off looking at her seriously.

"Half the paintings at the Musee D'orsay disappear." Clyde whispered in realization. "The Greatest artist who ever lived could become... less at our hands." he corrected what he wanted to say when he looked at Amy.

"It'd be all our fault." the Doctor agreed, watching the house.

* * *

><p>"Vincent?" the Doctor knocked on the door to the house. He was growing a little impatient, but he always did when time moved in the proper order and he was stuck standing still. "Vincent, you okay?" he asked worriedly.<p>

He opened the door when he heard a noise and shoved it open, gesturing to Clyde and Amy for them to remain in the courtyard. "Vincent?" he questioned again.

Vincent was lying across his bed, face down and obviously crying even to non-Time Lord ears. The Doctor frowned and closed the door behind him. "Vincent? What's wrong? Can...can I help?" Humans when they got emotional - other than excitement and glee - often baffled him and left him feeling helpless. He was getting good with some emotions and how to deal with them thanks to Amy and Tish always being around but some were still hard.

"No," Vincent's voice was muffled by his pillow, "Even if you could, you're going to leave, like everyone always does, and I'll be left all on my own once more with nothing but my paintings." Vincent rolled over onto his side and looked up at him, "No hope, nothing but an empty heart." He said depressingly as he curled into a ball.

The Doctor swallowed hard, "There's always hope, in my experience. It may surprise you, it may be in the least expected place you'd ever find it but no matter how dark there is always some flicker of hope." He said hoping to get through to the artist.

"You cannot have much experience then," Vincent told him seriously, a tear rolling down his face, "I've lived this before, I know how it will end and it won't end well." He continued listlessly.

The Doctor closed his eyes, breathing deep. No, it wouldn't end well. He knew that from history, knew that wouldn't change. No matter what he did within the year Van Gogh would be dead by his own hand. There was no hope of changing that, but maybe they could find hope in making his last few months easier.  
>"I have more experience than you'd think," the Doctor said softly, resting his hand on Vincent's back comfortingly, "Why don't you come outside with us? Get some fresh air, some sunshine. That'll help some, I think."<p>

"Just get out!" Vincent yelled, waving the Doctor off angrily.

"I'm not leaving you," the Doctor told him, "I can't leave a friend who's upset." He said moving closer.

"What are you even doing here?" Vincent demanded, "Why are you here?" he yelled shaking.

"I'm here to help. Whether that means sending a creature from another world home or providing a listening ear to a new friend in need, I'm here to help." the Doctor sat down on the bed beside Vincent much like he did with Amy when she had a bad dream or was upset and rested his hand on Vincent's shoulders. "I'm not leaving." He said calmly and firmly.

* * *

><p>"Think we'll be ready soon?" Amy asked Clyde, helping him pack away all their breakfast things and clean up the dishes.<p>

She felt better since they gave her her medication, but she missed Yumo and Tish and was getting a bit tired.

She hadn't slept well in the new place and missed her bed but she wasn't going to say that right now. She didn't want to be sent to wait in the TARDIS, not when she got to see one of her favorite artists and save the day.

"Think so," Clyde looked up towards where the Doctor had disappeared behind the door. "Probably. Get to see him paint today, won't that be cool?" he said trying to sound happy for the girl.

"Yeah!" Amy grinned, "Maybe when we get back he'll have a whole bunch more paintings for us to see!" she said eagerly, bouncing as she dried off the cup she'd been using.

Clyde froze, smile waning for a moment before he forced himself to smile again, "Yeah, maybe. Dunno, we'll have to see." He said hoping what she said was true, but knowing it probably wasn't.

Amy frowned up at Clyde, "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing," Clyde smiled at her, "Don't worry about it, kid, it's nothing." He continued hoping he wasn't lying to her.

Amy crossed her arms and sent him a look that made him laugh, "Really?" she asked suspicious, then smiled at his answer.

"Really." Clyde nodded and dried his hands off on his trousers, "Now! You've got your camera, right?" he continued jumping to change the subject.

"Uh huh and now it'll print because my room is open again!" Amy told him happily, "Why?" she asked curiously.

"Well, where are we?" Clyde asked smiling.

"Vincent's home." Amy knew he was trying to distract her and decided to just go with it for the moment. Obviously he didn't want to talk about it and if you made people talk about things they didn't want to sometimes they got mad and yelled. It was best to leave it till they wanted to a lot of times, unless they were the Doctor; If you didn't push with him he'd never talk.

"So that means..." he trailed off and smiled.

Amy's eyes lit up, "We can show Luke!" she said excitedly a wide grin growing on her face.

"Exactly!" Clyde said grinning.

* * *

><p>"Ready now?" the Doctor asked as Vincent pulled on his coat, one that made him think of his last self and smile.<p>

"Yes." Vincent nodded, straightening the laples and smiling slightly, "Let's go." he grabbed his hat, placing it firmly on his head and strolled out of the room head held high.

The Doctor followed, resisting the urge to steal his hat.

"Ready to go?" he noticed Amy tucking her camera away into her pocket and resisted the urge to tease her about it. He was almost certain she'd grow to be a photographer of some sort all because he couldn't help but spoil her.

"Yes!" Amy nodded and smiled brightly at him, "Are we going to see the creature?" she asked him.

"Well, find it, yes." the Doctor nodded, "Have you got your coat or do we need to grab one?" he asked. While mostly practical for warm days he doubted her cotton pyjama pants and pink jumper would work well if they ended up outside at night. Clyde probably would need a jacket as well, though he wore black jeans his short sleeved green shirt didn't offer much protection.

"Um..." Amy bit her lip and sighed, "It's at home." She said quietly.

'Home', he knew, meant the TARDIS.

"We'll stop by and grab it." he told her. He was still learning the 'curves' of dealing with a human child. His Time Tots had just as much control over their temperatures as he did and never really had a need for big coats or jackets. Susan had braved temperatures that would make Amy freeze and the last human 'child' he'd had...Well, Ace was more than old enough to know when she needed a coat or to rest, though she rarely listened to the need for rest if something interesting was going on.

Both he'd lost to the Time War, but that wasn't a thought he wanted right now so he pushed it away.

Clyde looked guilty, "I didn't think to grab one earlier, sorry." He apologized glancing over at the doctor.

"Don't worry about it," the Doctor brushed it off, "We'll grab you one too." He said sighing, even the teenager didn't grab one.

"I don't have any left there." Clyde frowned.

"I'm certain at least one person in the past left behind a jacket of some sort in your size." the Doctor told him.

* * *

><p>Amy walked ahead of them, looking much more warm in a pair of worn jeans - patched at the knees and about two inches short at the ankles, he made a mental note to have Tish take her shopping for new clothes now that she'd mostly outgrown her old clothes or was getting close - and her zip up blue coat that was puffy and made him think of snowmen.<p>

They'd grabbed one of Mickey's old jackets for Clyde, a tanish-green heavy jacket with silver buttons up the front, that was a bit too long at the arms and fell past his waist but fit better than the others.

Amy quickened her step and hooked her arm through Vincent's, smiling at him sympathetically, "I'm sorry you're sad." She said quietly hugging his arm.

Clyde made a noise of agreement, shifting Vincent's easel under his arm and glancing back to the Doctor where he walked a few steps behind them.

The Doctor sighed and nodded at Clyde, hands clasped behind his back, case dangling from them. There wasn't much he could say, nothing they could do. Not really.

Certain events were fixed points in time and could not be changed.

Vincent's wasn't fixed, per say, but it was one that was very...temperamental with no good outcomes to anyone if he survived.

"I'm not sad, not really." Vincent returned her smile, "It's just sometimes I get into moods that will stay with me for hours, sometimes weeks or months but then they go away again. I'm good now." He tilted his head and tried another smile, "If your Father can continue on than so can I." he continued smiling at the little girl.

The Doctor nearly missed a step, stumbling to right himself again, "I'm not 'continuing on'." he protested, lying through his teeth. That's exactly what he was doing, every minute of every day.

Some days were big and special and happy and he could forget all the bad things but the moment his companions were asleep or things were slow he was back to just...soldiering on, one foot in front of the other.

Vincent looked back at him and just gave him a sympathetic smile. "I can hear it, in your voice. See it in your eyes."

"Ah, well..." he trailed off, not sure how to deny it. If Vincent could see it anyone could. Why deny it to the man he'd already seen break and pull himself back together? He shrugged, "Not much else you can do, is there?" he said apologetically.

Vincent gave him a little nod and a smile, "Exactly." He said his smile turning into a grin.

"Anyway," the Doctor cleared his throat, "Our plan!" he yelled excitedly causing all of them to jump.

"I thought you didn't do plans?" Clyde questioned teasingly, aware that the mood of the conversation was best raised.

"I don't! I...shush you. Now, when the Krafayis returns tonight-" The Doctor began only to be interrupted.

"We'll fight him?" Vincent told him, stopping in his tracks and looking determined.

"But we have to help him! He's all alone," Amy bit her thumbnail worriedly, "Don't we?" she asked looking nervously at her father.

"We'll try to help him but it might be hard to get him to listen when he's being all violently," the Doctor waved his hands and Amy giggled. "We were lucky last night; Amy and Clyde could have been hurt very badly so this time when we find him I need to make sure I can see him too." He explained.

"How?" Amy asked looking at him with absolute trust.

He couldn't help the smile break through the serious facade, "The answer is in the box!" He lifted his case and tapped it, "I had an excellent, albeit smelly, Godmother." he paused and grinned, "Remind me later to have Sarah tell you some stories about your Godfather." He said smiling merrily.

Amy didn't have a Godmother yet, just a Godfather. He'd been toying with the idea of giving her one and only about two people popped to mind when he considered it.

He'd say Tish, but Tish was more her Aunt and Amy had already said giving her any other title than 'our Tish' was weird and made her less important.

He'd debated making Martha her Godmother too for a while, but it seemed a mean thing to do. To make the woman who had memories of raising her for five years her Godmother seemed a bit much in the wrong direction.

He was still debating between Barbara and Sarah.

Both had too many merits to discredit either so far, both were amazing fantastic women who would do what was best no matter what.

Plus he sort of owed Barbara for that whole 'aging' thing...and for sleeping on her couch for a few months in the sixties. Also for exploding a few chickens at her work and trying to corrupt her infant son and he should probably do something about the sonic shaped hole in their nursery wall...

"I thought you knew stories?" Amy questioned.

"I do, yes, but she knows more. I travelled with him and adventured with him but she's taken the slow path with him." He explained simply.

"Doctor," Clyde caught his attention and gestured down the road.

A funeral procession was headed their way, mourners all in black led by pallbearers carrying a plain coffin with sunflowers on top.

"The girl from the other night." Vincent sighed sadly, taking his hat off and holding it against his chest respectfully as they stepped to the side to watch them pass.

Amy slipped her arm out of Vincent's and moved back to the Doctor's side. He shifted his case to one hand and lifted her up with his other arm, "Funeral?" she asked.

"Yeah, her funeral." the Doctor acknowledged quietly, wrapping both arms around Amy to hold her safe and close. He never wanted any death to get this close to his little girl.

"Do you have a not-a-plan?" she asked him quietly when the procession had passed.

"Yeah. I have a not-a-plan." he nodded, "But it's still a little grey. Might need more help from you." He said smiling sadly as he tried to distract his child.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: So, okay, lots of issues lately and writers block is one of the top on the list. I'm so sorry we're behind and skipped a few updates and that this one is short but I'm working hard to get back on track and write more of RA. Sorry!]<strong>


	108. Churches, selfies and 'our bad'

The outside of the church was identical to the painting, obviously not an impressionistic interpretation, bar the dark night sky.

"It's different than the church from Christmas," Amy observed, "Older than that one, even now." She said quietly looking at the large building in front of them.

"A bit, yeah," the Doctor nodded. The stones looked ancient even in the past as they were, "Maybe before we head back to Torchwood we'll stop by and see it proper for our time. Okay?" He said smiling at her and bouncing.

Amy smiled, "Sounds good."

They watched as Clyde handed over Vincent's things and the artist set up for his work, stabbing the easel almost violently into the ground.

"Be sure to tell me the moment you see anything like...oh say, monsters." the Doctor told him, patting his shoulder and looking at the blank canvas.

So much potential for everything that anyone could think of. It always amazed him the things humans could come up with, artists and writers showing off just how big their 'tiny' human minds could be. Showing how amazing they were.

"I'm mad, not stupid," Vincent scoffed, setting up his paints and grabbing his brush, "You'll know when I do." He said his tone turning serious.

"You're not mad," Clyde told him, brow furrowed in a frown, "You're just you. If everyone were the same there'd be no fun in the world. No beauty or art." He said trying to reassure the artist.

Vincent nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips, "Shh, I'm working."

"Yes! Painting. Clyde, let him do the painting." the Doctor gestured. He stepped backwards, taking Amy's hand and walking a few feet away to flop down on the grass.

"You know painting takes ages, right?" Amy asked, sitting down more gracefully next to him.

"What? No, it can't." He shook his head, looking ridiculous as it was mussed by the grass. "It's quick, isn't it?" he asked looking down at her confused.

"No. Time has to pass in the right order." Amy told him regretfully with a little smile, "Sorry."

"I should have nicked Luke's game boy." he muttered darkly, crossing his arms over his chest.

* * *

><p>"I got to watch Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel you know," the Doctor said louder than he needed, winking at Amy, "What a whiner! I mean, if you're scared of heights you shouldn't take a job like that! But all he did was whine till Donna threatened to kick the scaffolding down!" He said complaining.<p>

"Shush!" Clyde told him, trying to watch Van Gough.

"Humph." the Doctor dug into his pockets, producing his mobile and set it into camera mode. He flipped it around to face him and grabbed Amy, "Smile!" He said, making sure the church was in the background as he took the photo. Saving it he sent it off in a text to Tish with a note, 'Next time we bring you, time in the right order is boring'.

It only took three minutes before he was bored again, this time making a shushing motion at Amy before taking a halfway flying leap and pulling Clyde into his arms, "Smile!" he proclaimed, snapping a photo of the two of them.

"Augh, Doctor!" Clyde laughed, wriggling out of his grasp, "Who are you sending those to?" he asked almost afraid of the answer.

"This one? Luke." the Doctor tapped out a message quickly and sent it. "Last one? Tish. Next one? Sarah Jane probably." He said absently tapping on the phone.

"Sit down and hush." Van Gough scolded him lightly, still focused on adding to the outline of the church.  
>The Doctor gave a mock salute and flopped out on the grass again.<p>

"Oh and Picasso!" the Doctor muttered something under his breath, "I kept telling him to concentrate. It's one eye on either side of the face! Well, for humans. For some it's not but he was painting a human." the Doctor pointed out, making Amy laugh.

"Yeah?" Clyde looked over his shoulder at the Doctor, tearing his eyes away from the sky Van Gogh was working on, "Call me when you've been chased by the Mona Lisa carting a Sontaran blaster, intent on waking up some hell demon she's calling her 'brother'." He snorted.

The Doctor snorted, "If you shine a sonic on the 'Mona Lisa' you've got a chance at seeing 'this is a fake' in my handwriting under the paint."

"Really?" Clyde stared in shock, "Please tell me that's not one of the things Sarah Jane's to blame for?" he pleaded jokingly.

"No, for once it's not pinned on her." The Doctor said grinning.

* * *

><p>"I hate when time passes in the right order," the Doctor whined loudly, making grass angels out of boredom. It was getting dark and cold. He'd have to get Amy inside soon, somewhere warm. She was getting better, breathing a lot more normally again and it wouldn't be good to risk her relapsing and getting sick again. He couldn't risk her health. Sure running for her life probably wasn't the best for her health any given day but he could save her there, protector her from it. How was he supposed to stop something so stupidly little as a germ? A single virus making her sick beyond ways he could fix.<p>

"Sorry," Amy apologized, looking guilty.

"Why are you sorry?" The Doctor asked gently wrapping an arm around her.

"I got sick and we had to stay in the right order for longer after the TARDIS got fixed." Amy said hugging him tightly.

"Amelia, if it keeps you safe I'd go in the right order for years." the Doctor told her seriously. "Even if it's really REALLY slowly and in the right order." He said hugging her one last time before letting go.

"Since when is an alien attack punctual?" Clyde asked, nudging the Doctor's leg with his shoe, "Want to make sure one's going to happen? Do something awkward or embarrassing." He asked curiously.

"Too true," the Doctor nodded, "You have no idea the amount of time in over nine hundred years of travel myself or my companions have ended up saving the world in underwear or worse. It took three events to get Jamie to start wearing boxers and it took five threats to get Jack to grab pants before leaving his room!"

"I'm horrified." Clyde said, covering his eyes. "Not an image I needed." He said shaking his head.

"Not one I needed either!" the Doctor agreed, digging into his pockets and pulling out his mobile again, "Smile!" this photo got both Clyde and the church in it alongside Vincent in the background unaware.

"Stop sending photos to them before we get into trouble." Amy laughed, nudging him lightly, "Tish'll be mad."

"'Just hanging with famous people, you know us, wish you were here'." the Doctor dictated as he added text. "Martha'd love this. You ever hear her story about Shakespeare?" he asked.

"No, actually," Clyde frowned, and sat down next to them on the grass. "She met Shakespeare?" he asked amazed.

"Yup. He wrote a sonnet for her. Not to mention well," he cleared his throat, ears turning a little pink.

"Anyway...Yes, she's met him. She actually finished his lost play!" The Doctor said smiling.

"He had a lost play?" Clyde asked, brow furrowed as he tried to recall any information about it.

"Blimey, Clyde, pay attention in your English class," the Doctor shook his head and patted his arm.

"Hey, I pay plenty of attention!" Clyde protested, "It's just not everything I hear gets remembered. I liked the 'Much Ado' play though, it was pretty neat." He said shrugging.

"Yeah, it was," the Doctor looked a little smug and fiddled with his phone. "My favorite has always been 'Much Ado'. Only play of his with a true happy ending, though it is still fairly odd. Took Donna to see it once, she found it fantastic but did roll her eyes at the man playing Benedict an awful lot." He continued with a small smile.  
>"...I'm reading the first Harry Potter books?" Amy offered lamely, well off of any books as complicated as Shakespeare.<p>

"We all have to start somewhere." Clyde told her with a smile, "Right, Doctor?"

"Right!" he nodded and grinned, wrapping his arm around Amy's shoulders, "I'm proud you're that far already." He said rubbing her head.

She flushed at the praise and returned his grin, "You help lots." She said smiling.

"Of course I do!" he bragged.

"Doctor!" Vincent yelled back to him, "He's there! At the window!" his voice was anxious but excited.

The Doctor leapt to his feet and darted forward. "Which one? Where, Vincent?" he demanded, listening to Amy and Clyde following after him.

"That one," Vincent gestured with his paintbrush, "On the right, do you see-...I see him." Vincent corrected himself, "He's up there, the window on the right?"

The Doctor nodded and clapped his hands together. "Good then. I'm going in." he declared, grabbing his case from the grass.

"I'm going in too," Vincent set his paintbrush down and started after him.

"What? No!" the Doctor shook his head, "You're Vincent Van Gogh," he stressed the name with no small amount of awe, "Stay here, please. Watch my children."

"You're not armed," Vincent told him though he did step back, "how will you protect yourself?"

"I am too armed!" the Doctor smiled confidentially, "I've got my case, my lovely screwdriver and no lack of rightly earned overconfidence. I'm peachy.'

"Dad?" Amy bit her thumbnail worriedly and it made his hearts clench.

"Don't worry, Amelia, I'm fine." He assured her with a softer smile, "I'll find the right setting on the sonic to calm it down, knock it out and we'll get him home in time for tea." the Doctor looked towards Clyde, "Right, so if I were to tell you to stay behind and not follow after me what would you do?" he asked resigned.

"Same thing I do when Sarah Jane tells me to do that." Clyde answered honestly. He fastened the top few buttons of the borrowed jacket and shoved the sleeves back past his wrists again. He looked like a child playing in Dad's clothes.

"I'm assuming you do what Sarah did?" He asked sighing.

"Probably." Clyde nodded.

"Fine, come on but stay behind me and keep low." the Doctor warned him. "Amy, do NOT follow us under any circumstances." he motioned to Vincent to keep an eye on her and tapped his pocket then pointed to her wrist, "I'll know."

"Mhmm." She smiled and gave a little wave, sticking her hands in her pockets.

"She's going to follow us." Clyde said as they walked away.

"She wouldn't be the Amelia I love if she didn't." He admitted.

* * *

><p>"Has it moved at all?" Amy asked, anxiously watching the church, eyes searching the dark windows for something she couldn't see. Her Dad and Clyde could be in danger going in all alone. She was well aware there wasn't much she could do if she were inside but at least she'd know what was going on.<p>

"No, he's shifted to the next window though," Vincent reached out and took her hand, smiling down at her, "I'm sure your Father will be fine."

"Probably," Amy nodded, biting her lip and watching the darkness still, "Sometimes he does not so smart things when he thinks I'm away and safe. I don't know if having Sarah Jane's kids around will stop him. It didn't with Luke...or Rani."

"Diverse names," Vincent commented, fingers curling around hers as he moved to stand almost protectively next to her. "Not ones I'd expect."

"Hmm?" Amy frowned, were they diverse? Which word was diverse...she searched her memory and came up with the image of a poster with cartoon children of different races on it. "Oh, yeah! But that's okay, she didn't name them. I like the name 'Rani', it's cool. Plus Rani brought me ice cream!"

"Ice cream?" Vincent asked confused.

"Oh it's-" Amy froze, blood turning cold as a yell echoed from the church, "DAD!" She pulled her hand away from Vincent and took off running, ignoring the man yelling for her to stop.

* * *

><p>"Stay close," the Doctor warned Clyde again, looking around cautiously, one hand holding the mirror of the device he'd now strapped to his chest and the other holding on to the sleeve of Clyde's coat to keep him close to him, not trusting him to not wander off.<p>

Companions wandered off, the younger the more often they wandered it seemed. Thought it also was a trait they didn't tend to grow out of.

"Trust me, I'm sticking close." Clyde agreed, eyes scanning the dark room for a creature he knew he couldn't see.

"Damn," The Doctor muttered to himself when he focused the mirror on the window and saw nothing but a normal reflection, "He moved."

"Can't have gone far." Clyde assured him and the Doctor gripped his coat just a little tighter.  
>Gone far or not losing sight of a potentially dangerous creature was never good especially with kids around.<p>

"No..." the Doctor turned in slow circles, watching in the mirror for anything that may appear. Timing and luck was not on his side it appeared as the moment the mirror did catch sight of the Krafaysis was the moment it's claws came slicing through the air at them. He couldn't stop the yelp of fear as he lunged forward, grabbing hold of Clyde and pulling the teen away, shielding him with his own body and shoving him forward once they regained their footing, "Go, go, go!" he yelled.

Clyde didn't need told twice but he did reach back and grab hold of the Doctor's jacket to pull him with him.

Strange deadly creatures he couldn't see that he couldn't focus on that nearly sliced him and Clyde, brilliant. Abandoning the view in the mirror he pulled out his sonic, flipping settings and pointing it behind him as they ran, hoping to stun or at least briefly distract the alien till he got Clyde to safety.

"DAD!" The Doctor heard Amy scream as she ran closer.

"Amelia." No, no, no she couldn't be here, not now. It wasn't SAFE. "I thought I told you to wait outside. Nobody listens, why does nobody listen?" He demanded not really expecting an answer and clutched his daughter close in a one armed hug, "We're talking about this later but for now..." He heard the sounds of the Krafayis crashing towards them what sounded like giant feet against stone and looked around frantically for somewhere, anywhere to hide. "In here, go, quick." He hauled open the confessional door and pushed Clyde and Amy in one, climbing into the other and crossing his fingers they could stay hidden for any amount of time. If not he could always use himself as a distraction.

"Absolutely quiet you two," the Doctor whispered, sliding open the little panel that was used to separate Priest from sinner, "completely." he frowned at the harsh breathing coming from Amy. She was getting better, cold and running wasn't good for her. He'd be in for a lecture from Martha when they returned but he'd deserve it. "Amy?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," Amy said trying her best to be quiet and to keep her breathing low and even. It was still harsh and he knew it wasn't good. Rest, they'd rest when this was over, even if it meant staying on Earth for a few more days.

"Has it gone?" Clyde whispered, barely daring to speak.

"I think-" the Doctor's words were interrupted by a scream from Amy and a yell from Clyde as the Krafayis' claws crashed through their confessional. "Amy? Clyde!?" He yelled barely having time to duck before claws destroyed the one he was sitting in as well.

"Impressive hearing, good as mine." the Doctor mused, covering his head with his arm and trying to figure a way to get to the kids even as another chunk of wood was taken out.

"Less impressive is his chance of survival," the Doctor said darkly when Amy screamed; already digging into his pockets for something, anything that could help him.

"HEY!" Vincent's voice rang out clear and strong, "Are you looking for me, sonny?" he yelled defiantly.

The Doctor risked a look out and saw only Vincent, standing with his little painter's stool in front of him in his worn clothes, paint covering his hands and found it a more courageous sight than he'd seen in a long time.

"Come on then, over here. I'm right here for you." Vincent yelled again, not backing up or backing down.

The moment Vincent did take a step back as if away from something the Doctor shoved debris off himself and climbed out of his confessional, already digging at the other one and shoving chunks of wood off. Both of them were huddled close to the ground, Clyde had shifted and pulled Mickey's coat up, using it to shield both of them from any flying pieces of wood.

"Good man, Clyde." the Doctor said, helping Clyde to stand and pulling Amy to her feet, "You okay?" he questioned.

"Nothing I can't fix with a plaster." Clyde agreed, taking Amy's hand in his, already scanning the room for the unseen danger.

"Amelia?" The Doctor asked looking over at his daughter.

"'m fine," Amy told him with a weak smile.

"Quickly, you three," Vincent gestured to them, "Behind me!"

The Doctor grabbed his sonic again and sent the two kids in front of him, trying to stall and find any setting that might work as they made their way out of the room. "Is it doing anything?" he asked desperately, unable to tell if anything was working but he received only a negative shake of Vincent's head in reply.

"Where is he at?" the Doctor asked again, making sure to shield Amy and Clyde.

"Where do you think?" Vincent almost laughed but his voice held annoyance and anger, "Use your head!"

The Doctor aimed his sonic directly where Vincent was looking and sent out a pulse he knew from experience could fell a beast at least as large as an elephant. "Anything?"

"I think he likes it." Vincent proclaimed in disbelief.

"Okay, no, wrong setting then." He fiddled with it trying to find anything.

"Duck, left!" Vincent ordered him.

He didn't actually have time to do anything before something hard impacted his side, sending him flying into the wall.

"DAD!" Amy screamed.

"Stay back, Amy!" the Doctor yelled, scrambling to his feet, "It'd take more than that to-Gah!" He yelped as whatever it is hit him again, sending him back into the wall much harder this time.

"Okay, this is not working," the Doctor said, rubbing his side and hopping to his feet, making a mad dash behind Vincent in hopes to avoid another direct hit, "Outside, now." He told Clyde and Amy, motioning and watching through the mirror to try and see where the Krafayis was.

"Dad!" Amy yelled worriedly.

"Right, sorry, okay." the Doctor tugged at the back of Vincent's coat and headed outside, making sure his friend stayed behind him the whole way. They found another small outbuilding and he shoved Amy and Clyde in before he and Vincent entered, slamming the door behind them.

"Great, big monsters after us and I'm lost for once." the Doctor ran his fingers through his hair, "I just need a minute to THINK. Something's not right." His thoughts were interrupted fast though by Amy's scream and the sound of something slamming into the door they'd shut.

"Help me!" Vincent ordered, already trying to shove the door shut.

"You heard him, Clyde." the Doctor said, pushing the door with all his strength fighting against the Krafayis. With Clyde's help and Vincent's they managed to get the door shut again after a few moments, blocked with a large piece of wood hooked through the locks.

"Alright, plan, plan, we need a plan." the Doctor leaned back against the door tiredly, "Rory, I-"

"Wrong man, Doctor." Clyde told him with a sad smile.

The Doctor winced, wondering for a moment if Clyde had memories of Rory existing or if he just heard the stories, "Sorry. Clyde, Vincent, Amy, any ideas?"

"No more using the sonic for anything but real screws?" Amy offered, trying to control her breathing and calm it down.

"Smart idea," the Doctor smiled at her, "Very smart idea. Might have to do that."

"I'll be right back," Vincent promised, darting off before the Doctor could even say anything.

"Maybe we could talk to him?" Amy suggested, pulling her coat tighter around her.

"Talking to him?" Clyde looked surprised, "Right, you speak everything, right?" he asked the Doctor.

"Sort of, yes," the Doctor nodded, "It might be a bit interesting to hear his side of this story." the Doctor winced when a loud growl sounded and another bang rocked the door. "Though then again, maybe he's not really the conversation sort at this time."

"No harm in trying, right, Dad?" Amy looked at him like he could do anything and it bolstered his spirits some.

"No harm in trying," he agreed, turning to face the door. He mentally focused, hoping it would work and opened his mouth, "Listen. Listen to me!" the Doctor added an edge to his tone and smiled when the growling stopped abruptly and he could hear it shuffling in confusion, "I know you can understand me even though you don't know why you can understand me. I also," He continued, glancing towards Amy who stood with her back against Clyde, Clyde's arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders, "know that no one has talked to you for a long time but please, I'm begging you, listen to me. You don't belong on this planet, but neither do I. I'm alone just as you are. Trust me, listen to me and maybe we can understand each other. We could figure out what to do." There was nothing but complete silence from the other side of the door and for a moment he was sure he'd gotten through to the creature.

That thought was shattered as the glass behind him broke into hundreds of pieces, each shard flying inwards from the impact and he could hear the crunching noises of the Krafayis finding a way inside.

The Doctor sprinted the short distance between himself and the kids, sliding on the ground and shielding them with his own body from an enemy he couldn't see. It could understand him, this was deliberate. Was it a desperate act of a confused animal or an outright attack by a sentient homicidal creature?

"Dad?" Amy asked, a hint of fear starting in her voice and the idea she was afraid made him angry.

"It'll be okay, Amelia, you'll see." He lied.

"Over here, mate!" Vincent called out to them dashing full force across the room, his now bare easel in his arms.

The Doctor grabbed Amy and Clyde by their jackets and pulled them to stand behind Vincent before motioning for them to hide behind what looked like a white marble sarcophagus. "What's it doing?" he questioned Vincent, hoping the kids would stay down.

"Moving around the room," Vincent clutched the easel close, ready for an attack, eyes tracking the Krafayis. "Like it's feeling its way around, searching the room."

"What?" the Doctor did a double take, stepping just far enough from Amy and Clyde that he could be a distraction if need arose. "Feeling around the room?" he repeated questioningly.

"Like...like it's trapped," Vincent elaborated, "It's moving around the edges of the room."

Just searching out the room? It had to have seen them hide, seen them when they ran. Why would it be searching the room? Was it looking for exits? The Doctor thought to himself as he looked around.

"I can't see!" Amy complained.

He looked over and saw Clyde had Amy pulled down and out of harm's way, his body partially shielding hers and the Doctor smiled for a moment before it hit him.

"I am really stupid." he said with realization.

Clyde looked at him funny, "I thought Sarah Jane said you started insulting **humans** when you got stressed?"

"No, I - yes but no, I am really stupid." the Doctor repeated, "And old." He sighed, rubbing at his chin in thought, "Why does it attack but never eat its victims?" He glanced out by instinct to see where the Krafayis was then moved to kneel by Vincent, Amy and Clyde, "Why was it abandoned? Left here alone?" He continued quietly.

"The same reason it's trying to feel its way around the room?" Clyde offered an answer he hoped would help.

"It's blind." the Doctor told them softly, "It can't see. Which also explains the perfect hearing" the Doctor complained.

Amy nodded and went to speak but it came out as a wheezing noise.

"Oh no, no, no, no, not now." the Doctor flailed helplessly for a moment then reached out, pulling Amy into his arms at the same time the coughing fit began.

There was no use in moving, no use in running it would follow so the Doctor pulled Amy against his chest and patted her back solidly like Martha had shown him for a human and hoped the coughing would stop soon.

"Perfect hearing means heading right for us." Clyde's eyes went wide and he shoved away from the sarcophagus, "Right Vincent?"

"Right." Vincent nodded, stepping forward, easel held in front of him defensively.

"Oi!" Clyde bolted from his safe spot and a few feet away from where the Doctor sat helplessly trying to stop Amy's coughing. He raised his fingers to his mouth and let loose a piercing whistle, "Over here, bud!" he continued waving his arms.

"Clyde, no!" the Doctor yelled trying not to run, not to leave Amy on her own.

"I'm fine." Clyde gave him a thumbs up, eyes fixed on the floor instead of forward as he let out another high pitched whistle before dodging to the side and taking off running towards the opposite end of the room, "C'mon, gotta be faster." Clyde gestured to Vincent who realized Clyde's distraction intent and nodded. Clyde whistled again waiting till Vincent yelled at him to dodge to the side playing a dangerous game of chicken with a force that couldn't be seen.

"Brave idiot." the Doctor said with exasperation. That's what Rory had been as well. The coughing fit had mostly subsided and the Doctor rubbed Amy's back gently until it was fully finished.

"Sorry," Amy told him with a wince.

"You're fine. I need something from you though," he told her quickly an idea forming in his mind. One sonic didn't work but he'd seen what two could do thanks to Donna, "I need your screwdriver."

Amy pulled it from her pocket without question and handed it to him.

"Okay, second thing, cover your ears as tightly as you can and don't move your hands until I tell you." The Doctor said looking at her seriously.

"Like Halloween with the shades?" Amy looked worried.

"Yes, I'm sorry, but worse. Keep them covered tightly." the Doctor warned her, looking over the sarcophagus in time to see Clyde get hit by something that sent him sliding fast across the ground on his back. "Vincent, Clyde, cover your ears now!" He yelled, holding his sonic in one hand and Amy's in the other. "Tight as you can." He repeated looking over at Amelia making sure she had followed his instruction.

Clyde pushed with his feet hard against the ground and slid further backwards, sitting partially up and trusting the Doctor to protect him clapped his hands over his ears nearly doubling over in his attempt at covering them as tight as possible.

Vincent watched him for a moment before dropping the easel and doing the same.

"Oh, this is going to be fun." the Doctor muttered to himself, remembering the last time he'd done this. "Here goes nothing." He turned both sonics on and pressed them together. The pulse they emitted sent him cringing as well but he couldn't stop even as his own ears rang and his insides felt like they were being rattled. It had taken a few seconds to stun Ms. Foster and her goons, it'd take longer to knock out a creature. Maybe with the sensitive hearing.

Several seconds and he could feel his ears throbbing, feel his hearts speeding up as the glass around them shattered into a million pieces, each new piece breaking a thousand times over till a fine powder covered the ground. It was near a minute before Vincent gestured to him finally getting his attention, "IT'S DOWN!" Vincent bellowed over the pulsing noise.

Well, at least it looked like he was yelling. The Doctor turned both sonics off, nearly stumbling at the sudden stillness and tucked his sonic back into his pockets.

Ringing and pain had given way to nothing but pure silence. He knelt down and pressed his hands lightly over Amy's before drawing them away, "You okay?" he asked, trying to moderate his voice and watching her lips closely.

"I'm fine," She told him with a smile, "Are you okay?" she asked looking at him.

"Oh, I expect I'll regain my hearing soon enough." he agreed cordially, "Till then you'll just have to look at me when you talk." He smiled when she stared at him in shock. "You alright, Clyde?" He yelled out but kept his gaze on Amy. "What'd he say?" he questioned when Amy just stared at him.

"He said he's fine." She shook her head, "Tish is going to regenerate you." She said honestly.

"Nah, I'll be fine." the Doctor helped her to her feet and rubbed at his ears briefly. "I'm not as bad off as you humans." he teased, walking over to Vincent, adding bravado to make up for his temporary handicap. "Vincent? You'll have to look at me when you talk, I can't hear a thing." the Doctor told him when Vincent looked away.

Vincent looked back to him, "How long?"

"Oh, an hour? Maybe more, maybe less. I'll be fine. The Krafayis?" The Doctor asked.

"Out. Sleeping, I think. Now what do we do with it?" Vincent questioned, hand on the Doctor's arm to steady himself.

"I know a zoo or two that might be interested in a creature that can't care for itself fully." the Doctor informed him, "Or I just go forward and fob it off on Jack." He shrugged.

Clyde climbed to his feet across the room and dusted himself off, jogging back to them, "How'd I do?" Clyde made sure to enunciate, watching the Doctor directly.

"You're an idiot, don't do it again. That being said, wonderful!" the Doctor praised, "Are you hurt?" he asked concerned for both their sakes.

"I'm fine." Clyde undid his borrowed coat and pulled it off. He turned it around, looking at the back of it then held it up for the Doctor to see. It was covered in gouges and scratches from the ground and the glass that covered it but when Clyde turned around his back was completely fine, the shirt wasn't even scratched. He turned back to the Doctor and grinned, "I think Mickey might be mad."

"One coat to save three humans and an injured Krafayis? I think he'd be happy it helped you." He said looking carefully at the boy.

Amy tugged his hand so he'd look down at her, "What's next?" she asked.

"Next? Showers, clothes changed, we grab this thing and make sure it gets a new home." the Doctor detailed with a happy look, "Sometimes I like winning."

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Okay, uh first off our bad. <em>Yeah, pretty much. <em>I had a case of writers block and then well life got in the way in big booming 'Hah you don't get a beta' ways. _And we were having issues figuring out what to do with canon. _We updated every single friday for two years, I...well, overloaded and burnt out and had to recharge. _And I couldn't really help because well, family issues._ This chapter's a little longer than normal though and things are calmer now. _We cannot make promises for anything however someone does want to get back to every week. _I'm going to try my best. Sorry for abandoning you however briefly and the story as well. Enjoy. _Also if you PM we will try to respond but -_****SOMEONE forgot to check her G-mail and say 'hey, we have messages'. _I'm bad about that_. I'll be checking them again personally. I hope you like the new chapter.]****  
><strong>


	109. Choices, changes and inevitability

"Vincent, don't go anywhere," the Doctor ordered him sternly, "We'll be back by dusk, promise."

Vincent nodded and gave a mock salute, "I shall be waiting, Doctor." He said firmly.

"Good. Clyde?" the Doctor turned to the teenager and looked considerate, "Would you like to come with us or are you wanting to stay here with Vincent till we return?"

Clyde looked at him curiously, "Well, I'd **LIKE** to stay with Vincent but given experience on your sense of timing and Sarah Jane's wrath I think I better go with you." He said with a little grin, enunciating so the Doctor could catch what he said.

"Oh, good point." the Doctor made a face, "Right then, we'll all three be back by dusk." He grabbed Amy's hand in his tightly, "Ready?" he asked

"Mhmm," She nodded at him, "The quicker we go the quicker we're back, right?" she asked looking at him carefully.

"Yup." The Doctor said smiling and ruffling his hair.

* * *

><p>"Clyde choose a bathroom, if you can't find one just ask the TARDIS. I'm sure she'll give you Luke's old room, it has a bathroom attached." the Doctor nearly danced around the console flipping switches and swerving around, "Amy, go move Arthur to the library for a bit. We don't want our new friend eating him while we change homes." He continued without stopping as he moved faster around the room.<p>

Amy gave a salute and a grin and darted off through the TARDIS.

Clyde caught the Doctor's attention, "Arthur?" he asked curiously.

"Horse. Go, bathroom, find. Shower. New clothes too," he ordered, not paying attention to Clyde and therefore not listening for a reply of any kind. "Now... new home for our friend..."

He knew of several places that would probably accept any alien creature that needed supervised care. A few zoo's and safari like areas. Obviously they couldn't release a dangerous and **blind** carnivorous creature just anywhere.

Torchwood was out but there were still places available.

He paused in thought for a few moments then a small grin started, "Well, girl, what do you think? The Royal Menagerie, 4115 or Gruner Science centre, 6572?" he asked stroking the centre console.

The TARDIS hummed inside his head and he smiled brightly, closing his eyes for a moment, "Good choice."

"Okay, definitely needing a shower like that at home," Clyde decided, glancing back towards the bathroom as he raided what clothes were in the dresser and available for him. Most were unquestionably Luke's taste in clothing, some looked more like something Mickey would wear and a few... Well, they weren't from any time period he'd been in.

He settled for stealing a pair of blue jeans he had to roll up once at the cuff and a white cotton pullover shirt with a collar and a breast pocket. It was rather thin and soft but it worked well enough and matched. "Lukey boy, you certainly had some interesting tastes," Clyde touched some of the things Luke had left behind, little pictures and posters, a rock that looked like it'd been imploded and then solidified in an instant.

"Thank you," he said aloud to the TARDIS remembering what Rani had told him, "Could you not make the coat disappear though? I'm the one who ruined it, I should at least show Mickey and apologize." He asked looking up at the ceiling.

Warm air swirled around him and when he looked back the coat was draped across the end of the bed, clean but still shredded along the back. "Thank you."

He was getting his shoes back on and tied up tight when a knock sounded on the door.

"I'm decent, you can come in." he said loudly.

Amy peeked in, one hand over her eyes still, "You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," he laughed, "Come in."

"Okay." She uncovered her eyes, nearly bouncing in place, "I took my medicine like I'm supposed to and got changed." She gestured to her new clothing that he had to bite back a laugh at.

She'd chosen a pair of bright pink jean dungarees that were obviously an inch or two too long matched with a long sleeved white polo shirt with a brown and blue Men's tie tied haphazardly around it.

"I see. Come here," He laughed and motioned her forward, "You've messed up just a little." He said examining her tie further.

"How?" Amy frowned, looking down.

"Your tie is just a bit off." Clyde undid the 'knot' easily, "Do you want it done up normal or 'cool'." He asked her as he considered the options.

"What's the difference?" Amy questioned.

"Length," He measured it out, mirroring his normal movements and tied it into a Windsor knot, keeping it shorter than most would and tugged it through. "Now, most people will make it longer but with this? It's not in your way and people will see it over your dungarees." He told her, fixing the collar of her shirt where it had twisted.

Amy smiled, "Cool. But what do I do with the rest?" She asked, toying with the excess tie in the back.  
>"Tuck it down your shirt front." Clyde directed, gesturing with his hand, "It's what we do."<p>

"Cool." Amy repeated, doing as directed, "Anything else?" she said staring up at him.

"Nope." Clyde dug into his pocket for his phone and grinned, "Want to send a photo to Luke?" he questioned giggling to himself at the little girls exciting expression.

"Teasing him for being gone?" Amy questioned, sitting next to him on the bed anyway.

"Teasing him for not being here, because we're in his room. Because I've stolen his favourite babysitting charge," Clyde wrapped his arm around her waist, leaning his head against hers and smiling wide while she laughed, her own arm over his shoulders, "Cheese!"

Amy giggled, "Cheese!"

"Any idea where we're off to next?" Clyde inquired, sending the photo off to Luke along with a few teasing words.

"We've got to get the Krafayis to a new home," Amy told him, tucking her hands into her pockets, "And then back to Vincent. We can't forget him."

"Yup, no forgetting Vincent," Clyde agreed, sticking his phone back in his pocket. No one would ever forget Vincent Van Gogh. "So do you know WHERE we're taking the Krafayis?" he asked her as he offered his hand to his littler friend.

"No. Dad will tell us though." Amy grinned, taking Clyde's hand in hers and leading him off out of the room, "We'll find the Krafayis a good home. Everyone needs help, even if sometimes they did not so nice things." She stated firmly.

"How do you find your way around in here?" Clyde questioned. He'd had a hard enough time finding Luke's room with step by step instructions.

"I'm used to it." Amy shrugged, "Plus if you're confused you follow the signs!" she said merrily looking at the signs all around them.

"Signs?" Clyde asked confused.

Amy pointed to the wall in front of them, "See?" she said showing him the post it notes and marker scribbles on the walls.

"'Come along, Pond.'" Clyde read aloud, looking at the arrow attached to the painted sign, "So we go left?" he asked.

"No. It says go left so we go right," Amy led him down the opposite hallway, "And if it says 'come in' we don't go in but if it says 'keep out' it's okay to go in. Oh and don't go digging in the boot cupboards that look like boot cupboards because you might find an accidental water slide." She said firmly, a smile on her face.

"Seriously?" Clyde raised his eyebrow in disbelief.

"Dad once got dropped from the Z section into the pool." Amy said seriously, "We don't dig in boot cupboards."

* * *

><p>"Anything yet?" Sarah Jane asked, checking her watch for the tenth time in ten minutes.<p>

"Not yet," Mickey tapped his fingers against his thigh, studying the screen where Clyde's photo was being scanned and compared to any famous photos or paintings that had ever been data based which thanks to Jack was quite a lot. "We'll find him though; the Doctor never can resist big splashy things."

"Um, no photos of me," Luke volunteered, sitting with Rani on the cement surrounding the sunk in 'office', leaning through the railing with his arms folded over the middle rail, "And I was in the London Blitz." He said remembering his adventures.

"Giant fishy vampires and Venice nearly sunk," Rani grinned, "No photos." She said smartly.

"You two were a fluke, shut up." Mickey muttered even as Martha laughed.

"London blitz?" Sarah Jane demanded, crossing her arms and nailing Luke with a look that made even Rhys wince.

"Yeah," Luke looked sheepish, "Churchill says 'Hi' by the way. How do you know him?"

Sarah Jane groaned and shook her head, "Long story. Ask Harry next time we see him."

Tish laughed a few minutes later, messing with her mobile and gave a little wave from their sitting area, "I know where they are!" She called in singsong.

"Where?" Sarah Jane demanded anxiously.

Tish stood, lifting Yumo with her and holding him under her arm where he rested comfortably, carrying with him down the stairs, "Well, I couldn't tell you location exactly but I know where." She stated smiling as she came to them.

"Where?" Mickey repeated Sarah Jane's question.

Tish set Yumo down on the ground and messed with her phone – one Mickey desperately wanted to steal and had ever since he'd realized all of its capabilities and where it was from – turning it to face the big screen that was scanning everything. She touched part of the phone's screen and swiped with her finger in the direction of the big screen, almost instantly a photo of the Doctor and Amy popped up, both smiling in front of an old stone church. "Anyone else recognize that?" she asked.

Luke lit up instantly, "That's the church at Auvers. It's one of Vincent Van Gogh's final paintings."

"How do you know that? You don't like art." Rani questioned, looking at him with amusement.

"Clyde likes Van Gogh. If you let him he'll talk for hours. He's got a book full of Van Gogh prints," Luke shrugged, "So that means they're where he painted?"

"I'm guessing world tour?" Mickey laughed, "Historical places?"

It wasn't even a few minutes before Luke's phone was buzzing in his pocket playing a happy little tune. When he pulled it out and opened the message he grinned, "I think they're touring yes, but I don't think they're in our time."

"What makes you say that?" Mickey asked.

"Clyde's there and there's someone painting in the background." Luke said without looking up.

"Let me see?" Tish made a 'gimme' gesture and caught his phone easily when he tossed it to her. "Oh I love my phone," she said cheerfully, pressing a button and tapping it against his. "This is what happens when your tech is a few thousand years advanced," she tossed him his phone back and made the same skimming gesture, sending the photo up onto the screen.

"I want your phone." Mickey said with awe.

"Mine." Tish held it close to her chest and stuck her tongue out at him, "All mine."

It wasn't very long at all before even Sarah Jane got a text as well and yet another photo was put up on the screen.

"I'm not sure if I'm annoyed at whoever taught that man how to take pictures with his camera or if I'm glad he can," Sarah Jane mused, smiling at Clyde's laughing face in a photo that had obviously been taken as the Doctor held him still.

"Both." Tish told her, "You should see Amy's photos. She has a camera that develops instantly back in her room so she can sort through the photos later. It's pretty amazing what all she can capture."

"Is she just making scrapbooks of her journey?" Rani questioned, "She was taking photos all over Venice too."

"Something like that," Tish agreed, "She documented every square inch of Rome I believe."

"Rome as in Italy?" Martha asked.

"No, Rome as in the planet," Tish corrected, "It was pretty amazing if a bit apocalyptic. A bit confusing too and kind of scary."

"Apocalyptic?" Luke frowned, "Like zombies?"

"Think more... Well, yes, Zombies but more the overgrown world afterward," Tish tried to think of a good analogy, "Like everything went wrong and yet the world kept spinning."

"I vaguely recall something about an asteroid that's population went extinct," Sarah Jane frowned in thought, "though I couldn't have told you where or when. It's rather more common than you'd think."

"That's sad." Tish said softly.

"Mhmm."

* * *

><p>"Is the creature safe?" Were the first words from Vincent when they returned appearing in his doorway as if they'd only gone for a drink.<p>

"Safe, happy and whole," the Doctor nodded, "as promised. He'll live a long life safe where he can't harm or be harmed."

"Bumping into things?" Amy asked him with a grin.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "A few splintered trees notwithstanding. He'll be fine."

Vincent surged forward, seizing the Doctor in a hug, "Thank you!"

"It's no problem," the Doctor hugged him back anyway with a grin, "He's safe, that's the important bit."

"What's this?" Clyde asked Vincent curiously, peering at a new canvas with just the beginning of a sketch on it.

"A new project," Vincent said cagily with a smile, "Just a small token."

"Oh?" Clyde asked trying for a better look.

Vincent gestured the thought away, "You'll see when it's finished."

Clyde's smile fell but he nodded, "I will."

It was hard, looking and talking to his idol knowing what was coming. What would happen one day very soon to this man.

Knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The Doctor seemed to realize this and distracted Vincent again in a new conversation.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked Clyde quietly, tugging on his hand to get his attention.

"Nothing." He said sadly looking down at her.

Amy gave him a look that reminded him of Sarah Jane's 'you're lying' face, "It's not nothing cause if it was nothing you wouldn't be upset."

"Just..." Clyde sighed and sat down, "Thinking that when we go back he won't be alive anymore. It's sad."

Amy nodded but Clyde wasn't sure how well she understood 'death' or it's permanence at such a young age. "But he's happy, right? HE makes people happy with his paintings, we saw them at the gallery."

He would make people happy, he didn't currently though and that thought was chilling. "Yeah, true." Clyde shook his head and affected the same goofy grin he'd perfected years ago trying to look like he didn't feel afraid, "Why don't we go see what the Doctor's planning now?"

"You'll leave soon," Vincent told the Doctor, not paying attention to Clyde and Amy's conversation.

The Doctor nodded, "Yes, soon enough." There was no point in denying it.

"The monsters we fought together... we won," Vincent said slowly, hands rubbing together anxiously, "I fear I may not do this well on my own."

It was true, it was painful, but true.

"Don't say that," the Doctor chided him lightly, "You're a hero, Vincent, an artist and an inspiration."

"I'm a mad old man with brushes and colour." Vincent scoffed, "With paintings no one would own."

"I would," the Doctor said seriously. In fact he had several in the TARDIS but there was no way to tell him that, "I would be proud to own one of your works."

Vincent gave a little smile at that, "Maybe I'll see what I can manage for you."

"My own Van Gogh painting," the Doctor smiled back, "I'd be honoured."

The day went on and as it did Clyde and the Doctor felt the same nerves return. It was inevitable they'd have to leave but they didn't want to.

Didn't want to abandon their new friend to a fate they couldn't stop.

"Clyde," the Doctor asked quietly, Amy fast asleep in his arms worn out from a long day, "If I were thinking something that could cause a paradox and change time would you think it as well?"

Clyde looked back towards the house where Vincent lived and nodded, "I'm always on board with things that could go massively wrong."

The Doctor grinned, "Go fetch him. Tell him we've got something to show him."

Clyde missed Vincent's reaction to the TARDIS initially, trying to get Amy to go to bed when the child was half asleep but whiny. Missed their brief trip but did manage to return in time for a very dizzying landing and the Doctor laughing like a madman as Vincent shook his head, clearly baffled.

"Come on, Vincent, I have something to show you," The Doctor grinned, gesturing towards the TARDIS doors.

"Will Amy be safe on her own?" Vincent asked, looking backwards.

"She'll be fine, trust me, the TARDIS will see to that."

Vincent nodded but followed the Doctor, stopping in surprise at the change in surroundings.

"Where are we?" He demanded in disbelief.

"Paris, 2010 AD. I know it's a lot to take in but this is the Musee D'Orsay. It houses many of the greatest paintings known to man. Well, by 2010 AD." the Doctor inclined his head.

"That's... wonderful," Vincent trailed off, distracted fully by a little boy playing with an iPhone.

"Ignore that," the Doctor rolled his eyes and took Vincent's hand in his, "I've got something greater to show you."

Clyde shut the door to the TARDIS and trailed after them with a grin.

Vincent looked in awe at the museum around them, staring at each painting with a look like a little boy at Christmas. Each new painting held wonder he'd never seen before, never dreamt of.

It was hard to pull him away from them, to calm his interest in them when they had something so much grander to show him.

Something that could change his outlook on his life.

Something, Clyde dearly hoped, that could change the path it would take.

"This way," the Doctor tugged at Vincent's hand, leading him down the path to the exhibit they'd been in what felt like minutes ago.

The same man was walking around, giving a lecture on the paintings but it wasn't him that kept their attention, it was the look on Vincent's face as he saw his paintings for the first time.

The paintings he poured his heart and soul into and hung on his walls. The paintings everyone said were worthless, the paintings everyone disparaged as junk from a madman.

The very paintings that now hung prized on walls for the world to see, to love and observe as some of the best ever produced.

"Excuse me, sir?" the Doctor approached the lecturer from before, "We met a few days ago, I asked about the church at Auvers?"

"Oh, yes, the man with the bickering children," the man nodded and smiled, "Glad I could help."

"Yes, today though I have a new question for you, if I may ask." When the man nodded the Doctor continued, "Clyde here is doing a report on Van Gogh and I wondered, as an expert in the field, if you could in a few words tell me where you think Van Gogh stands when it comes to art and history."

The man looked taken aback for a moment, "That is a big question. Well, to me? Van Gogh is the finest painter of them all."

Clyde smiled at Vincent's double take, at the gob smacked look as he turned to observe his works but still listened in.

"Go on."

"He was certainly the most popular of all time at least. The greatest and most beloved," he continued as directed, lost in the subject, "His works are magnificent, the command of color he wields, his technique... Somehow this man managed something that very few can. He took the pain that tormented him and turned it into such... _**beauty**_." the awe was clear in his words and the man nearly bounced in place, "HE did something that no one had ever done before, something that no one may ever do again. That strange man from Provence who was so tormented but created such ecstatic beauty? That man was one of the greatest men who ever lived and without a doubt the world's greatest artist."

Vincent who had begun tearing up half way through closed his eyes, tears starting to fall then unabashedly.

"Vincent?" Clyde stepped forward, placing his hand on Vincent's back, "Are you okay?"

"Is it too much?" the Doctor asked worriedly.

"No, no it's fine. Tears of joy," Vincent let out a choked laugh, "Thank you." He turned without thinking and pulled the lecturer into a hug as well, "Thank you!"

* * *

><p>"Think there'll be new paintings?" Clyde asked excitedly, following the same path for the third time.<p>

"I'm not sure," the Doctor lied, walking at a much more leisurely pace. He didn't want to give Clyde too much hope when he was sure that they hadn't changed much.

It wasn't that simple. Sometimes the good things in life just didn't outweigh the bad. Sometimes no matter how happy a person was that crushing darkness of depression could still pull them downwards in a spiral that couldn't be stopped. It was just how those things worked.

But the smile on Clyde's face made him reluctant to voice those fears.

"- work of Vincent Van Gogh, a man who committed suicide at only thirty-seven years of age." The tour guides voice echoed through the museum.

Clyde froze in place, shoes squeaking on the tile and the Doctor winced.

"We didn't change anything," Clyde whispered, "Not a thing."

"We changed things, just not the end," the Doctor disagreed, resting his arm over the devastated teen's shoulders. "Every life... there's a pile of good and bad things, things you collect over your lifetime. Sometimes the good in your life don't make all the bad go away but the bad things? They don't always make all the good things go away either," the Doctor pulled Clyde into a proper hug, trying to make his point but unable to find the proper words for it, "No matter what we added to that pile of good things, Clyde. We made him happier for a time, don't forget that."

Clyde nodded, forcing himself not to tear up in an effort to look more adult but it was hard, "Yeah?"

"Yeah, And I think we did change some things," The Doctor patted Clyde's back and gestured to the painting of the church, leading him closer, "No more monster."

Something was off, Clyde noticed, frowning at the walls. Something different but he couldn't quite figure it out.

"Something's off," Clyde voiced his concern, "It's different."

The Doctor frowned as well. "You're right. It's like coming home to find everything moved two inches to the left."

"Two inches?" Clyde asked looking around.

"I was walking into things for days, do not discount an inch," the Doctor replied, measuring the spaces on the wall with his hands, "There is more."

Clyde whirled in place, eyes scanning the walls desperately searching to find what was new, what was out of place. "Oh my God." He whispered as he spotted something familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

He ignored the rules in place in an art museum for once and ran across the tile room, ducking between people, shoes once again squeaking on the floor.

It was a small painting, not too big at all but filled completely.

Vincent's courtyard, the one they'd been in hours ago, was present, but it wasn't just a scene.

One small figure with red flowing hair was captured in motion, running across the stone chased by a slightly taller figure with dark skin.

"'The Doctor's Children'," The Doctor read the plaque out loud with a grin, "'A highly contested painting with no real information on the figures it holds'. The Doctor's children," he repeated with a bright grin, "Vincent I love you."

"I'm in a Van Gogh painting," Clyde said dimly, leaning against the Doctor.

"You're in a museum in a Van Gogh." the Doctor wrapped his arm around Clyde again, "Good things and bad things, Clyde, remember that."

"Good and bad." He nodded in awe. "So if I don't remember this at all does that mean others don't?"

"Unless you were in the TARDIS at the time you remember this as if it was always there. Feel free to tease Luke about it later." the Doctor laughed, "Or Sarah! Oh, Sarah." his eyes went wide, "We've got to get you back to her before she regenerates me!"

Clyde grinned, "She loves you too much to do that."

"You'd think so but it's still a fear. Come on, let's go back." The Doctor said grabbing Clyde's hand and starting back to the TARDIS.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Okay so ISSUES! In the last several months since we've updated we have had death in the family, relatives in the hospital, in the ER, in ICU, undergoing emergency surgery, <em>in a coma<em>, relatives arrested, _relatives in court_. _There were Ice Storms in GEORGIA that had me stuck in traffic for 12 hours._ We have had a desktop computer die, a laptop die, lost this chapter TWICE.  
><em> Writers block, new jobs. Don't forget sciatica, injuries and worst of all Windows 8!<em> We are trying to get back now. Yeah, it appears we can update in a blizzard but not with windows 8._ IT's driving her insane, we don't talk about windows 8, she gets murderous_. Anyway, here it is, a long awaited chapter, I hope it was worth the way though I'm afraid it might not have been. Also note? This story will NEVER be abandoned. Not ever, I promise.****]**


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